David is available for hire
Hire DavidDavid Ainsburg
Verified Expert in Engineering
Technical Documentation Developer
Location
Woodstock, GA, United States
Toptal Member Since
February 20, 2020
David is a highly skilled technical communications professional with almost 10 years of experience in mission-critical enterprise projects. He brings documentation, content management, and compliance skills together to deliver top-tier knowledge services for information consumers.
Portfolio
CACI International, Inc.
C++, CSS, HTML, Draw.io, Confluence
Greene Resources, Inc. (for MaxPoint Interactive Inc.)
Spark, Hadoop, Apache, Draw.io, Confluence
Deegit, Inc. (for Wipro/Stryker Orthopaedics)
SOLIDWORKS, SharePoint, Microsoft 365
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
policyIQ, Microsoft 365, WordPress, Confluence
The most amazing...
...thing I've led is the upgrade of an enterprise's HTML file-based intranet to a modern content management system (Kentico CMS Intranet).
Work Experience
Technical Writer IV
2018 - 2018
CACI International, Inc.
- Supported the five-person technical documentation team as team lead.
- Created OOP software design documentation for proprietary C++ applications, tools, and utilities.
- Developed software function and data flow charts in Draw.io.
- Administered project content (as space admin) in the Confluence CMS.
- Created custom views in Confluence using macros, HTML, and CSS.
- Configured and tested add-ons (PDF Exporter, HTML Exporter) and worked with add-on vendors to resolve functional issues.
- Identified bugs and blockers and entered, tracked, and resolved issues in Jira (Kanban board).
- Created the visual design section of the style guide.
Technologies: C++, CSS, HTML, Draw.io, Confluence
Technical Writer
2016 - 2017
Greene Resources, Inc. (for MaxPoint Interactive Inc.)
- Conducted the discovery and documentation process with technical and business leadership (audit, IT, devops, HR, legal) to identify the in-scope processes and systems and to collect all relevant information for the deliverables.
- Created the SOC 2 system description for the company’s in-scope products to fulfill certification requirements.
- Collaborated with the information security manager to review and update the IT risk management controls to meet SOC 2 certification requirements.
- Collected and compiled business and IT control activity records and consulted on remediation strategies.
- Managed the project’s Confluence documentation as the secure space administrator.
- Created and updated IT and business policies and procedures to fulfill SOC 2 control requirements.
- Conducted application-level user access reviews and third-party risk assessments of data center vendors, financial, and sales system vendors for the SOX audit effort.
Technologies: Spark, Hadoop, Apache, Draw.io, Confluence
SOP Writer and UAT Writer/Tester
2015 - 2016
Deegit, Inc. (for Wipro/Stryker Orthopaedics)
- Created and updated SOPs and work instructions for an enterprise-wide CMS enhancement project (Windchill). I also created the documentation tracking tool for the effort.
- Created and conducted UAT testing for the revalidation and new version testing of a SharePoint-based collateral system to support compliance with 21 CFR part 820.30.
- Worked with offshore development team to map system design points and features to requirements to support the validation effort.
- Led an end-user (marketing) team in internal acceptance testing and documented the test results per QA processes.
Technologies: SOLIDWORKS, SharePoint, Microsoft 365
Technical Writer
2012 - 2013
Elliot Electric Supply
- Managed the company-wide IT change communications for business process improvement projects.
- Led the Kentico CMS project, acted as enterprise content manager and global administrator, configured the system for operation, and coded view templates and system functions using HTML and CSS.
- Wrote software manuals and process change notices, process and system manuals, and online tutorials.
- Onboarded and trained a new technical writer for the day-to-day communications functions.
- Completed projects (PCI DSS support, business process documentation, and customer-facing product materials) for the leadership team and purchasing, HR, training, and IT departments.
Technologies: Technology, CSS, HTML, Microsoft 365, Kentico
Cybersecurity Consultant
2010 - 2010
Black & Veatch (for Austin Water Utility)
- Interviewed key organizational personnel to discover mission-critical processes and impacts and document all in-scope systems.
- Reviewed the organization and industry’s threat history and collaborated on creating an appropriate threat agent library from the threat agent risk assessment (TARA) tool.
- Created a controls gap analysis of the City of Austin IT Policies and Procedures against the controls selected from NIST SP800-53r3, DHS CCSSR (Mar. 2010 release) and the City of Austin IT Policies and Procedures.
- Created the SCADA Cyber Security Project Findings and Recommendations Summary for the Risk Assessment Report.
- Created a security standards map between NIST SP800-53r3, DHS CCSS 2010, and CoA’s FISCAM controls.
- Created standards-compliant policies and procedures for seven NIST SP800-53 control families. Also peer-reviewed the PnP sets for the remaining control families for compliance and quality assurance.
Technologies: Microsoft 365, Snort, SCADA, SPARQL, Microsoft SQL Server
Technical Writer
2008 - 2009
Infowave Systems (for ISO New England)
- Performed engineering subject matter interviews, prepared and presented planning materials, and created technical documentation for a shared-services asset management system.
- Presented the shared-services asset management system to partner entities.
- Conducted discovery, documentation, and system categorization to update the critical assets list and collect all available in-scope information.
- Executed a compliance review for CIP 002 through 009 and updated the compliance project plan for the effort.
- Wrote and executed test planning for compliant and substantially compliant requirements for CIP 002 through 009.
- Conducted remediation consultation and management for IT and business requirements.
- Created the findings report for the internal audit and cybersecurity departments.
- Led the IT policy and procedure review cycle and updated documentation for remediations and process updates.
Technologies: Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft 365
IT Audit and GRC System Consultant
2005 - 2007
Resources Global Professionals (for Enterprise Clients)
- Led the implementation of a combined GRC and PnP CMS (policyIQ).
- Performed all CMS configuration and content management activities from lights-on to launch and trained all personnel with content management responsibilities.
- Provided compliance reporting for risk management, performed access control testing for JD Edwards and prepared the critical spreadsheet inventory.
- Supported Sarbanes-Oxley audit preparation efforts for RGP’s clients as an on-site consultant.
- Conducted Sarbanes-Oxley audit preparation activities (risk assessment support, system categorization, control reviews, control testing, remediation consultation, and compliance reporting) for RGP clients. My work was audited by PWC, KPMG, and EY.
Technologies: Microsoft SQL Server, Applications, Cisco Networking, policyIQ
Technical Writer
2005 - 2005
Yoh, Inc. San Diego (for Nanogen Inc.)
- Coordinated with management and external audit to create the scope of work for the IT portion of Nanogen, Inc.’s first-year Sarbanes-Oxley audit.
- Created a full IT policy manual to support the IT department's compliance with control objectives. All work passed review by external audit (Ernst & Young).
- Created system security, incident response, backup operations, and helpdesk SOPs to support the IT department's compliance with control objectives. All work passed review by external audit (Ernst & Young).
Technologies: Microsoft 365
Technical Writer
2005 - 2005
Modis (for Biomed Realty Trust, Inc.)
- Created the IT policy and procedure documentation for the first-year Sarbanes-Oxley audit of a publicly owned REIT firm. All work passed review by a Big 4 external auditor (KPMG).
- Coordinated the IT Sarbanes-Oxley compliance initiative and served as the IT liason to the internal audit team (Resources Global Professionals).
- Created and conducted web-based multimedia training for the company’s ethical business program as implemented in PolicyIQ.
Technologies: policyIQ, Microsoft SQL Server, Adobe Captivate, Microsoft 365
Production Reporting Assistant
2004 - 2004
Socal Staffing (for American Mortgage Network)
- Utilized Excel, Crystal Reports, and AS400 queries to create and distribute mortgage pipeline reports to all brokers and responsible departments.
- Conducted a process improvement project to revise the reporting process to directly query the AS400 system with Excel. This shortened the process by 60% and saved 2-4 hours per day.
- Wrote the production administration operations manual for the department and trained my replacement for the position.
Technologies: AS400, Crystal Reports, Microsoft Excel
Technical Writer (Training Development)
2004 - 2004
Socal Staffing (for Newgen Results)
- Worked with subject matter experts from departments to discover, document, and validate business processes, departmental procedures, and work checklists.
- Created graphical training materials for all application procedures and validated them with the subject matter experts before delivery to the project manager.
- Created IL training materials for an in-house web application under development at the time.
Technologies: Microsoft 365, Clarity Appraisal Toolkit, Oracle
Technical Training Writer
2004 - 2004
Biogen Idec, Inc. (Self-Employed)
- Interviewed business and IT stakeholders and key operational personnel to understand their current and future processes and change management activities in place.
- Used the collected knowledge to create effective application workflows and produce the Sales CRM training and onboarding manuals.
- Delivered instructor-led training (ILT) to a class of 20+ people.
Technologies: Microsoft 365, Siebel CRM
Experience
Sample of End-user Change Notice
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IT9UZqXXdo11NYsfIab-UAIaCXvZeY-X/viewI created this sample to demonstrate writing for a tricky change-notice situation. In this scenario, non-technical end-users are seriously impacted by a sideboard feature change pushed with essential security patches in the release of a major version by the vendor.
This document notifies users of the change, informs them as to the impacts on their normal workflow, and trains them to use an alternate workflow to complete their tasks. It accomplishes its mission-critical goals using natural language and terminology suited to the audience and maintains the company's standardized format for change notices.
This document notifies users of the change, informs them as to the impacts on their normal workflow, and trains them to use an alternate workflow to complete their tasks. It accomplishes its mission-critical goals using natural language and terminology suited to the audience and maintains the company's standardized format for change notices.
Sample High-level Business Process (Visio)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z_urWW7BHTqHd4eVdMKxFaIQCEkUKt1Z/viewThis sample demonstrates my Visio process mapping abilities. I generated a fictional business scenario and created this high-level flowchart with custom stencils designed by myself for the purpose.
Sample Regulated Content Review and Approval Process
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gpo4ATxkvY-IGmOZmuu5HaVXaFPDgjRp/viewI created this sample to demonstrate my ability to create key business process flowcharts. I chose a content review and approval process because it is a both a mission-critical enterprise process and a core process for my own compliance-related documentation work.
Sample of Accelerated-development Subsystem Design
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjpK8AG70-Gd4oTNVUAL_7EVMRljQdfZ/view?usp=sharingI created this sample to demonstrate how innovative design documentation can accelerate the development process. In this scenario, business analysts and system architects have collaborated to produce a diagram which bridges the process gap between raw requirements and system programming. A programmer can easily apply this information to develop their programming approach for the desired subsystem.
Sample Low-weight API Documentation
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ookPtdjKQ0prWQPOstr-gk3w_QbayLjP/viewMost development efforts benefit greatly from API-level documentation, but building and maintaining an API documentation system is more than most companies can support.
I created this sample as an example of a low-weight API document for an EDI-focused implementation of an XML protocol.
I created this sample as an example of a low-weight API document for an EDI-focused implementation of an XML protocol.
Sample PCI 4.1 Test (Web Server Encryption)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xneFHhgCF7aQcx3cVpH_Iy5wSeoTWdGU/viewI created this sample to demonstrate my compliance testing ability and enhance my knowledge of web server security measures. I chose the PCI DSS 4.x requirements, generated a business scenario and wrote testing for all 4.x requirements. This sample is my test of web server encryption per PCI DSS 3.0 Req. 4.1.
Formal Policy and Procedure for a Regulated Environment
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BBQQzdvrW1JkxNxoIXrZkxNfE4_tMpXC/viewI created this original sample to demonstrate my ability to create standards-compliant policies and procedures for a regulated industry. I chose the NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards as I had previous experience with them. A new requirement (002-5) had just been added so I chose the 002-5.1 sub-requirement for this sample.
Skills
Tools
Microsoft Word, Confluence, Kentico, Draw.io, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apache, SOLIDWORKS, Snort, Adobe Captivate, Siebel CRM, Clarity Appraisal Toolkit, Crystal Reports, Google Docs
Other
Technical Documentation, Policies & Procedures Compliance, Business Process Flow Diagrams, Style Guides, Workflow Diagrams, Microsoft 365, policyIQ, Technology, SCADA, Cisco Networking, Applications, AS400, Open Source CMS
Platforms
WordPress, SharePoint, Oracle
Languages
C++, SPARQL, HTML, CSS
Frameworks
Hadoop, Spark
Storage
Microsoft SQL Server
Education
2002 - 2003
Certification Program in Business applications
San Diego Community College - San Diego CA
1981 - 1982
"A" School Certification in Acoustic Physics, Mechanical Engineering
US Navy - Jacksonville FL
Certifications
AUGUST 2006 - PRESENT
Sarbanes-Oxley
Resources Global Professionals
JUNE 2003 - PRESENT
MS Office Applications
San Diego Community College
Collaboration That Works
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