Kinjal Patel

patel.kinjal.ba@gmail.com | (816) 699-2841

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--SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS--
Goal-oriented Business Analyst with 6+ years of diversified experience in Bankin
g, Finance, Insurance and Educational industries. Proven ability to conduct feas
ibility studies and translate Business needs into technology requirements with e
xperience in SDLC, Quality Assurance and Project Management.
* Experienced in effectively handling various phases in software life cycle usin
g tools and methodologies such JAD Sessions, Waterfall, Rational Unified Process
(RUP), Data and process modeling.
* Sound working knowledge of Data collection, Data Mapping, creating Test Plans
and Test cases
* Highly proficient in interacting with stakeholders and authoring Use Cases, Us
e Case diagrams, Sequence diagrams, Activity Diagrams, Class diagram, State-char
t diagram, etc based on UML methodology using tools like MS Visio and Rational R
ose.
* Experienced in performing Gap analysis by identifying existing technologies, a
nd documenting enhancements to meet the end-state requirements.
* Familiarity with testing techniques including Integration testing, System test
ing, Volume testing, Regression testing , User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Securit
y testing
* Six Sigma Green belt certified along with knowledge of Statistical tools
* Sound experience with both client server and internet technology projects incl
uding implementation of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques
--BUSINESS ANALYSIS/ DOCUMENTATION SKILLS--
Requirements Gathering, Requirements Management, Business Process research, anal
ysis & documentation, Use Case Modeling, Workflow design and analysis, UCD proce
ss, JAD Sessions, Checkpoint meetings, Gap Analysis, Data Analysis, Writing SQL
queries, SDLC Methodologies - Waterfall, RUP, Agile (SCRUM, XP), System Requirem
ents Specification document (SRS), Functional Specifications document (FSD), Tra
ceability Matrices, Test plans, Test cases, Test Scenarios.
--EDUCATION--
*Wayne State University, Detroit, MI M.E. Industrial Technology
*University of Greenwich, United Kingdom Master of Science in Information System
s
*Gujarat University, India Bachelor of Science in Me
chanical Engineering

--PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE--
NRCCUA, Kansas City, MO Mar 2008 - Present
Business System Analyst/ Project Manager
The key concept of this initiative is to engage high school students in their co
llege preparation process by providing various online tools and resources. The p
rojects mainly involved identifying and researching user needs (from internal co
nsultants and counselors) and introducing new functionalities for the MCO applic
ation. Other major initiatives included building requirements for Campaign manag
ement, Ad Serving platform, college and scholarship matching algorithm.
* Analyzed company's internal business process and researched competitor's proce
sses to make recommendations on software behavior, and pointed out areas for imp
rovement
* Conducted Cost Benefit Analysis for the management team to help them with deci
sion making.
* Recommended enhancements to a multi-year student outreach campaign that lead t
o an increase in annual profit to over $1.2 million.
* Translated the business requirements into functional specifications, user inte
rface mockups, reporting, tracking and other non functional requirements.
* Assisted the design team, offshore development and testing team in understandi
ng business requirements and functional specifications.
* Managed projects from start to finish and escalated potential issues to the VP
of Products.
* Directly reported and escalated potential issues to the VP of Products.
* Implemented SEO that led to higher site ranking and gave boost to organic traf
fic leading to increased member registrations by over 26%.
* Conduced feasibility studies and developed requirements on API integration, wi
dgets, blogging and site redesign.
* Trained internal users on the product usage and extracting reports using Omnit
ure.
* Performed data quality analysis and ad hoc reporting requests using SQL.
* Worked with marketing and products team to establish clear business priorities
and goals.
* Led significant effort towards project management, QA testing, bug handling, c
hange requests
Environment: MS Visio, Dot NET, SQL, Access, FogBugz, Omniture, Unica.

PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP, Des Moines, IA Mar 2007 - Feb 2008

Business Analyst
The project aimed at automating calculations and improving Marketer experience.
The main focus of the project was to centralize the compensation calculations fo
r multiple business units and automate it within TrueComp. The processing window
included the period of time from the delivery of Customer's Sales Transaction D
ata to the time Compensation information is made available to the Customer's Pay
roll department and Reports are made available to the Sales Personnel.
* Defined scope and business rules of the project, gathered business requirement
s based on UCD process and documented them textually and using models.
* Implemented an integrated RUP solution with complete line of traceability for
all the artifacts. The Project was streamlined through all phases starting from
Inception through Transition.
* Interacted with the SME's and stakeholders to get a better understanding of cl
ient business processes and gather business requirements.
* Studied various Marketer Compensation Plans and incorporated them into require
ments artifacts.
* Created Process Responsibility Matrix using Excel to identify and group high l
evel processes and determine reusability of low level activities.
* Created User Interfaces mockups and identified various security requirements.
* Identified Scenarios and conducted Usability Testing on new User Interfaces
* Responsible for writing Non-functional requirements such as usability, scalabi
lity, reliability, performance, security, etc.
* Presented key business decisions to leadership for their approval.
* Documented Requirement Traceability Matrix in Requisite Pro for traceability o
f requirements through test cases.
* Worked closely with the testing team to identify and review critical end to en
d test scenarios that meet business requirements.
Environment: Java, MS Visio, Mercury Quality Center, Enterprise Incentive Manage
ment (TrueComp)

BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN, Southfield, MI 2005 - 2007

Business Process Analyst
The project entailed incorporation of the client letter generating system. The s
ystem would allow use of templates to generate and send letters to customers eve
ry time a change (Product closure, customer initiated changes, company initiated
 changes, account termination etc.) occurred on the account. The requirement was
to identify and replace the current manually generated letter system with the a
utomated letter generating system (ALGS), analyze impact on business, and foreca
st a quarterly savings pattern. The project involved use of SIX SIGMA methodolog
y.
* Performed Requirement Gathering & Analysis by actively soliciting, analyzing a
nd negotiating customer requirements and prepared the requirements specification
document for the application using Microsoft Word.
* Conducted Time Studies and Value Stream Mapping to aid in the Cost Benefit Ana
lysis.
* Led efforts towards streamlining process flows and reduced Non-Value added tim
e by over 18% across various business units.
* Conducted project kickoff meetings with team members to explain roles / respon
sibilities, relationships with other groups, deliverables, timelines, assignment
s and status reporting.
* Created RUP activity diagrams and sequence diagrams to analyze the requirement
s and recommend solutions.
* Prepared Use Case & UML State Diagram for scenarios using Rational Rose.
* Prepared presentations in MS PowerPoint, which was extensively used in differe
nt JAD sessions.
* Assisted the technical team in translating application functionality into appl
ication architecture.
* Clarified QA team issues and reviewed test plans and test scripts developed by
QA team to make sure that all requirements will be covered in scripts and teste
d properly.

LLOYDS TSB BANK, United Kingdom 2003- 2004

Process Analyst
An Online Banking project initiated to reengineer online banking website for bet
ter self-managed online banking services and minimizing transaction cost for the
client. The main focus of the project was to upgrade the existing system by enh
ancing the functionalities such as Online Billing and transaction information, o
nline money transfers between different accounts and introduction of new product
s.
* Researched and analyzed client processes, documented workflows and results of
Business Analysis and obtained sign-off from the client on specifications.
* Created Ishikawa diagrams to identify root causes and identified areas for imp
rovement.
* Conducted GAP Analysis on existing products and recommended areas for improvem
ent
* Used SQL queries to extract data from the database and conducted Data Quality
analysis in Excel.
* Responsible for paper prototyping of the interface and usability testing formu
lating the TO-BE features based on the business requirements.
* Assisted with project planning, project scheduling and status reporting, cost
and time estimation using MS Project.

--TRAINING--
UML, Use Case Driven Requirements, Requirements on Agile Projects, Requisite Pro
, Business Process Analysis, True Comp, Omniture, SIX SIGMA
--COMPUTER SKILLS--
* Programming languages: C, SQL, PL/SQL
* Modeling tools: Rational Rose, MS Visio
* Project/Requirements Management tools: MS Project, MS SharePoint, Rational Req
uisite Pro
* Databases: Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, MS Excel, MS Access
* Testing tools: Rational Clear Quest, Mercury Test Director
* Operating systems: Windows 95, NT, 2000, XP
* Other Applications: MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook