Brooks Powell\'s 10 September 2010 Resume

1. Brooks R Powell
brooks.powell.work@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/brookspowell
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Team Leader, MS Access/SQL Server Developer, Business/Process Analyst and Quality Assurance
Analyst with 13+ years of experience meeting with stakeholders, identifying and refining requirements,
developing solutions, creating test plans, database creation and maintenance, complex data mining and
reporting. Also experienced with technical writing, documentation, and manual QA testing of internally
developed applications.
Specific experience includes receiving and integrating data into a centralized database, creating and
running reports, creating and executing complex queries, creating forms and outputs, producing quarterly
dashboards (including pivot tables), creating target marketing lists and reports, mining client-specific data
for global marketing reports, data cleansing and validation, and maintaining internal reporting systems. A
business-savvy professional with the ability to gather, analyze and ensure that requirements are being met.
Possesses exceptional communication and customer service skills, and is a proven team player with self-
management capabilities. Possesses outstanding written and verbal communication and professional
presentation skills, and is capable of working closely with Senior Management and all levels of internal
customers and technical staff.
TECHNICAL SUMMARY
Databases: MS Access (all versions), MS SQL Server (2000,2005)
Analysis Skills: Requirements Gathering, Technical Writing, Documentation, Functional QA
Testing-Manual, Function as a Liaison, Product Support, Process Analysis
Data Analysis: Ad Hoc/Report Development, Forms, Output, Pivot Tables/Charts, Complex
Queries, Data Mining and Analysis, Data Integration, Data Cleansing/Scrubbing,
Data Verification, Data QA Testing
Languages/Tools: Visual Basic, VBA, VB Script, Crystal Reports, SQL Enterprise Manager, SQL
DTS, SQL Query Analyzer, MS Office, WS FTP, ASP, HTML, ADO, DAO
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Monsanto, St. Louis, MO 3/2010 –8/2010
Consultant
Responsible for collaborating with stakeholders, identifying needs, refining requirements developing
timelines, integrating a wide array of data via Microsoft Access, creating complex queries and forms,
summarizing results to answer business questions and providing complex results for further analysis via
Microsoft Excel. Projects include: SKU Optimization, Forecast and Availability, Sales and Marketing.
Responsible for taking ownership of the database and customized data mining as needed. Responsible for
maintaining complex relationships and relating data at different levels of summarization as needed for
internal and external analysis, collaborating with various teams and communicating with stakeholders
throughout the project life cycle. Technical tools utilized include MS Access 2007, and MS Excel 2007
MS Word 2007.
• Collaborated with team members on high profile SPEED projects (Forecast and Availability, SKU
Optimization, ABC Grading), which have the potential to directly increase the organization’s
efficiency and profitability.
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2. Brooks R. Powell
brooks.powell.work@gmail.com
• Refined existing development, collaborated with team members and delivered a new SKU
Optimization system containing complexly related data from Materials, Billing, Sales, Cost of Goods,
Sales Territory, Budget and Forecast, resulting in the elimination of over 13,000 SKU’s which in turn
increased efficiencies and profitability. Delivered results in a system of Excel Workbooks where data
can be mined by the receiver to generate customized results.
• Conferred with and developed stakeholder queries to support business needs.
• Collaborated, identified and developed data driven solutions to support project teams. Final solutions
were designed to optimize workflow and be intuitive for the end user.
• Performed quality assurance testing at all stages of development and identified data issues before they
could adversely impact deliverable deadlines.
• Developed technical documentation for project software:
• Wrote step-by-step user manuals for developed solutions and data refresh processes.
• Met with SMEs, gathered technical specifications including table and query information to be
shared with development staff.
• Ensured documentation was sharable and incorporated necessary technical details, including table
descriptions, query descriptions and SQL code.
Sharp Approach, Ballwin, MO 6/2008 – 3/2009
MS Access Developer/Data Analyst
Team Leader responsible for Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) project. Collected, normalized and cleansed
large amounts of data from disparate sources and performed customized data mining and reporting to
satisfy Business Intelligence requirements for Global Marketing. Responsibilities included creating and
executing complex database queries, forms and outputs, and migration of multiple data sources and
formats from MS Access to SQL-Server. Technical tools utilized include SQL-Server 2005, MS Access
2003, and MS Excel 2003, MS Word 2003, MS PowerPoint 2003.
• Project Team Leader – Provided instruction and guidance to other team members on processes,
testing methodologies and responsibilities.
• Responsible for the creation, performance and maintenance of the HDS Uberbase (marketing
database).
• Received and integrated data into Uberbase from Global Marketing Data (from inception – includes
Orders, Sales, Marketing, Dunn & Bradstreet Demographics, etc.), other internal HDS data sources
(HiTrack, Revenue, etc.) and external sources (Hoover's, IDC Wallet, etc.), resulting in multi-data-
source marketing analytics reports and pivot tables not previously available.
• Established global snapshots of marketing performance by product family, industry, region and
tracked customer metrics. Created North American Marketing Target List based on multi-tiered
criteria. This resulted in the first completely data-driven marketing campaign to identify companies
with greatest likelihood to purchase client solutions.
• Mined client data for Global Program Managers, resulting in Global Marketing reports by program
(File and Content Services, Modular Storage, and Virtualization programs), which were not
previously available. Due to tight timelines and changing needs, data was mined in the speediest
methods possible with a need of 100% accuracy. SQL source data was mined with queries and stored
procedures, exposed to other team members in the form of an MS Access table for additional
manipulations and exported to Excel for final Senior Staff pivot tables and pie charts.
• Responsible for data validation by gathering and researching requirements, and analyzing various
metrics for consistency before integrating new data in the system. On some occasions, data failed
quality checks and was rejected until the source issue was resolved and a new file delivered.
• Manually tested each data load for integrity issues and managed the resolution of any issues
throughout the conversion process.
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3. Brooks R. Powell
brooks.powell.work@gmail.com
• Responsible for meeting with senior client stakeholders (Director of Global Marketing and direct
reports) on a regular basis to analyze needs, run preliminary test cases, check results and implement
solutions. The collaborative meetings with the stakeholders resulted in validating test results quality
and increased stakeholder satisfaction.
• Involved in the client’s Global Data project implementation. Assisted with creating the Data Mapping
of raw data feeds from 17 countries, which was later utilized as a source of client data for locally
maintained SQL databases.
• Created aggregates in SQL-Server data to allow client’s reports to pull data quickly and accurately.
Example: joining Product, Shipping and D&B Site Demographics tables to allow for both individual
and combined reporting while the data is kept normalized and separate.
• Collaborated with team members to improve workflow and process while maintaining quality.
• Created and presented demonstrations of functionality to stakeholders via WebEx.
Surrex, Chesterfield, MO 4/2008 – 5/2008
Access DBA
Responsible for MS Access database creation, data processing and mining, report production and
contributing to creation of data dictionary for Global Marketing Database project. Worked with client
(Hitachi Data Systems) and other contractors to produce quarterly marketing reports. Technical tools
utilized include SQL-Server 2005, MS Access 2003, and MS Excel 2003, MS Word 2003, MS
PowerPoint 2003.
• Initially responsible for supporting the generation of the Quarterly Country Dashboard reports and
Pivot tables from multiple data sources and formats, which included major data scrubbing and
conversion before integrating into the MS Access database. Upon successful completion ahead of
schedule, the entire project was awarded to our team to lead.
• Processed client data necessary to build HDS Quarterly Country Dashboard reporting data and Pivot
tables and provided to client ahead of schedule. Invited to participate in Global Marketing Database
project and worked with team defining data dictionary for use in 17-country pilot program for HDS.
• Participated in data mining, cross-referencing, and processing data as part of Uberbase project.
Extracted company rankings from Hoover’s data subset, built cross-referenced lookup table
translating SIC industry codes into IDC’s Vertical industry codes and processed HDS data from
HITRACK. Successful project facilitated ability to answer specific global marketing questions for
HDS.
• Created new procedures to parse data within fields and split combined fields into distinct fields for
more efficient queries. Created logical sequences of queries and procedures to increase processing
efficiencies within Access.
• Responsible for scrubbing and normalizing raw data, parsing embedded data into distinct fields for
more efficient queries, correlating data and assimilating data for final consumption by the client.
• Performed Quality Assurance testing through all stages of the HDS project.
MOHELA, Chesterfield, MO 8/1997 - 2/2008
Quality Assurance Analyst, 8/06 - 2/08
Responsible for Quality Assurance testing of internally released applications. Ensured errors were
identified and corrected in testing environment. Worked alongside developers and business analysts from
design and testing phases through production release. Technical tools utilized include SQL-Server 2000,
MS Access 2003, and MS Excel 2003, MS Word 2003, MS PowerPoint 2003 MS Visual Basic, MS
SourceSafe.
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4. Brooks R. Powell
brooks.powell.work@gmail.com
• Conferred with stakeholders and created test plans in the design phase to ensure functionality of final
deliverables.
• Performed functional and regression testing of enhancements and modifications, and ensured existing
unmodified functionality continued to work as intended.
• Responsible for interacting directly with developers to ensure that all quality assurance testing is
complete before authorizing applications to be released for user acceptance testing with business
analysts.
• Zero run-time errors detected in production environment during first 14 months of manual testing.
• Created shared issue tracking system for collaborating with developers to log, track status, and close
all issues. Some issues were rolled over to a separate log for future enhancements.
• Worked with developers to design a consistent look and feel across applications, creating a more
intuitive experience for the end-user.
• Discovered and corrected a significant programming omission that could have allowed a poor-risk
student to cosign on a PLUS loan instead of a parent; impact was reduction in potential bad debt.
• Identified issue regarding automatic processing of credit not having a time limit set for automatic
denial, thereby improving customer service.
• Identified electronic signature issue where a borrower could enter VOID for their signature which
could potentially void the promissory note and remove the guarantee on repayment from the loan.
Impact was removing a loophole that could have resulting in millions of dollars in defaulted loans.
Database Programmer/Analyst, 8/97 – 8/06
Performed combined roles of Programmer, Quality Assurance Analyst and Business Analyst before
separate QA and BA groups were implemented. Maintained legacy MS Access system (DRPT) for
tracking loan origination financial data and participated on a team that implemented a new Cash Loan
Origination system. Developed archiving solution for storing reports. Maintained website and intranet
Report Center application. Technical tools utilized include SQL-Server 2000, SQL Enterprise Manager,
SQL Query Analyzer, SQL DTS, Crystal Reports, MS SourceSafe, MS Visual Basic, VB Scripting, ASP,
HTML, ADO, DAO, ODBC, MS Access 2003, and MS Excel 2003, MS Word 2003, VBA, WS FTP.
• Created customized solutions for marketing representatives to increase communication with Schools,
Lenders and Guarantors by gathering requirements, communicating with external stakeholders
(Schools, etc.) and developing solutions which resulted in increased internal and external customer
satisfaction.
• Performed all aspects of Quality Assurance and Acceptance testing before final delivery of solutions.
Due to the financial nature of the business, complete testing of all solutions was critical.
• Responsible for ongoing development and maintenance of the disbursement reporting system, which
handled over 80 percent of encrypted funds transfers from schools and lenders. This involved
analyzing internal and external customer requirements; designing, coding and manually testing
enhancements and bug fixes; and routine maintenance.
• Created and executed complex queries and reports utilizing MS Access, MS-SQL Server, Visual
Basic, Crystal Reports and ADO record sets.
• Designed and developed logical and physical database based on customer needs. For example,
automation of summary data extraction from electronic reports hundreds of pages long into the
appropriate general ledger categories for monthly reconciliation by the Accounting department.
Results were exported to MS Excel and saved hours of monthly recurring accounting labor.
• Responsible for maintaining Crystal Reports-based intranet system for securely displaying
confidential internal data, which could be customized based on user-specified criteria.
• Created custom imports based on Commonline3 and other proprietary record layouts. Created record
and file validation to determine if a record or entire file would be accepted or rejected.
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5. Brooks R. Powell
brooks.powell.work@gmail.com
• Created secure Board Member website, which resulted in increased communication between board
members and senior management.
• Created/maintained proprietary database of original raw data files from Schools, Lenders and
Guarantors, in addition to integrating data into various databases (e.g. disbursement reporting system)
Tools utilized for this included Visual Basic, MS Access, and MS-SQL Server.
• Responsible for maintaining various aspects of the company website. Processes included automation
of turning off/on various components of the website for maintenance or other reasons.
• Resolved complex issue for University of Mississippi that contributed to maintaining ongoing multi-
million dollar account.
EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS
• Maryville University, St. Louis, MO-Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership
• University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, Courses in Computer Engineering
• St. Louis Community College, Florissant, MO-Associate of Science in Computer
Science/Engineering Science/Mathematics
• New Horizons (St. Louis, MO)
• ITIL v3 Foundation Certification
• MCP – SQL Server; Novell Network Administrator
• Project Management Professional (PMP) Instructor Certified Training – expected completion 2/2011
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certified
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training completed; pursuing certification – expected completion 5/2011
• Studying for MCTS 70-431 SQL Server 2005 certification – expected completion 12/2010
• Studying for MCTS 70-432 SQL Server 2008 certification – expected completion 12/2010
AFFILIATIONS
Toastmasters: Member, 2009 – Present
PMI: Member, 2009 – Present
VOLUNTEERISM
Go! Network Volunteer
LinkedIn Instructor, 2009 – Present
Business Persons Between Jobs
Volunteer – Practice Interview Committee, 2009 - Present
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