Tonya Emmerich, Project Manager in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
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Tonya Emmerich

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Toptal member since February 8, 2019

Bio

Tonya has spent over a decade in Agile software development as a project manager and business analyst. She's experienced in planning, implementing, and delivery of medium to large-scale IT projects and programs—working with all levels of business stakeholders as well as development teams, both on- and offshore. Tonya's worked on various high-profile projects for multinationals within the recruitment, media, advertising, and music industry.

Project Highlights

YouTube Asset Delivery and Management System (ADAM)
The ADAM Rules Engine enabled Universal Music Group to claim user generated content on YouTube.
Universal Music Group | Media Portal
A showcase on how successful software development projects are run within an Agile framework.
GroupM MVP for Cross-agency Multichannel Advertising Campaign Planning and Reporting System
Created an MVP to illustrate insights/efficiencies that GroupM and its agencies would get by having access to campaign data.

Expertise

  • Agile Project Management
  • Healthcare
  • Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
  • Offshore Team Management
  • Request for Proposal (RFP)
  • Scrum
  • Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
  • Stakeholder Management

Work Experience

Business Architect | Project Manager

2019 - PRESENT
Infocare
  • Implemented a change management process using Jira templates and workflow.
  • Created and implemented processes and templates in Confluence and Jira to support product owners to ensure the definition of MVP requirements support Agile and to ensure traceability from a prioritized backlog through to implementation functionality.
  • Reviewed tactical and strategic business architecture goals of the organization to support their move to Agile and the ability to adopt traceability.
  • Supervised the discovery phase for the adoption of third-party software to support the organization's master data management requirements.
  • Oversaw the implementation of the organization's document management system and associated processes.
  • Assisted in defining requirements and technology selection for the mobile app MVP development project.
  • Assisted in implementing various improvements to the web-based application within the Agile Software development framework.

Freelance Business Analyst

2016 - 2017
Bonfire IT
  • Created technical narratives and user journey flow diagrams that were used to secure funding to build various mobile applications.

Project Manager | Business Analyst

2012 - 2016
GroupM
  • Acted as an analyst and product owner during the development of an MVP for a cross-agency multi-channel advertising campaign planning and reporting system.
  • Managed and implemented change requests to existing HR and finance systems using the Agile software development framework, working with offshore development teams.
  • Served as a project manager and business analyst during the initiation phase of the Global Microsoft Dynamics CRM Implementation which included the RFP process and vendor selection.
  • Oversaw the agency adoption of the existing system(s) that provided automated digital post-campaign analysis reports, working with offshore development teams.

Project Manager | Business Analyst

2011 - 2012
London Borough of Camden
  • Served as a project manager and business analyst in charge of business process re-engineering and process modeling on all of the human resource and finance processes.
  • Defined project parameters, prioritized tasks, made estimations and delivered status updates to senior stakeholders.
  • Modeled as-is and to-be process models and defined the system requirements where to-be processes required system enhancements and/or automation—this included RFP and vendor selection.

Consulting Project Manager | Business Analyst for Universal Music Group

2010 - 2011
Release Consulting Limited
  • Developed a YouTube asset delivery and management system (ADAM) in conjunction with INgrooves and DigiPlug (Accenture) for Universal Music Group, within the Agile software development framework.
  • Implemented a business analysis on the system and integration requirements with upstream digital supply chain systems.
  • Oversaw the weekly status updates, reports, and liaisons with the business stakeholders.
  • Wrote test cases, performed and managed the testing execution of the systems (including integrations).
  • Performed data analysis (Oracle/SQL) to ensure the data quality of upstream data sources.
  • Scheduled and managed the data migration.
  • Liaised with on- and offshore architecture and development teams.
  • Documented the business rules and user guide.

Project Manager | Business Analyst

2010 - 2010
Robert Walters
  • Used an Agile approach and implemented a CMS for all of the company web material.
  • Oversaw the management of the company's CRM system.

Consulting Project Manager | Business Analyst for Universal Music Group

2009 - 2010
Release Consulting Limited
  • Worked on the ongoing analysis, development, testing, and implementation of change requests to an existing web-based system (a media portal for Universal Music Group) built on the Microsoft .NET framework.
  • Successfully used the Agile software development framework—Scrum with monthly iterations by having daily Scrums, sprint planning meetings, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.
  • Conducted a business analysis of a change request to an existing system and integration with other systems in the digital supply chain.
  • Acted as the product owner in maintaining a product backlog.
  • Implemented weekly status updates—reporting and liaising with business stakeholders.
  • Created test cases and conducted and coordinated the user acceptance testing which included integration testing with upstream and downstream systems.
  • Provided support to system users.
  • Liaised with on- and offshore architecture and development teams.
  • Created sprint plans for our sprints which included planning required of QA and UAT.

Business Analyst

2007 - 2009
Michael Page International
  • Analyzed all as-is billing and CRM processes for the purposes of developing and subsequently modeling a global TO-BE business process. This included running workshops with the MPI financial and operational stakeholder group across the globe.
  • Participated in SOA workshops to discover, assess, define, and qualify the business capabilities for Michael Page International using Microsoft's Business Architecture Framework (MSBA).
  • Documented, presented and signed-off of on the following a vision document, solution requirements specification (SRS), use cases, functional and non-functional requirements & wireframes, and business capabilities definition and business service definition documents.
  • Created a client billing request for a proposal (RFP) document and was responsible for vendor selection. Also managed the PoC (Proof of Concept) phase during vendor selection.
  • Participated in enterprise logical data modeling workshops to identify and model logical entities, attributes, and relationships to support system requirements.
  • Created and documented (in Visio and Enterprise Architect) entity relationship diagrams, logical data models and conceptual data models.
  • Analyzed and documented system integration requirements between the finance (including CODA-Financials), CRM, and payroll systems.
  • Modeled business processes by using BPMN in the ORACLE BPMN Studio.
  • Liaised with on- and offshore architecture and development teams.
  • Participated in usability workshops and reviewed and assessed new system application screens.

Business Analyst

2007 - 2007
Psybergate (Pty) Ltd
  • Consulted on the FirstRand Bank Limited "Message Handling and Management Recommendation" project to recommend replacement software to support its SWIFT transactions.
  • Created a high-level business process model which identified all of the processes that fell within the scope of the analysis; a requirements model that identified the automation requirements based on the process model and a recommendation report (including roll-out plan) that mapped the automation requirements to the various software solutions.
  • Implemented a business analysis of the Prude Health "Client Management Business Quote Tool Software Development" project within the Agile software development framework.
  • Created technical products in UML using Enterprise Architect.
  • Consulted and analyzed the business for the "Mobility" project for the University of the Witwatersrand.
  • Researched wireless technologies and defined the university business processes and associated functional and non-functional requirements that needed to be facilitated by these wireless technologies.
  • Consulted on the learning management system (LMS) evaluation project for the University of the Witwatersrand and compared the open source (Sakai) and a commercial (Blackboard WebCT Vista) LMS products used by the university.

Business Analyst

2007 - 2007
Ingwe Consulting CC
  • Acted as a business analyst and was responsible for process re-engineering of legal processes for the Business Optimisations Department at the MTN South Africa Head Office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Conducted interviews and gathered information.
  • Compiled business cases: user requirement specifications as well as cost-benefit analysis documents.

Candidate Attorney

2006 - 2007
Nelson Borman & Partners, Inc.
  • Completed my required year as a candidate attorney while attending and completing law school, after which I was admitted as an attorney in South Africa in 2007.

Engineer Intern

2004 - 2005
Meritec (Pty) Ltd
  • Successfully completed the engineering internship required for a BEng in industrial engineering.
  • Implemented the Forward ERP System for Polytech Interior SA (Pty) Ltd (at the factory responsible for the assembly of the door panel for the 3-series BMW).
  • Corrected the bill of materials of the ERP System.
  • Created training manuals on how to use the ERP system on the assembly line.
  • Trained others in how to use the ERP system.

YouTube Asset Delivery and Management System (ADAM)

The ADAM Rules Engine enabled Universal Music Group to claim user generated content on YouTube.

Here, I developed the YouTube Asset Delivery and Management System (ADAM) in conjunction with INgrooves and DigiPlug (Accenture) for Universal Music Group, within the Agile software development framework.

ADAM system rationalized "product-based" claiming rights, sourced from the UMG Digital Supply Chain to an "asset level" in order to comply by the YouTube XML delivery specification.

The ADAM Rules Engine enabled UMG to claim user-generated content (owned by UMG or their clients) on YouTube.

This was a very complex project not only in terms of requirements (for the rules engine) but also due to the fact I had to coordinate with various teams across the globe.

Universal Music Group | Media Portal

A showcase on how successful software development projects are run within an Agile framework.

Here, I implemented product backlog requirements to an existing web-based system (a media portal for Universal Music Group, built on the Microsoft .NET framework) within an Agile software development framework (Scrum).

We successfully released new increments every four weeks. It was a pleasure to work on this project!

FirstRand Bank Limited SWIFT Message Handling and Management Recommendation Project

Identified, re-engineered, and mapped processes within the scope of the replacement system(s) for SWIFT messaging.

The main goal was to evaluate and recommend a proper replacement by either MINT or SUN Microsystems JCAPS for FirstRand Bank. This involved a complex process and system analysis, re-engineering, and documenting the business functions performed by the software (MERVA and TRECON) FirstRand Bank Limited Group—the software had been mainly used to support its message handling and management transactions (SWIFT).

I successfully identified all of the processes that fell within the scope of the analysis. I then created a requirements model that identified the automation requirements based on the process model and wrote a recommendation report (including roll-out plan) that mapped the automation requirements to the various software solutions.

GroupM MVP for Cross-agency Multichannel Advertising Campaign Planning and Reporting System

Created an MVP to illustrate insights/efficiencies that GroupM and its agencies would get by having access to campaign data.

At the time, WPP’s agencies did not have a solution that met their needs—their campaign planners and buyers were not able to create campaign plans that could capture the crucial data.

Not only did this create a missed opportunity to gain valuable insights from the data but it resulted in various issues:
• For client plan creation, too much time was being spent aggregating individual media plans
• Multiple versions of plans were not stored centrally—resulting in no reporting opportunities
• Non-standardized client reporting
• Inefficient planning processes
• Duplicate data entries
• Inaccurate forecasting

This project would have a huge impact on how planners completed their day-to-day work. It was, therefore, challenging to create an MVP that would excite and make planners want to use the new system. Agency adoption was crucial in securing funding for further development of the system.

Therefore the MVP was built as a solution that was very similar to what planners were used to but with the addition of having to reference the master data and saving the data for reporting purposes. To cut complexity and reduce risk, a phased roll-out was agreed upon whereby the MVP would be used on only a few campaigns.
2002 - 2005

Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) Degree in Systems Engineering

University of Pretoria - Pretoria, South Africa

1998 - 2001

Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree in Law

University of Pretoria - Pretoria, South Africa

JULY 2014 - PRESENT

Foundation Certification in IS Project Management

The British Computer Society

APRIL 2014 - PRESENT

IPA Foundation Certificate

Institute of Practitioners in Advertising

APRIL 2014 - PRESENT

BCS Certificate in Requirements Gathering

The British Computer Society

Tools

Jira, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Test Manager, Microsoft Team Foundation Server, Asana, Slack, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle Business Process Management (BPM), Microsoft Power BI

Paradigms

Agile Project Management, Scrum, Kanban, PRINCE2

Industry Expertise

Music, Law, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Creative Talent Recruitment Industry, Healthcare, Government, Telecommunications

Platforms

iOS, Android

Other

Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Project Management, Business Analysis, Business Process Analysis, Business Process Modeling, Business Process Re-engineering, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Media, Advertising, Legal, Offshore Team Management, Project Delivery, Project Lifecycle, Project Analysis, Supply Chain, CRM Systems, Stakeholder Management, Enterprise, Request for Proposal (RFP), UML, Discovery, Analysis, Process Design, Business Architecture, Technical Business Analysis, Finance, Enterprise Architecture, ASP.NET

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