David Machiels
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Herent, Belgium
Toptal member since November 13, 2020
David is an IT delivery/program/project manager with a demonstrated history of software development projects and infrastructure rollouts. As a consultant, David's worked with finance, manufacturing, and logistics enterprises. Though he calls Belgium home, David has engaged clients in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Malta, the Netherlands, and the US. David is well-versed in popular methodologies and frameworks such as PRINCE2, PMBoK, Scrum, and SAFe.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Data Analytics
- IT Program Management
- IT Project Management
- Microsoft Azure
- Office 365
- Project Management
- Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
- Scrum Master
Work Experience
Head of IT PMO
Deloitte
- Spearheaded a team of project managers and the project delivery capacity for all IT projects, reporting to the IT country lead within Deloitte.
- Developed and implemented improved project management standards, elevating the execution quality and reporting on IT projects.
- Optimized the demand intake process, streamlining the process for capturing product and resource requirements, stakeholder engagement, and portfolio prioritization.
- Worked with Deloitte North and South Europe (NSE) stakeholders on cross-EMEA enterprise PMO standards.
- Led the overhaul of software asset management processes, including license optimization strategies for cost-effectiveness.
Release Train Engineer | Data Insights and Analytics
Ahold Delhaize
- Established an operating model for distributed teams, 35+ FTE across the EU and India.
- Implemented an accelerated cadence of bi-weekly releases through optimized processes.
- Established a demand management process for capturing, refining, and operationalizing incoming requests from business stakeholders. The pipeline contains 80-90 incoming business initiatives at any time.
- Adopted a prioritization model for feature requests across the various subsidiaries in the company.
- Introduced quarterly PI Planning, drove the event, and acted as the main facilitator for both teams and stakeholders within my scope.
- Drove a maturity assessment for delivery teams in scope, culminating in an improvement roadmap.
- Coached and guided scrum masters on facilitating common ceremonies such as standups, backlog refinement, retrospectives, and more.
Technical Project Manager
Wolters Kluwer
- Project-managed an NPS improvement track for tax and accounting solutions, ensuring that product development was stabilized and the environment was fit for migrating key clients to a new platform.
- Initiated a de-risking track concerning the migration of a content platform's search engine back end towards Apache Solr.
- Transitioned several product teams from active development in the US and EU towards maintenance mode in Pune, India.
- Improved GDPR compliance across several products, working with legal representatives, external vendors, and development teams.
Global Cloud Migration Program Lead
KBC
- Handled the onboarding to Office 365 for CSOB Pojišťovna, a Czech insurance agency.
- Oversaw the onboarding to Office 365 for Patria Finance, a Czech trading company.
- Migrated DZI Insurance, a Bulgarian insurance agency, to Dynamics 365.
- Delivered several identity and access management extensions for K&H Bank, Hungary.
- Developed apps for the provisioning tools for Office 365 products (SharePoint, Teams), monitoring and logging initiatives for service management (Azure), and document archival.
- Managed multiple project teams and operational budgeting.
Global Test Manager
KBC
- Established a standardized testing approach within a cloud migration context.
- Designed and documented a testing process, including templates, presentations, and reusable materials for international entities.
- Aided in the sourcing, coaching, and management of local test analysts.
- Followed up on test results and reported them to the program PMO.
- Worked within a complex environment with various stakeholders of multiple nationalities.
- Managed a team of local test analysts tasked with providing quality assurance of the delivered solution.
Technical Project Manager
KBC Group
- Contributed to software development projects in the context of Office 365, SharePoint and the Microsoft Azure platform, as well as integrations with other proprietary software such as Adobe LiveCycle and web services.
- Managed a team of 5-to-8 .NET developers and related stakeholders throughout the company.
- Oversaw Agile project planning, user story mapping, and sprint-based project delivery.
Business Analyst
KBC Group
- Performed a functional analysis for internal communications, migrating content management platforms such as IBM Connections to Office 365 (SharePoint).
- Elicited business requirements and implemented requirements engineering.
- Drafted solution designs, including proofs of concept, prototypes, and GUI specifications in Axxure and Balsamiq. Worked on use case analysis and model design using UML and BPMN in tools such as Sparx Enterprise Architect.
- Liaised between business users and technical development to ensure a close fit of requirements and implementation.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Consultant
Terumo Medical Corporation
- Coached project managers and senior executives on applying project and portfolio management best practices.
- Planned SharePoint-based collaboration workspaces for project teams and project metadata management for demand management.
- Handled the full implementation of Microsoft Project Server 2013 and portfolio management capabilities.
- Delivered implementation- and configuration documentation.
- Facilitated the upload of project data into the environment.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Consultant
Sibelga
- Delivered a Project Server 2010-based solution for coordinating construction and operational maintenance efforts of Sibelga, distributor of natural gas and electricity in Brussels.
- Set up a web-based environment that allows centralized portfolio management for more efficient scheduling of network maintenance.
- Facilitated requirement gathering workshops with Sibelga's PMO.
- Delivered project management training to ensure best practices are known and applied throughout the project lifecycle.
- Collaborated with the client’s operational staff and IT vendors for the implementation and administration of the environment.
- Delivered project documentation to executive stakeholders.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Consultant
BPost
- Onboarded additional users to Project Server 2007, including coaching in best practices for handling project work on the platform.
- Performed a root cause analysis of the platform's data integrity concerns and gave advisory presentations regarding platform improvements.
- Handed over the environment to an external IT vendor for continued operational support.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Consultant
European Commission
- Consulted from end-to-end of the set up of a pilot project for managing fraud-fighting efforts, expenses, and overseas engagements by the European Commission, based on the Microsoft Project Server 2010 platform.
- Analyzed the current project lifecycle, metadata management, and processes implemented in the PMO.
- Advised, together with third-party vendors, on the sizing of domain controllers.
- Launched the production environment for Microsoft Project Server, including migration efforts and data transfers.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Consultant
Keytrade Bank
- Set up a complete Project Server 2013 environment.
- Configured and developed the complete PPM 2013 platform across the entire organization.
- Translated the functional specs into the technical architecture and design.
- Set up, configured, and developed all Microsoft Server portfolio management features.
.NET Application Engineer
Infrabel
- Delivered an automation project for improved planning of railway and train station maintenance.
- Contributed to the .NET development of several components in the existing application environment.
- Created the back-end logic for InfoPath forms to apply business rules to the creation and management of maintenance requests.
Project History
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Rollout for 30,000+ End Users
Managed the rollout of Microsoft’s digital workplace offering for 30,000+ users, including identity and access management, exchange migration, migrations to SharePoint as well as custom development on Azure for a pan-European banking group.
Using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®), I managed multiple simultaneous initiatives and prioritized program and team backlogs while working mainly with distributed, virtual teams in Prague and Pardubice (CZ), Sofia (BG), Budapest (HU), and Leuven and Mechelen (BE) to deliver benefits end-to-end, together with nearshoring and offshoring partners.
Software Development Team Move from the US to India (IN)
Successfully transitioned development of a live application from a team in the US and Belarus to a new team in Pune, India.
From a resourcing perspective, I was tasked with optimizing the delivery processes of a development team spread across Mechelen (BE), Minsk (BY), Philadelphia (US), Pune (IN), and Alphen a/d Rijn (NL). The key activity was a knowledge-transfer and setting up new and additional agreements with the current internal and external stakeholders delivering us the necessary resources, including cost management.
Software-wise, we had to ensure code repositories were split off from an existing product base, including rebuilding our CI/CD pipelines.
Infrastructure-wise, the operation included the migration of the infrastructure from Azure to Amazon AWS, relicensing IBM Cognos environments, and optimizing environment sizing to reduce costs.
Integration and Automation Built on Azure Services
Built an integration between legacy, on-premises software systems at a major bank with new, cloud-based automation in Azure and content stored in SharePoint Online.
Several major projects were delivered, mostly using a basis of web services in combination with SharePoint Online when working with cloud-hosted content, but also several Azure web services for translating and routing traditional on-premises system calls to new cloud infrastructure. We also integrated Adobe LiveCycle for the generation of forms with entity or requestor’s data based on SharePoint and Adobe LiveCycle.
Applying the Scrum framework, we managed the projects in 2-week sprints.
Education
Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Vlerick Business School - Brussels, Belgium
Master's Degree in Management
Open Universiteit Nederland - Heerlen, The Netherlands
Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology
Leuven University College - Leuven, Belgium
Certifications
Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) 5th Edition Foundation
Axelos
Certified SAFe 5.0 Program Consultant (SPC)
Scaled Agile, Inc.
Professional Scrum Master Level I (PSM I)
Scrum.org
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification
APMG International
ITIL Foundation Certification
Axelos
BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis
BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Microsoft Specialist: Managing Projects with Microsoft Project 2013 (74-343)
Microsoft
Microsoft Specialist: Managing Programs and Projects with Project Server 2013 (74-344)
Microsoft
Microsoft Specialist — Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 (70-331)
Microsoft
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (70-410)
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist — Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 (70-480)
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist — Microsoft Project Server 2010, Configuring (70-177)
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist — Microsoft Project 2010, Managing Projects (70-178)
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist — Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring (70-667)
Microsoft
Skills
Tools
Microsoft Project, Office 365, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Excel, PostgreSQL, PHP-FPM, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, GitHub, Bitbucket, Microsoft Yammer, Confluence, Adobe LiveCycle Manager, IBM Connections, Lotus Notes, ShareGate, SQL, IBM Cognos, Azure DevOps Services, Git
Paradigms
Scrum, Agile, Release Trains, Agile Leadership, Agile Project Management, Kanban, Agile Product Management, Management, Design Patterns, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Waterfall Development, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Change Management, Iterative Development, Iterative Delivery, PMBOK, PRINCE2, Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
Platforms
SharePoint, Azure, SharePoint 365, Windows Server, Debian Linux, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2016, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Windows Server 2012, Azure IaaS, Amazon Web Services (AWS), CentOS, Ubuntu, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2010
Industry Expertise
Open Innovation, Global Economics
Other
Microsoft Teams, IT Management, IT Project Management, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Scrum Master, Project Management, Project Management Professional (PMP), Resource Management, Microsoft, Azure Active Directory, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Project Online, Technical Project Management, Cloud Migration, Agile Coaching, Agile Practices, Web, Remote Team Leadership, Project Leadership, Project Finance, Earned Value Management (EVM), IT Projects, Project Planning, IT Consulting, Technology Consulting, Information Technology, Waterfall Methodology, MySQL, HTML, Information Security, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), PSM-1, SAFe 4 Advanced Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Coaching, Project Budget Management, PMI, IT Program Management, CSS, Consulting, Project Design & Management, Budget Management, Project Timelines, Jira Administrator, Estimation & Planning, Backlog Management, Risk Management, Project Delivery, Stakeholder Management, Data Migration, Team Leadership, Client Delivery Management, Cost Accounting, Financial Forecasting, IT Strategy, IT Service Management (ITSM), Human Capital Management, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Cloud Platforms, JavaScript, jQuery, ServiceNow, Endpoint Security, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), Cloud Storage, Teams, Multi-functional Teams, Remote Work, Certified Trainer, PHP 7, HTML5, CSS3, Sass, Less, Data Modeling, Google APIs, REST APIs, Data Analytics, Innovation Management, Marketing, Organizational Design, Assembly, COBOL, PHP, Java, Networking, Networks, Cisco, Data Architecture, Big Data, Information Systems, Information Design, Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Content Management Systems (CMS), Financial Management, Mathematics, Management Information Systems (MIS), ITIL, IT Business Analysis, Business Analysis, Project Initiation, Active Directory Federation, .NET, UML, Microsoft Project Server, Microsoft SQL Server, .NET 4, C#, C#.NET, Cloud Security, Cloud Infrastructure, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Automation, Data Integration, Integration, Microsoft Intune, Big Data Architecture, Vendor Management, Build Pipelines, PSD to HTML, Regression Testing, Azure SQL, Project Server, Program Management, Server Side/Client Side Object Model (SharePoint), Leadership, Supply Chain, Human Resources (HR), Entrepreneurship, Financials, Managerial Economics, Corporate Finance, Digital Strategy, Innovation, Strategy, Release Train Engineer (RTE), People Management, Machine Learning, Business Intelligence (BI), PMO, PMO Development, Project Management Office (PMO)
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