Dennis Fassett, Project Manager in Beverly Hills, MI, United States
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Dennis Fassett

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Location
Beverly Hills, MI, United States
Toptal Member Since
October 23, 2019

Dennis is all about delivery, execution, and getting things done. It’s what he does. It’s what he's good at. And most of all, it’s what he enjoys. And he's spent a good portion of the last 18 years applying those skills to the execution of large IT projects and programs—across industries from automotive to government and healthcare to financial services.

Project Highlights

Creation of an Enterprise Case Management System in Salesforce
Took over failing project. Reassessed the timeline and budget to deliver required MVP scope. Delivered on time and on budget.
Implemented SAS Fraud Framework Application for State of Michigan
Met deliverable timeline in an extremely challenging and political environment. Significantly expanded state's capabilities.
Defined, Designed, Built, and Deployed a Global Cash Forecast System
Lead project from concept to deployment in 27 months. System became a commercial product offered by SunGard Treasury Systems

Expertise

Work Experience

Digital Program Manager

2020 - PRESENT
Volkswagen of America (Contract)
  • Served as the business-facing IT program manager for the electric vehicle and service lane digitalization programs.
  • Took responsibility for the successful delivery of assigned programs and projects—success is defined as being on schedule, on budget, within the approved scope, with a high degree of quality, and a satisfied client.
  • Managed and drove the alignment of programs with strategic goals and long-term views. Cooperated with business and technical leads to identify, communicate, and mitigate project risks, issues, and dependencies.
  • Analyzed business scenarios and strategies, developed internal proposals and plans, obtained executive approvals, and communicated organizational direction.
  • Provided coordination, direction, communication, and status reporting for the program to all relevant stakeholders. Provided communication for ongoing support, decision-making, and tracking of programs.
  • Aligned the program's mission, vision, and values to meet objectives. Developed a business case for each project within the program and the strategic value of the proposed business change.
  • Coordinated efforts between project/product teams, but may not directly manage them. Identified, rationalized, monitored, and controlled inter-dependencies between the projects.
  • Tracked the contribution of each project/product to the consolidated budget, schedule, and benefits. Managed risks and issues needing resolution at the program level.
  • Identified, monitored, mentored, and evaluated project/product/delivery/scrum managers and coordinators.

Program Manager

2015 - 2019
Ally Financial
  • Rescued a $2 million program that was failing. Managed a Salesforce implementation.
  • Managed implementation of the SAS Financial Crimes Manager and social network analysis products.
  • Directed and guided project and technical resources on Scrum, Agile, and Waterfall projects to successfully execute those projects.
  • Established and facilitated a business stakeholder group comprising six business unit representatives to evaluate/groom product backlog and plan and execute periodic product releases.
  • Established criteria and executed a vendor selection process to select a development vendor.
  • Managed work and the relationship with the development vendor.
  • Acted as a system integrator to ensure project work was mapped appropriately with architectural roadmaps inside and outside the business unit.

Manager, Program Management Office (PMO), and Project Manager

2014 - 2015
RevSpring, Inc.
  • Defined, designed, and implemented an enterprise program management office (PMO).
  • Executed the product selection and implementation of an enterprise project portfolio management (EPPM) tool.
  • Rescued project to develop and implement a new critical payment portal product and launched it in 90 days.
  • Managed client implementation and onboarding projects while managing other project managers at the same time.
  • Managed project to create a hybrid agile/waterfall project delivery process.
  • Managed multiple projects simultaneously.

Project Manager (Contract)

2014 - 2014
SAS Institute
  • Concurrently managed two (2) implementations of the SAS Fraud Framework software package in two (2) separate divisions within the state government.
  • Led requirements definition and design.
  • Created development schedules and supervised developers.
  • Managed remote vendor resources in project execution.
  • Responsible for scope management, proof of concept, schedule management, time management, quality management, risk management, test management.
  • Managed project financials.

Project Manager (Contract)

2012 - 2014
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
  • Managed up to seven concurrent projects.
  • Created development schedules and supervised developers.
  • Managed requirements, design, and development.
  • Managed project financials and project governance process.
  • Oversaw scope management, proof of concept, schedule management, time management, quality management, risk management, test management.
  • Managed and implemented a process and system change project that saved the company $500,000 annually.
  • Developed detailed requirements, negotiated SOWs and WOs with vendor, managed development and testing processes, managed gate approvals and documentation development, and coordinated implementation.

Project Manager

2006 - 2012
Capgemini America
  • Migrated five of GM’s highest volume and most complex Sales and Dealer applications to Linux in a new cloud environment and brought all software versions to n-1.
  • Scoped the different projects, managing the hardware acquisition timeline, managing hardware configuration, managing the development and testing processes, coordinating the code merges from the existing production environments, overseeing the deployment of the applications and the cutover from the existing production applications.
  • Directly managed a multinational offshore development and testing team comprised of 32 resources.
  • Managed project to rationalize, commonize, leverage, consolidate, and eliminate Sales and Marketing applications globally.
  • Created an overall roadmap through the identification, definition, quantification of opportunities that would yield material cost savings.
  • Managed the project to transition GM’s Global B2C Managed Services and ITL environment from the incumbents to Capgemini.
  • Created, staffed, and implemented an organization to migrate application monitoring, level 2 support, incident and problem management, DBA support, and change, release and security management, and risk management.
  • Managed multiple vendors for a multinational project with resources in Europe and Asia.

Project Manager

2002 - 2006
Lear Corporation
  • Defined, designed, built, and deployed a global cash forecast system.
  • Led a project from concept to global deployment in 27 months.
  • Managed an offshore vendor.
  • Oversaw the cost and financial management of a $6 million budget of a multinational project with project and client resources in Europe, Asia Pac, South America, Central America, and South Africa.
  • Handled scope management, proof of concept, schedule management, time management, quality management, risk management, test management, and procurement management.
  • Led requirements definition, design, development, implementation, and change management.

Adjunct Faculty Instructor

1999 - 2005
University of Phoenix
  • Taught project management courses.
  • Contributed to the redesign of the Project Management Certificate program curriculum.
  • Taught over 500 students graduate, undergraduate, and project management certificate programs.
  • Created and delivered lectures in person and online.
  • Merged project management coursework with PMP exam prep materials.

Project Manager

1999 - 2002
Management Technologies, Inc.
  • Provided business consulting, project management, and project portfolio management expertise for process improvement opportunities and the development of customized business intelligence and business analytics applications.
  • Developed business cases.
  • Executed project management responsibilities across multiple concurrent projects.
  • Managed risk and issue identification, tracking, and reporting.
  • Created development schedules and supervised developers.
  • Managed multinational projects with project resources in Europe, Asia, South Africa, South America, and Central America.
  • Handled cost management, budget management, resource management, risk management and the management and delivery of projects and directing the activities of company, client, and vendor staff.

Creation of an Enterprise Case Management System in Salesforce

Took over failing project. Reassessed the timeline and budget to deliver required MVP scope. Delivered on time and on budget.

Led a complex agile project to customize and configure a Salesforce.com instance to serve as the Enterprise Fraud Case Management solution for the Ally Risk and Compliance organization. Managed all aspects of this project – financials, resources, governance, sprint planning and execution, and vendor management.

Implemented SAS Fraud Framework Application for State of Michigan

Met deliverable timeline in an extremely challenging and political environment. Significantly expanded state's capabilities.

Implemented the SAS Fraud Framework package for the Department of Community Health. Scope of work included requirements identification, securing access to data sources, facilitating data analysis, facilitating UI design and approval, managing the UI build and testing, and managing UAT, the implementation, and the warranty period.

Rescued and Launched Critical New Portal Product in 90 Days

Took control of the project, refocused resources and reset priorities. Created a detailed plan and launched in 90 days.

Critical strategic web portal development project was six months behind schedule and over budget with no plan, no leadership, no structure, no processes, and no definitive delivery date.

Quote Manager Process Automation

Implemented a process and system change that will save the company $500,000 annually.

Developed detailed requirements, negotiated SOWs and WOs with vendor, managed development and testing processes, managed gate approvals and documentation development, and coordinated implementation. Ten month project was delivered on time and under budget.

End of Serviceable Life (EOSL) Program for Global Auto Manufacturer

Migration of five critical applications, each done as stand-alone project, was delivered on time and on budget in two years.

Tasked with migrating to Linux and bringing all software versions to n-1, in brand new environments, five of the company's highest volume and most complex Sales and Dealer applications. Work included scoping the work, managing the hardware acquisition timeline, managing hardware configuration, managing the development and testing processes, coordinating the code merges from the existing production environments, overseeing the deployment of the applications and the cutover from the existing production apps, and managing multiple project budgets. All development and testing was done offshore. At peak managed 35 offshore resources.

Defined, Designed, Built, and Deployed a Global Cash Forecast System

Lead project from concept to deployment in 27 months. System became a commercial product offered by SunGard Treasury Systems

Concept was hand-drawn on one sheet of paper. Project was to create a feed of AR and AP data from each of the company's 269 manufacturing and assembly plants globally. Consolidate the data, then have each Receivable and Payable payment date be changeable via a screen in a browser window, with the changes rolling up to an overall cash position. Goal was to understand the company's cash position on a daily basis for forecasting, foreign exchange hedging, and reporting to Wall Street analysts.

Defined, Designed, and Implemented an Enterprise Program Management Office (PMO)

Created and implemented structured processes for onboarding new clients that doubled the productivity of existing resources.

Developed and implemented a PMO from scratch. Created and implemented an appropriate project management methodology including templates and other artifacts; developed a project and program governance structure to oversee cost, schedule, and quality; implemented risk, issues, and change control processes; developed a robust status reporting process and weekly executive reporting cadence to facilitate transparency. Built trusted advisor relationships with IT and business stakeholders and executives.

Selection and Implementation of an Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) Tool

Fully implemented with 220 active projects in four months.

Established criteria and defined requirements for vendor/product selection. Researched tools and vendors, facilitated product demos, negotiated prices, and made the final purchase decision. Documented Project Management processes; created workflows, processes, templates, standards and reports; established a new project management process to load new projects in the system.

Sales, Marketing, and Financial Information Systems Consolidation

Identified and scoped projects totaling $12 million in overall IT cost savings globally.

Project was to identify opportunities to rationalize, commonize, leverage, consolidate, and eliminate Sales, Marketing, and Finance applications globally. Responsibilities included the creation of an overall roadmap through the identification, definition, quantification of opportunities that would yield material cost savings. Created business cases, quantified benefits, and created value capture metrics.
1990 - 1992

Master's Degree in Business Administration

University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA

1986 - 1987

Bachelor's Degree in Economics

Eastern Michigan University - Ypsilanti, MI

JANUARY 2000 - AUGUST 2007

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Project Management Institute (PMI)

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