Mentoring Program for Project Managers at Top Transportation Provider
case study
Problem
Increasing costs from using a legacy security platform and protecting corporate users from security threats required a new solution to improve the enterprise’s information security posture. With a solution chosen, a multi-million-dollar project was funded to migrate and integrate SAML Single Sign-on (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to web-based applications used in the company. The project owner needed a resource to partner with the 16-member enterprise project team and collaborate with internal business leads, enterprise security architects, Identity and Access Management (IAM) engineers, and third-party vendors to organize, schedule, and communicate changes to enterprise end-users.
Solution & Impact
As the IAM Delivery Lead (also titled “IT Risk, Security, and Compliance Analyst”), I orchestrated over 30 SSO platform migrations and integrations in partnership with the parties above and the project owner. Additionally, I developed content to communicate changes including contributing content for the company intranet to:
- educate about SSO/MFA
- increase awareness about the project
- share high-level project status, specifically when changes were complete
We encountered our issues but with clear, persistent communication, we were able to overcome them (including supporting third-party vendors in removing their gaps to become compliant and removing out-of-scope items from the project).
We successfully completed all SSO migrations within scope, under budget, and ahead of schedule. We maintained work continuity while increasing employee productivity and improving security for the enterprise.
My Role
- Project Manager
- Stakeholder Management
- Content Development
- User Acceptance Tester
- Switchover Lead
- Cybersecurity Week Coordinator
Methodology & Tools: While the full project followed a waterfall methodology (using MS Project), we used an agile approach for the SSO migrations, implementing changes as they were ready. Confluence and Sharepoint were utilized to preserve institutional knowledge and Jira was attempted for task management, but stand-ups and other forms of communication were more effective in this sense.
In the simplest terms, Yolanda is a master tactician! I had the great pleasure of working with Ms. Brown on several technical solution integrations, in each instance, I was overly impressed with Ms. Brown’s keen ability to drive seemingly divergent workstream, align personnel across multiple time zones and numerous technical disciplines. Ms. Brown’s deep process knowledge, expert communication skills coupled with her vast technical prowess were critical in translating obscure business objectives into specific technical requirements. I have worked with very few who could match her tenacious customer focus and personal adaptability. In addition to being a phenomenal technical delivery lead she is one of the coolest technical people I have ever had the privilege of working with.
— Freddie Wilson
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