Lavanya Raghunathan
Aurora,IL
Summary
Banking and IT professional with 9 years of experience in application support, production support, banking operations, software testing, and team leadership. Holds a Master of Science in Computer Science with expertise in AS400 (IBM i), incident management, production support, and banking applications. Experienced in Agile environments, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and using Jira, HP ALM/Quality Center, ServiceNow, and Postman to support business-critical systems. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and leadership skills with a proven ability to improve operational efficiency, resolve complex issues, and deliver high-quality solutions in fast-paced financial services environments.
Overview
1
1
Certification
5
5
years of professional experience
Work History
Associate
BMO Harris Bank
Aurora, Illinois
03.2025 - Current
- Provided production support for banking applications by investigating account-related issues, validating transactions, and coordinating with cross-functional teams to resolve incidents.
- Ensured compliance with banking regulations, quality standards, and organizational testing processes while maintaining complete test documentation and traceability.
- Collaborated with cross-functional Agile teams, including developers, business analysts, Scrum Masters, and QA engineers, to deliver high-quality software within sprint timelines.
- Prepared test plans, test strategies, test execution reports, and status updates for stakeholders and project management.
- Reviewed and refined AI-generated test cases to ensure alignment with business requirements, functional specifications, and compliance standards.
- Designed and executed functional, regression, integration, system, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for banking applications.
- Supported Agile and DevOps testing practices, ensuring quality across applications, middleware, infrastructure, and data environments.Executed front-end and back-end testing using TSO/ISPF, CICS transactions, and 3270 terminal emulators in IBM Mainframe/AS400 environments.
- Conducted API testing using Postman and validated message queue integrations using CA LISA (DevTest) and MQ Stub tools.
- Managed test cases, defect tracking, and test execution using HP ALM, Jira, and ServiceNow.
Application Specialist
Excela Technologies
Warrenville, Illinois
02.2024 - 01.2025
- Processed daily cash receipts, wire transfers, ACH payments, lockbox transactions, and checks, ensuring accurate and timely application to customer accounts.
- Investigated and resolved unapplied cash, payment discrepancies, short payments, overpayments, duplicate payments, and deductions.
- Leveraged Excel functions such as VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, SUMIFS, and data analysis tools to reconcile large volumes of financial data.
- Worked with ServiceNow or ticketing systems to manage payment inquiries, issue resolution, and workflow requests.
- Monitored daily ACH payment processing, including inbound and outbound transactions, ensuring timely execution and compliance with banking regulations.
- Performed data validation and reconciliation between AS400 applications and downstream banking systems to ensure data integrity.
- Assisted customers and internal users with account inquiries, ACH transaction status, payment investigations, and exception processing.
- Analyzed production logs, job logs, spool files, and system messages to identify and resolve application failures.
ADP Specialist
Young Champians
California City, California
01.2023 - 11.2024
- Processed bi-weekly and monthly payroll for teachers, administrative staff, and support personnel using ADP Workforce Now.
- Maintained employee payroll records, including new hires, terminations, salary changes, benefits, and tax information.
- Ensured accurate calculation of wages, overtime, bonuses, deductions, and leave balances in compliance with school policies and federal/state regulations.
- Administered employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement plans, and voluntary deductions through the ADP system.
- Assisted employees with payroll inquiries, tax forms (W-2), direct deposit updates, and benefit-related questions.
- Managed payroll-related tickets and employee requests using ServiceNow or other HR ticketing systems.
- Assisted with payroll system testing, process improvements, and implementation of ADP system enhancements.
QA Test Analyst
Leviscent
03.2021 - 10.2023
- Analyzed business requirements, functional specifications, and user stories to develop comprehensive test scenarios and test cases.
- Conducted thorough software testing to identify bugs and issues.
- Performed functional, regression, integration, system, smoke, sanity, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for web and enterprise applications.
- Logged, tracked, and managed defects using Jira, HP ALM, and ServiceNow, ensuring timely resolution and verification.
- Conducted API testing using Postman to validate REST APIs, request/response payloads, and error handling.
- Supported Agile and DevOps testing practices, ensuring quality across applications, middleware, infrastructure, and data environments.
- Participated in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
- Prepared test plans, test strategies, test execution reports, and status updates for stakeholders and project management.
Education
Master of Science - Computer Science
University of Chennai
Chennai 06-2010
Skills
- API testing
- Test planning
- Problem solving
- Multiple priorities management
- Work Planning and Prioritization
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
Certification
- ISTQB
Timeline
Associate
BMO Harris Bank
03.2025 - Current
Application Specialist
Excela Technologies
02.2024 - 01.2025
ADP Specialist
Young Champians
01.2023 - 11.2024
QA Test Analyst
Leviscent
03.2021 - 10.2023
Master of Science - Computer Science
University of Chennai