Oscar Gonzalez, Project Manager in Houston, TX, United States
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Oscar Gonzalez

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Location
Houston, TX, United States
Toptal Member Since
June 17, 2020

Being agile is Oscar's top skill and he has 20 years of combined hands-on and leadership experience as a program/project manager, scrum master, and IT manager for global enterprise and SMB in oil & gas, manufacturing, banking, and healthcare. Oscar also has a proven history of driving and delivering valued IT and software solutions while empowering cross-functional, diverse teams. His notable passion for continuous improvement, customer service, and technical background are Oscar's major assets.

Project Highlights

LEAN Employee Onboarding Process | Wood PLC Americas
Boosted the new-hire IT onboarding process SLA from seven days to three days on average by enabling engineers and direct-cost employees throughout the Americas to be billable from day one while optimizing operating costs.
Timesheet Web App | Wood PLC Rio de Janeiro Operations
Ensured the visibility of the field crew's working schedules and improved by more than $300,000 in the revenue recognition process for Wood PLC's Brazil business unit.
Ticket Tracker Web App | Wood PLC Application Services Americas
Improved Wood's Americas application support team's SLAs (service level agreements) by by 30%.

Expertise

Work Experience

IT PMO Regional Lead

2020 - PRESENT
Worley
  • Joined the company as the Americas' regional IT project manager for four months. Managed and delivered an average of five projects simultaneously, then promoted as the PMO manager for the region.
  • Responsible for implementing the company's global PMO framework for global, IT infrastructure and applications' portfolios through a combination of Microsoft tools: Enterprise Project Manager, Sharepoint, Planner, and Teams.
  • Steered the delivery of ~ten business response portfolio for the Americas (IT infrastructure optimization projects as a result of COVID-19 impact). Completed the telephony upgrade for heritage companies in the US driving 80% phone footprint reduction.
  • Managed and mentored a team of eight IT project managers, served as a member of the global PMO lead team, influential in the expansion of IT PMO capabilities and the adoption of Agile methodologies for application and software development projects.

IT Project Management Consultant

2020 - 2020
Self-employed
  • Mentored SMB teams on agile methods and cloud tools such as Atlassian Jira, Confluence, Slack, and design-driven tools for building cross-functional business process models reaching 100% readability and distribution.
  • Performed expert resourcing and market analysis of 12 IT roles ranging from project managers, software developers, testers, and change managers required for a $800,000 ERP system implementation and maintenance proposal.
  • Developed relevant recommendations on information technology strategy, systems, projects, and change management enhancing technical and business proposals.

Information Technology Senior Business Partner

2018 - 2019
Wood PLC
  • Worked for Wood, a global leader in the delivery of project, engineering and technical services to energy, oil & gas, and industrial markets. It operates in more than 60 countries, employing around 55,000 people with a revenue of around $10 billion.
  • Accomplished up to 40% improvements of IT Service SLA and satisfaction KPIs; conducted LEAN value stream mapping and led the implementation of automation for the employee onboarding process.
  • Acted as a scrum master to deliver customizations for engineering and PPM tools securing a strategic $15-million project in Brazil.
  • Oversaw more than 25 IT waterfall projects with DELL, VMware, and Win Servers; TCP/IP enterprise network infrastructure with Cisco—which improved new site startup times by 30%.
  • Successfully managed the IT portfolio for the Americas and delivered 100% IT and software projects on-budget, on-time while meeting customer expectations. Served as a Business analyst, gathered requirements, produced, and presented Business Cases.
  • Served as a single-entry point to America's IT function and provided a 3,000+ person business unit with guidance and information on IT services, processes, and policies; aligned IT and corporate strategies leading to real and valued solutions.
  • Coached multiple applications, infrastructure, help desk, and geographically distributed teams (US, Canada, India, UK, Latin America) during a two-year transition from in-house to outsourced IT.

IT Program Manager

2016 - 2018
Wood PLC
  • Owned the completion and delivery of 50+ combined Waterfall IT and SaaS Software projects for US, Canada, Latin America operations; facilitated business systems amalgamation during company mergers.
  • Established partnership with IT and stakeholders to deploy network, email, and AD integration of 2500 employees in 4 M&A’s (South & West Texas, US Middle West, and Alaska). Successfully put into operation corporate IT Governance and IT Service model.
  • Implemented Corporate IT PMO policies, mentored groups in adherence to Agile principles and steward for the integration of IT roles, processes, work instructions, and applications in US, Canada, Colombia, and Brazil.
  • Consolidated 12 SharePoint 2016 sites into a single site collection. Developed and implemented the SharePoint site Governance process. Managed security and provided training to site admins throughout the region.

Agile Project Manager

2014 - 2016
Wood PLC
  • Led discovery workshops, defined functional and non-functional requirements, calculated ROI, NPV, IRR, and analyzed technical feasibility of software projects for HR, finance, and HSE departments. Presented Business Cases to IT PMO.
  • Optimized a $1-million budget for application services.
  • Consistently met 100% of the acceptance criteria developing custom .NET and SharePoint 2016 software solutions for contract management, finance CAPEX workflow, Nintex workflows, and QHSE reporting dashboards with SQL ETL and Microsoft Power BI.
  • Collaborated with backlog refining and release planning by serving as a scrum master during the creation of the Ticket Tracker C# .NET app for Americas IT—resulting in 30% improvements of regional IT application services SLAs.
  • Delivered SaaS projects for finance (Tableau, Adaptive Planning), HR (OrgPublisher), and Microsoft CRM contributing about $300,000 ROI in process improvements and in reducing risks and in ensuring data consolidation.
  • Led co-located and distributed cross-functional teams of 5-10 people consisting of business analysts, product owners, software/DevOps developers, testers, and end-users during the software development and release cycles.

IT Team Lead of Latin America

2010 - 2014
Wood PLC
  • Positioned IT as strategic, added-value function for South America operations; contributed in $500,000/year savings leading IT DevOps, infrastructure, network, and application projects with zero business disruption.
  • Set SMART goals engaging stakeholders, vendors, and IT teams.
  • Implemented agile methodologies to balance priorities, economies, and compliance requirements to deliver global IT consolidation projects in five business units and four Latin American countries.
  • Served as a scrum master for three releases of the in-house accounts payable .NET web application.
  • Managed planning, backlog grooming, sprints ceremonies, and a cross-functional team of five.
  • Successfully implemented ERP Solutions for Brazil (TOTVS RM), Colombia (SIIGO), and Peru (Concar); a payroll system in Colombia (Meta4 PeopleNet), and a project management system in Peru (Sistema10).
  • Led and coached 15+ direct reports in Latin America (Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil) ranging from project managers, developers, IT admins, and specialists gaining team cohesion and reaching peak performance levels.

Software Developer Lead

2006 - 2010
Wood PLC
  • Led a team of four remote developers and introduced the concepts of SOA and object serialization with JSON. This creates common classes, libraries, and web services that improved code writing and maintenance in at least 50% of the time.
  • Facilitated discovery workshops, analyzed requirements, designed screens & flows, coded web apps on Microsoft Visual Basic .NET stack, and SQL Server for e-learning and competency management.
  • Implemented JavaScript DOM and jQuery libraries for timesheet and crew scheduler apps.
  • Coded cost control .NET web applications and implemented SQL Server reporting services for various data requirements.
  • Created ETL Packages and connected MS Excel and Access data sources to produce meaningful and available charts.
  • Developed data-driven solutions for Finance and HR consuming Microsoft Office and Oracle APIs.

Software Quality Assurance Lead

2002 - 2006
Icono Multimedia — Grupo Legis
  • Pioneered the quality assurance team and executed and built software test scripts during the development of a CMS.
  • Automated testing procedures which resulted in 20% in time improvements and feedback cycles.
  • Established the technical support business line and enlarged the company revenue by $500,000/year.
  • Created process maps, flowcharts, work instructions, and billing structures for the department.
  • Maintained and supported client hosting platforms Windows NT/2003 Server Admin, SQL Server, Oracle, Active Directory, LDAP, IIS, .NET, PHP, Apache, MySQL, and email (SMTP) services which secured a $1-million long-term contract.
  • Designed and developed a custom help desk ticketing app for ABN Amro Bank—South America Division which secured a $1-million long-term contract.
  • Served as a post-sales point of contact by providing product admin training and developing and delivering admin and end-user guides.

LEAN Employee Onboarding Process | Wood PLC Americas

Boosted the new-hire IT onboarding process SLA from seven days to three days on average by enabling engineers and direct-cost employees throughout the Americas to be billable from day one while optimizing operating costs.

I led a globally dispersed and diverse IT team to conduct a LEAN value stream mapping analysis to minimize process lead and cycle times for employee onboarding in Wood Americas. This eliminated unnecessary steps, waiting (approvals) times, and changed the workflow from email to IM as the communication channel to run the process.

I also shared the mission with the team and applied servant leadership principles along with planning and running several sprints to do accomplish the following:

01. Identify reporting needs for data quality
02. Design a process map
03. Tune-up tools and track systems
04. Automate tasks
05. Establish daily stand-up meetings,
06. Run retrospectives

A significant improvement was reached in only one month where—in many cases—the team could complete the cycle within hours.

Timesheet Web App | Wood PLC Rio de Janeiro Operations

Ensured the visibility of the field crew's working schedules and improved by more than $300,000 in the revenue recognition process for Wood PLC's Brazil business unit.

I led product discovery workshops and developed a thorough business case by defining the project vision, mission, risks, and goals -including ROI, NPV, IRR analysis- and writing out the future benefits for the Revenue Recognition process.

I also designed and conveyed product features and non-functional requirements and facilitated the creation of a release plan while collaboratively created RFP with the supply chain management team. I then evaluated and scored proposals from the technical point of view, ensuring alignment with Wood PLC IT and InfoSec policies. I oversaw the execution and delivery of the product while coaching the product owner on the backlog grooming and prioritizing product features.

After six months the product was deployed to field workers, received positive feedback from end-users and stakeholders, and met the financial and quality objectives.

Technologies: HTML, XML, JSON, Microsoft C# .NET, SQL Server 2016, JavaScript, CSS, jQuery, IIS 7

Ticket Tracker Web App | Wood PLC Application Services Americas

Improved Wood's Americas application support team's SLAs (service level agreements) by by 30%.

I introduced the idea and the vision of a web-based app so that the dispersed Americas application support team tracked their work time against service tickets. An ambiguous application environment and unavailable ITSM application led to the Americas' IT VP and senior IT operations manager losing track of the team's performance and at the same time, user satisfaction levels were dropping.

With the operations manager as the product owner, myself as the scrum master, and three cross-functional software developers, we created a scrum team to build the solution that in less than three months and were fully live and operational in five countries across the Americas.

The solution involved designing and developing SQL Server Integration Services ELT packages, building a back-end SQL Server database, designing UI interfaces, charts and reports, and deploying on corporate IIS Servers (including DNS, SSL and NAT rules).

Technologies: Microsoft C# .NET, MVC, SQL Server 2016, SSIS ETL Packages, SSRS, JavaScript, CSS, jQuery, JSON, Git, IIS 7

Easy: LMS & Competency Management Web app | Wood PLC Latin America

Created e-learning and competency management that enabled a critical process for British Petroleum -Wood's biggest client in Colombia- where about 500 oil-&-gas remote technicians and field workers were trained and certified.

I led discovery sessions, documented, and analyzed functional requirements. Also, I designed the database model, screens, flows, and coded the entire solution using a combination of SOA architecture, database stored procedures, and SQL functions. The app was deployed on the company intranet deliver SSO enabled. A localization module was built to enable multilingual user interface

After nine months, the first release of the product served a 500 people contract with remote field locations in Casanare-Colombia. We made it easy to put in the repository of thousands of technical reference documents, oil-&-gas industry-relevant training material, audio & video presentations, procedures, work instructions, and hundreds of online tests designed to assess and validate The employees' experience and knowledge of the job at hand met client quality requirements.

Three months after we had a second release, included a qualitative assessment program to certify worker hands-on experience. The product was scalable to corporate functions and was deployed in Wood Peru operations for 200 employees.

Technologies: HTML, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, SQL Server, JavaScript, CSS, HTTP Web Services, SSO, Serialized Objects with JSON, and IIS 7.

ERP Upgrades | Wood PLC Brazil

Implemented an ERP system and managed functional enhancements while minimizing business liability risks valued in about $300,000 due to local Brazilian tax system complexity.

I managed a combined team of vendor consultants and software developers, finance analysts, tax consultants, and local application managers to revitalize the TOTVS RM (ERP) system that was partially implemented and offering limited functionality.
The Brazil management team was concerned about the liability risks on state and federal taxes, which were calculated and processed manually primarily due to misinformation and misunderstanding of the system's functional capabilities.
I facilitated discovery workshops and requirements sessions to understand priorities and process flow along with reimplementing the whole system which ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of US dollars that would have been spent in procuring additional systems penalties.
As a result, tax processing tasks were embedded into the ERP system—eliminating dual data entry and human error at the same time complying with up-to-date local tax regulations. I also led the development of ETL data integration packages with existing applications optimizing financial and operational tasks.

Custom HCM Modules | Wood PLC Colombia

Delivered three web modules of an in-house HCM for Wood's Colombia business which contributed to the information requirements, cost savings, and company innovation goals.

I led problem-statement and discovery sessions with stakeholders, created and presented a business case, and executed the whole SDLC from requirements to deployment and maintenance. I also designed and coded three web modules: an employee request form, a letter of employment, and one for employee information.
HCM Modules were accessible through the company intranet—enabling remote users to input data, run workflows, and provide HR management with a centralized data repository. Several SQL Server Reports were built to satisfy the information requirements needed for human resources to run their processes.
Technologies: HTML, JavaScript, XML, DOM, Microsoft ASP.NET, Visual Basic .NET, Web Services, SQL Server, SQL Server Reporting Services

IT Network and Active Directory Integrations | Wood PLC Americas

Connected 12 Wood subsidiaries across the US and South America to the corporate IT network and domain.

I was responsible for the planning and execution of a multi-year, multi-phased global program on Wood Americas' subsidiaries. I managed the strategic and tactical processes with Wood business managers, IT teams, and local vendors to set SMART goals relative to local environments, as well as obtaining project funding and resources.
In a span of five years, 12 regional companies were connected to the corporate network and more than 10,000 email and AD user objects were created. Some of the program objectives were to enable access to corporate applications and data resources natively along with access to systems via SSO and secure corporate information assets.

Azure Exchange and AD Integration | Wood PLC Americas

Facilitated the migration of about 3000 Wood users in the Americas from an on-premise exchange server to Azure AD.

This was a considerable big undertaking in volume after one of the largest company acquisitions in 2016 which boosted employee numbers from 40,000 to 80,000 worldwide.
I served as a liaison between the IT BPO partner (IBM) and Wood Americas to ensure the completion of a 3,000 email-and-AD-object migration to Azure cloud servers. The project involved email migration for users from subsidiaries, JVs, and corporate, including application, automated, and service accounts.
We conducted a thorough risk analysis and prioritization scheme with all business stakeholders—including C-suite, VPs, and senior managers—to determine what batches to migrate first and implement potential risk mitigation actions. I then tailored and presented a strong communication campaign in addition to disseminating messages among all organization levels along with capturing and addressing concerns. I also provided feedback to the technical teams and project managers, sought automation improvements, and ensured triage and incident response protocols post-migration.
The migration was completed in four months considering Wood's critical end-of-month/year dates and covered users in the US, Canada, and South America business units with minimum disruption.

CAPEX Workflow Web Solution | Wood PLC Americas

Led the development of a SharePoint based workflow solution to control capital expenditure requests while reducing substantial costs of equipment and building purchases/leases that are valued more than $10 million yearly.

I acted as a technical project manager and scrum master and managed a team of two business analysts, one SharePoint administrator, and one software developer. We created a dynamic web form to capture minimum data requirements and a user-customized workflow mapping the corporate delegation of the authority matrix. I also supported backlog grooming, led sprint planning, daily scrum meetings, and led the release planning in a six-month long project.
Release 1 was implemented in US operations; financial reports were included in Release 1.1. Release 2 included a currency conversion module and deployed in Latin America operations.
Technologies: HTML, JavaScript, SharePoint 2010, Nintex Workflow, SQL Server

Office Relocation (Network, Servers, End-point Devices) in Under One Week | Wood PLC Alaska

Coordinated the office relocation of 90 users including planning, resourcing, and procuring internet circuits, network setup, server, network hardware, and endpoint device moves in less than one week to support a multimillion project with BP Alaska

An adaptive, agile, and iterative approach was needed to accomplish this goal in such a short timeframe. In a record time of two days, I formed and orchestrated a new team comprised of an Alaskan IT vendor, a network engineer based in the UK, server engineers in India, and enterprise architects in the US.
After deploying the site BCP, we created a prioritized backlog with required tasks and agreed upon the minimum available services on a whiteboard with business stakeholders. That vision was enough to identify the resources required, estimate effort, negotiate time allocation, obtain approvals to mobilize team, and plan the activity.
The Result:
90 users were relocated successfully and basic services: internet circuit, network security setup, DNS, DHCP, Active Directory, document server, application server, database server, and a local file server were available within a week. Additional services (phone system, hosted applications, VPN connectivity with client and print server) were made available the following week.
A success case was portrayed in Wood's intranet worldwide and presented in various corporate town halls and meetings as an example of team core values of collaboration, care, and commitment.

Website Community for Stay-at-home Dads

Designed and launched a website for the stay-at-home dad community.

With 100% Kanban management techniques and implementations using Jira, Papytos.com is a personal effort to share and connect with stay-at-home dads. I designed the homepage and branding as well as deploying the web CMS and creating the blog categories, media, and content.
Technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP 7, Joomla, MySQL, IIS, SSL, Google Domains, Google Cloud, Google G-Suite

Help Desk Web App | ABN Amro Bank Latin America

Built and launched a web app on the ABN Amro intranet to provide corporate support service requests and tracking to an internal bank. The system improved by about 40% in response times and quality.

From the discovery phase to the SDLC (design, development, testing, and deployment), we came up with an innovative idea of reusing the core functionality of the existing help desk web app and scaling it out to create the main point of contact to place internal service requests.
I supported the product owner in prioritizing product backlog and defining functional requirements. I also designed and developed the web app on the ABN Amro intranet on Microsoft ASP.NET and SQL Server. We delivered three releases in six months; the web app was fully operational in three South American countries
Technologies: HTML, ASP, JavaScript, SQL Server 2000, CSS, IIS 7

Isolucion ISO 9000 Quality Management System | Multiple Clients in Latin America

https://web.isolucion.com.co/

Built and commercialized a web-based content management system that was customized to comply with ISO 9000 certification requirements. The product was sold to about 100 SMBs and enterprise clients.

I started as a software tester and created thorough user guides as well as providing content & quality management training. I developed modules for the CMS, a graphic fishbone analysis tool, a five-whys form, and an internal audit scheduler.
Isolucion is, to date, a lead product that provides companies seeking ISO certifications with a system that covers their requirements from end to end.
In my four-year tenure, I automated user and stress tests, deployed the system, and trained more than 50 clients in South America from various industries including healthcare, education, banking, environment, manufacturing, industrial, and telecom.
Technologies: HTML, JavaScript, CSS, ASP, ASP.NET. SQL Server, PHP, MySQL, Oracle Database
2011 - 2012

Completion of One Year of Graduate Study in Project Management with a Concentration in Information Systems

Universidad del Rosario - Bogota, Colombia

1999 - 2006

Bachelor of Science Degree in Systems Engineering

Universidad Católica De Colombia - Bogota, Colombia

AUGUST 2020 - AUGUST 2023

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

AWS (Amazon Web Services)

APRIL 2020 - APRIL 2023

PMI-ACP — Agile Certified Practitioner

Project Management Institute

MARCH 2015 - MARCH 2021

PMP — Project Management Professional

Project Management Institute

AUGUST 2009 - PRESENT

ITIL V3 Foundations

AXELOS

Tools

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Jira, Microsoft Project, SQL, Apache, Google Docs, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Slack, Zoom, Skype, G Suite, SQL Management Studio, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon EBS, AWS IAM, AWS CLI

Industry Expertise

Oil & Gas, Energy, Banking & Finance

Paradigms

Agile Project Management, Waterfall Delivery, Agile, Database Design, Requirements Analysis, Agile Leadership, Database Development, Kanban, Scrum, COBIT, Change Management, Key Performance Metrics, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Stress Testing

Platforms

Citrix, SharePoint 2010, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Database, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012, Joomla 3, Azure, SharePoint 365, Nintex Workflow, Windows, Amazon EC2

Other

Scrum Master, IT Project Management, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Discovery Workshops, Technical Project Management, Program Management, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Database Administration (DBA), IIS 7, Web Server (IIS), ITIL V3 Foundation Certified, Process Improvement, Team Mentoring, Leadership, Project Management Professional (PMP), User Requirements, Applications, Vendor Management, Waterfall Methodology, Microsoft 365, Team Leadership, Remote Work, Remote Team Leadership, Remote Support, Project Planning, Cross-cultural Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Enterprise, Flowcharts, Process Ownership, Business Process Modeling, Cross-departmental Collaboration, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Collaboration, Portfolio Management, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Analysis, Process Design, Business Process Flow Diagrams, Project Reporting, Reporting, Project Management, Agile Coaching, Project Estimation, Cost Estimation, Requirements & Specifications, Sprint Planning, Project Tracking, Software Development, SQL Server 2016, Web Development, Project Management Office (PMO), ASP.NET, QA Testing, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), IT Business Analysis, Financial Systems, Budget Management, Customer Support, Network Migration, IT Networking, English-Spanish Translation, Software as a Service (SaaS), ISO 9001, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Web, Web Applications, Business Applications, IPv4, IT Program Management, Certified Trainer, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Service Delivery, Lean IT, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), User Stories, Business Cases, Global Operations, Global Team Management, Relational Databases, Brainstorming, Vendor Selection, Service-level Agreements (SLA), SLA Management, IT Helpdesk, Creative Thinking, IT Governance, Business Analysis, Communication, Quality Assurance (QA), QA Leadership, Functional Mapping, Documentation, Process Documentation, GAP Analysis, BI Reports, Software Development Management, Offshore Team Management, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Backlog Grooming, Prototyping, Wireframing, Product Roadmaps, Roadmaps, Data Integration, IT Consulting, Management Consulting, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Team Building, Organizational Leadership, Team Management, Request for Proposal (RFP), Dashboards, Process Improvement Project Management, Coaching, Project Management Operations, IP Networks, Microsoft Azure, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, ETL Development, Azure Active Directory, Batch Files, Google Cloud, Web UI, App UI, Web App UX, Risk Management, Cloud Computing, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), AWS Cloud Computing Services, Amazon Route 53, AWS Lambda, PMO, IT Projects, IT Strategy, Procurement

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