Kamalakar Devarakonda
Sr.Project Manager
Frisco,TX
Summary
Over 18 years’ experience in Program & Project Leadership, Project Management, Release Management, Resource Management, Business Analysis, and Test Analysis accompanied with proactive leadership, multitasking and problem-solving skills.
Versatile Senior Manager skilled at planning, implementing and overseeing key improvements to drive business growth and efficiency. History of cultivating an open culture with free exchange of information. Pursuing new professional challenges with a growth-oriented company.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
9
9
years of post-secondary education
6
6
Certifications
Work History
Senior Manager IT
Texas State
Frisco, TX
07.2023 - Current
- Worked with IT Director in preparing SOW/contracts with external third-party application provider
- Delivered multiple large and medium sized projects across business areas
- Managed project budgets > 2MM and team sizes between 10-15 spread geographically
- Adept at managing vendors in an onsite-offshore model
- Managed all aspects of the projects including staffing, budget, schedule, vendor relations, development, testing and deployment
- Created and maintained detailed Project Management Plans to manage individual projects across programs
- Identified ways to leverage resources across the projects within the Program to save money and meet schedule
- Regularly updated Budget Forecast and tracked monthly actuals to keep budget on track
- Developed 'AS-IS' and 'TO BE' business processes working with identified stakeholders for migrating on premise to cloud
- Implemented devops practices in multiple projects by using tools for Continuous Integration and Continuous deployments to Non-Production and Production environments
- Conducted requirements workshops and interviews to elicit requirements from stakeholders
- Coordinated with Devops, Development, Data
- QA, UI, and UX group for timely completion of designs for building application
- Worked with architects and tech leads to identify sound technical design solutions for application
- Prepared project artifacts such as project charter, project plan, communication plan, Risk/Issue log, project reports
- Maintained all project documents on MS SharePoint for ready availability for all stakeholders
- Proactively worked with stakeholders in identifying project risks and developing risk mitigation plans; Actively monitored, managed, and closed project issues/risks
- Planned and defined testing approach after consulting with development teams providing advice on prioritization of testing activity in support of identified risks in project schedules or test scenarios
- Worked closely with system administrators, enterprise architects and solution architects in defining hardware requirements for application deployments
- Work with change management teams for changes to be deployed to production
Senior Project Manager
Sentara Healthcare
Frisco, Texas
01.2023 - 07.2023
- Worked closely with procurement and management to identify vendor for talent management system
- Negotiated and closely worked with Kenexa team to implement system for Sentara
- Documented business requirements in Project Charter and gained approval from all stakeholders
- Worked as key liaison between business team and Vendor IT team in customizing application to Sentara needs
- Provided product demo of developed functionality to product owners and solicited feedback
- Facilitated daily scrum for development team in tracking task completion towards sprint objectives
- Coordinated and participated in sprint retrospective
- Conducted JAD sessions and user workshops for eliciting business requirements from stakeholders
- Formulated test strategy for QA team on consultation withdevelopment team; Managed QA activities for project resulting in fewer bugs
- Worked with UI, UX teams to ensure designs met business needs of stakeholder
- Tracked project progress on ongoing basis ensuring that delivery remains on time and milestones are met
- Communicated Project status to identified project stakeholders via status meetings & Project reports
- Actively monitored projects for potential risks before escalated and realized by developing action plans
- Coordinated project activities with multiple internal business teams and external vendors as necessary
- Participated in reviewing contract agreements while selecting vendors for software services/applications
- Aligned development team on project goal & objectives from time to time to stay focused
- Developed Test Strategy working with QA Manager; Ensured thorough testing of deliverables by external development team as well as internal QA team to achieve bug free product
- Provided constant clarifications on project objectives, scope and other activities to development team and other stakeholders
- Provided rollout/release support during application deployment into production environment
Project Manager / Scrum Master
Oracle
Frisco, Texas
05.2022 - 12.2022
- Collaborated with product owners to groom product backlog and sprint backlog
- Conducted daily scrum (stand ups) with project team to ensure smooth going, to create visibility of team’s progress and to identify any potential risks
- Escalated and removed any road blocks faced by team in achieving sprint objectives
- Monitored 30 member team’s burn rate/velocity to ensure sprint and project objectives are being met
- Facilitated sprint retrospectives by ensuring active participation from team for identifying achievements, accessing process improvement areas, identifying project risk/impediments that needs attention
- Performed sprint review showing sprint deliverables and soliciting feedback from stakeholders
- Ensured new changes (new stories) to product scope are handled correctly by reviewing it with team, understanding its impact to following sprints and project schedule, and prioritizing it as needed
- Addressed and removed any roadblocks faced by development team in achieving sprint objectives
- Developed project deployment plan working closely with system administrators, database administrators and infrastructure team
- Monitored team’s progress on sprint by monitoring closed tasks and burn rate
- Facilitated retrospectives by ensuring active participation from team for identifying achievements, accessing process improvement areas, identifying project risk/impediments that needs attention
- Documented and maintained all project artifacts including project charter, project plan, communication plan, Risk/Issue log, project reports
- Proactively monitored project progress to identify, track and mitigate risks
- Completed Vendor Risk Assessment, Application Risk Assessment and Production Readiness Approval at appropriate phases of project
- Reported program status to senior leadership and to steering committee on regular basis
Project Manager
Fedex
Frisco, Texas
04.2021 - 05.2022
- Managed simultaneous execution of multiple small-medium projects
- Executed and delivery projects utilizing onsite-offshore delivery model
- Facilitated requirement workshops with stakeholders to elicit, analyze and document business needs
- Ensured thorough functional specifications were developed for identified business requirements
- Developed to development team during design reviews to achieve better design and correct effort estimation
- Prioritized and allocated tasks to align deliverables from offshore team
- Managed QA activities to ensure requirements/specifications were translated into thorough test plans, and ensured proper integration testing have been completed before UAT
- Worked with infrastructure team, data warehousing team to update data marts for state of Pennsylvania project
- Deployed Power BI application by working closely with release management team
- Facilitated User Acceptance Testing with business users and provided implementation/rollout support
- Coordinated development of appropriate user documentation
- Managed testing in all test environments as per plan; Facilitated UAT and sign off with stakeholders
- Provided necessary support for application rollout and post launch validation from stakeholders
- Provided coaching and mentoring to team members as appropriate to improve understanding, collaboration and to achieve strong performing teams
- Effectively managed key project initiatives through all phases of SDLC
- Developed detailed Project Plans and Timelines highlighting key milestones and system dependencies for smooth execution and tracking purposes; gained agreement and acceptance of these schedules with all stakeholders
- Created and presented effective project and product presentations for Senior Management to help make well-informed decision
Project Manager
NTT Data State of Texas
Frisco, Texas
04.2017 - 03.2021
- Managed and delivered the project from initiation through closing
- Developed the project charter and business requirements for all the modules based on interviews with the customer
- Held regular status meetings as the Project Manager to keep track of the status
- Tracked the status of the project and communicated with business regularly
- Created and maintained Risk Log, Risk Register and Risk Mitigation Plan to keep track of issues and risks
- Led the team in developing test plan for Project Phoenix
- Played a hands-on role in developing UAT and in handing over the product to the client
- Documented and maintained all project artifacts including project charter, project plan, communication plan, Risk/Issue log, project reports
- Worked closely with the PMO to identify and mitigate risks at the program level
- Worked with the packaging team to the software applications certified, packaged and ready to be deployed for migration
- Worked with Avanade team to facilitate all reporting needs for Windows 8 Migration Program
- Managed the Lakeside Agent Upgrade project from initiation to closure
- Managed testing in all the test environments as per the plan; Facilitated UAT and sign off with the stakeholders
- Provided necessary support for the application rollout and post launch validation from the stakeholders
Sr. Business Analyst
Capgemini
Irving, TX
09.2005 - 04.2017
- 60% reduction Time to Market (TTM) by creating Public Cloud (AWS) Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform
- 80% Reduction in Release Time by creating 100+ Automated CI/CD Pipelines using Azure DevOps and Jenkins Automation
- Managed 10 Releases Week (500 Release/Year) with 99.99% Release Success Rate
- Elicited and gathered requirements and prepared User Requirements Specifications (URS)
- Developed Functional Requirements Specifications (FRS) based on User Requirements Specifications (URS)
- Conducted JAD sessions with subject matter experts and IT Personnel to identify issues and solutions
- Conducted Functional Walkthrough Sessions with IT Personnel to walkthrough Functional Specifications and obtained their sign-off
- Interacted with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and stakeholders gathering business requirements to get better understanding of client’s business processes
- Gathered Business requirements through interviews with SMEs (Subject Matter Expert) like medical transcripts, radiologists, physicians etc., and captured requirements using Rational Requisite Pro
- Responsible for gathering and analyzing business and system functional needs into Business Requirement Specification (BRS) and System Requirement Specification (SRS)
- Identified, captured and documented existing and proposed business process (Software requirement specification document)
- Created Use Case Scenarios and wrote Use Cases as per specifications and requirements analysis
- Interacted with users and developers to prioritize user functionality issue
- Managed Windows 8 Migration from initiation to closure for Credit, Compliance and Ethics and FUSE
- Developed Peer to Peer and Depot Migration processes to facilitate quick migration of users from XP to Win 8
- Developed and maintained detailed Project Management Plans to schedule user migration across multiple sites and locations
- Conducted kick-off meets with each user group, addressed stakeholder concerns, and gained approval for customized migration processes
- Worked with management in vendor selection and procurement for Windows 8 migration and Lakeside Agent Upgrade
Project Manager/Business Analyst
Hitachi Consulting
Irving, Texas
10.2003 - 09.2005
- Planned, designed, and scheduled phases for large projects.
- Successfully managed multiple projects simultaneously by prioritizing tasks according to urgency, resource availability, and alignment with organizational goals.
- Monitored progress against established goals, adjusting schedules and resources as needed to keep projects on track.
Business Analyst
Virtusa
Dallas, TX
05.2002 - 09.2003
- Actively participated in team meetings to share knowledge, exchange ideas, address challenges, and collaborate on potential solutions.
- Developed high-quality documentation to support training efforts, helping employees fully understand new systems and procedures.
- Performed gap analysis between existing systems or processes and desired state, identifying areas for improvement or enhancement.
- Streamlined project management with effective communication and collaboration across cross-functional teams.
- Interacted with internal customers to understand business needs and translate into requirements and project scope.
Developer
Ram Informatics
Irving, Texas
01.2001 - 04.2002
- Worked closely with clients to gather requirements and translate them into technical specifications for implementation.
- Continuously updated skills through training courses, workshops, and self-study—staying current on industry trends and emerging technologies.
- Debugged complex software issues, leading to a more stable product release.
Education
Master of Science - Information Technology Management
Western Governors University
Dallas, TX 01.2017 - 08.2019
Master of Business Administration - Human Resources
Institute of Computers And Business Management
Canada, KY 06.1997 - 08.1999
Bachelor of Science - Chemistry
Osmania University
Hyderabad 05.1993 - 04.1997
Skills
Project Management
Healthcare Domain
Release Management
Project Planning & Scheduling
Change Management
Quality Assurance
Project & Delivery Methodologies
Agile Methodologies
Business/System Requirements Gathering
Vendor Management
Risk Management & Mitigation
Cloud Computing
MS Project
Maven
Service Now
Clearcase
SharePoint
Visio
HP Quality Center
JIRA
Enterprise Architect
Oracle
SQL Server
Python
Jira
Azure Devops
Linux
Java
AWS
Docker
SQL
Splunk
Jenkins
Strategic planning
Talent development
Operations management
Resource allocation
Cross-functional collaboration
Documentation and reporting
Budget oversight
Cross-functional team coordination
Human resources management
Project planning
Process improvement
Customer relationship management
Adaptability and flexibility
Negotiation and conflict resolution
Certification
Certified AWS Cloud Solution Architect-Associate
Keyareasofexpertise
- Project Management
- Healthcare Domain
- Release Management
- Project Planning & Scheduling
- Change Management
- Quality Assurance
- Project & Delivery Methodologies
- Agile Methodologies
- Business/System Requirements Gathering
- Vendor Management
- Risk Management & Mitigation
- Cloud Computing
Technicalskillsandtools
- MS Project
- Maven
- Service Now
- Clearcase
- SharePoint
- Visio
- HP Quality Center
- JIRA
- Enterprise Architect
- Oracle
- SQL Server
- Python
- Jira
- Azure Devops
- Linux
- Java
- AWS
- Docker
- SQL
- Splunk
- Jenkins
Previous Experience
- Hitachi Consulting, Project Manager/Business Analyst, 10/01/03, 09/30/05
- Staff Supplementation Group Virtusa, Business Analyst, 05/01/02, 09/30/03
- Ram Informatics, Developer, 01/01/01, 04/30/02
Timeline
Senior Manager IT
Texas State
07.2023 - Current
Senior Project Manager
Sentara Healthcare
01.2023 - 07.2023
Project Manager / Scrum Master
Oracle
05.2022 - 12.2022
Project Manager
Fedex
04.2021 - 05.2022
Project Manager
NTT Data State of Texas
04.2017 - 03.2021
Master of Science - Information Technology Management
Western Governors University
01.2017 - 08.2019
Sr. Business Analyst
Capgemini
09.2005 - 04.2017
Project Manager/Business Analyst
Hitachi Consulting
10.2003 - 09.2005
Business Analyst
Virtusa
05.2002 - 09.2003
Developer
Ram Informatics
01.2001 - 04.2002
Master of Business Administration - Human Resources
Institute of Computers And Business Management
06.1997 - 08.1999
Bachelor of Science - Chemistry
Osmania University
05.1993 - 04.1997
Certified AWS Cloud Solution Architect-Associate
Microsoft Certified Azure Developer Associate
CAPM (Certified Associated Project Management)
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
Certified Professional Business Analyst (CPBA)
ITIL Foundation
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