1. CURRICULAM VITAE - JASON COWAN
76 Vespasian Road, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5JP
Telephone: 01264 392715. Mobile: 07766 904 517. E-mail: jasonacowan@gmail.com
Jason is an analytical, systematic and business focused IT professional with over 18 years in IT
covering analysis, planning, project management techniques, resource management,
environment management, release management and application delivery and support. Highly
committed, passionate with great initiative Jason is an approachable team player who can
influence and interact with all levels .
Business & Systems Analyst, LAPS-IT, Fareham 09/2014 – 11/2014
Role Summary
Provide and document systems analysis for business driven changes
Provide recommendations and guidance to introduce beneficial business change
Main Responsibilities
Gather and document business requirement to enable development teams create clear,
concise and accurate system changes
Introduce standards and processes to ensure correct documentation is created and updated.
Gather user case details to ensure clear and efficient requirements are documented.
Work with clients to ensure business processes are understood and accurately recorded.
Improve the current lifecycle of documentation and business driven changes to adhere to
standards and high levels of accuracy and quality.
IT Resource Manager, SSE, Havant 06/2011 – 06/2014
Role Summary
Facilitate and improve resource management of the eSystems team to maintain effective
resource utilisation whilst working with short, medium and long term profiles to meet
demand for business and regulatory requirements.
Identify and manage issues associated with resourcing and project engagement whilst
working with stakeholders to develop sustainable solutions.
Work with PMO and associated teams to improve demand pipeline process to align to
business and strategic vision.
Plan releases to provide maximum business benefit and minimise user impact.
Collate and report on staff utilisation and project tracking.
Main Responsibilities
Governance and control structures implemented, including project reporting.
Part of a governance committee to promote better working practices by challenging the status
quo.
Work with business stakeholders to ensure business case is in place and how benefits will be
achieved and realised.
Continuous tracking of in-flight tasks against plan.
Collaborate project and resource plans to ensure appropriate pairing.
Profile, report, highlight and manage demand and supply issues.
Maintain, highlight and address areas of concern surrounding skills matrix.
Highlight and facilitate collaboration to address issues, dependencies and project impact,
whilst suggesting mitigating action before the event.
Liaises with other technical areas and clients to gain their understanding and agreement of
system implementation plans.
Manage the estimating process to ensure correct processes are adhered to whilst working
with PMO and program teams to understand pipeline works.
Predict and manage challenges that directly and indirectly affect projects and deliverables.
Prepares and contributes to project and quality plans, cost benefit analyses and risk analyses
taking account current and future requirements for functionality versus the constraints of time,
cost and Quality
Achievements
2. Proven expertise in development methodologies, incorporating process improvement
Built strong working relationships with peers and stakeholders.
Improved the demand engagement process.
Developed staff to increase their technical competency and non-technical skills.
Delivered multiple programmes to meet budget and timescales:
o SSE Rebrand – Resourced to budget of £200 k and timescale of 12 weeks.
o RMR – Resourced internally and externally to budget of £2 million and 10 month
timescale.
o Lockdown & United – Resourced internally and externally to budget and delivery by
March 2014, within required timescales, involving internal, contract and augmentation
staff.
Team structure changes recommended and implemented, to increase efficiency and enable
resource reallocation elsewhere.
Initiate, drive and deliver CMMI level 3 accreditation for process improvement.
Proficient in KPI and SLA management, allowing for analysis and improvements in key areas.
Skills and Attributes
Highly organised and analytical.
Identification, prioritisation, progression and resolution of risks and issues.
Plan and deliver software solutions to project requirements, timescales and costs,
encompassing NFR’s and NFT.
Excellent organisational skills, dealing with concurrent challenges effectively and efficiently.
Efficiently work with senior stakeholders and management to understand and progress high
profile business cases and cost benefit.
Involvement in ITT (Invitation To Tender) process to agree augmentation contract
engagement, resource utilisation, engagement and management.
'Red Alert' fault management involvement for productions systems from fault analysis, interim
and permanent solutions, including root cause analysis.
Cross project dependencies identified, escalated and acted upon to their resolution.
Working towards PRINCE2 accreditation.
Proficient user of associated tool in project management, incorporating resource time
recording, MS Project and MS Office products.
Fully aware and considerate to multiple testing strategies, incorporating unit, system,
penetration and performance testing whilst ensuring product development incorporates QA
and peer reviews to an agreed level.
Deputy Application Development Team Lead, SSE, Havant 03/2008 – 05/2011
Application delivery lead for bespoke applications that are developed and maintained by
internal FTE’s and an off-shore engagement model, including lifecycle planning, stakeholder
engagement, scope management, development, deployment and BAU.
Full technical responsibility for the lifecycle for software development covering technical
design, development, unit testing, implementation and support.
Collaboration with senior business stakeholder to prioritise system bugs and improvements
whilst ensuring project requirements are incorporated into the release schedule.
Planning of development and maintenance of new and existing systems.
Production support point of contact for escalation and initial problem investigation.
Senior Developer, Experian Ltd 12/2002 – 03/2008
Analyst Programmer, Workplace Systems 01/2000 – 12/2002
Applications Developer, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada 12/1996 – 01/2000
IT Helpdesk Analyst, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada 04/1995 – 11/1996
Data Purification Analyst, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada 01/1994 – 04/1995
Customer Services Adviser, UFB Humberclyde Finance Group 02/1992 – 01/1994
Credit Controller/Accounts Assistant, Eclipse Motor Insurance 01/1990 – 02/1992
Office Assistant, G M Gerrards Ltd 06/1989 – 01/1990
Education, Qualifications, Courses & Achievements
3. HNC Computing
ONC Business & Finance
MS Project 2010
National Certificate in Plumbing
Full clean driving licence
Innovative thinking Course
Effective Communication Course
MS Project 2010 (LearningTree)
8 GCSE’s
Play recreational ice hockey for Basingstoke