1. CV September, 2016 1 (3)
Arja Johanna Rapeli
Background and Current Aims
I have been incredibly lucky to have had the chance to follow the change process of two different
industries in two international Finnish companies. The first one was banking and the company Kansallis -
Osake-Pankki -> Nordea. The other one is mobile phone business in Nokia -> Microsoft Mobile. The point
of view I have had is Finance, Financial reporting and related IT platforms and processes.
The basics I caught in my fifteen years as a Controller in different parts of the bank in Nordea and its
predecessors. I was there to witness the liberation of foreign currency lending as well as the depression
in the 90’s with the diving Real Estate values followed by the mergers of banks first within Finland and
then within the Nordic region. In this work I built up a knowledge bank that I have been able to use in my
work ever since. I have also had great opportunities to participate in vast variety of trainings, received
mentoring as well as and more than anything else learned through work.
I am a passionate person and work best in project mode or with otherwise promptly set goals. Having
now had time for some self-reflection I know that I don’t want to sit down and wait for my pension. I still
have the urge within me to learn and accomplish and thereby I am aiming to still find a job where I can
give for common good and get for common benefit.
Below is a view to the responsibilities I have had in both companies:
1 Project Management
When Nordea decided to start using SAP R3 as the General Ledger I was chosen to act as one of the
Project Managers in the big implementation projects which started from the Finnish bank. At this point I
participated Project Manager training in Projekti-Instituutti.
During my years in both Nordea and Nokia I have acted as Project Manager in several projects mostly
related to SAP. At Nokia I also lead the project evaluating the option to implement the newest version of
SAP the New GL to Nokia. We evaluated the content, needed changes, resources, cost and schedule.
2 Concept and Process Management
Creating, developing or owning different kinds of concepts has been an important role for me in both
companies as well. Areas I have been deeply involved in are:

2. AT NORDEA
 Participating in the description of processes for the new Nordic Shared Service Centre also for Master
Data.
 Creation of Master Data Blueprint for Finance Master Data, how to manage Master Data in common
environment
 Creation and implementation of both VAT and Asset Accounting concepts
 Driver in creating and implementing the Concepts for Internal Funding and Multi Currency in Nordea
 Acting FICO Concept Owner after the implementation of the SAP FICO General Ledger
AT NOKIA
 As a Process Development Manager had the responsibility for
o Mergers and Acquisition Concept, Finance area
o Reporting Interfaces Concepts describing how data is taken from Accounting to Reporting tools
o New Growth Market Concept defining a common, repeatable process for setting up new
companies in SAP
 Finance Data Warehouse activities first in the pre-study and after that in the program with specific input
to:
o new reporting architecture
o House Rules for Finance DW, which defined common accounting rules for Finance data that
was taken into the Data Warehouse
 Master Data Manager and acting responsibility for Metadata Management in Nokia Data Warehouse
area. This included the creation of concept and process for both areas.
 Participation in the creation of a common Hierarchy Management Concept for Nokia
3 Data Management Related Responsibilities
I have also been working with data from different aspects.
 We started to create a Data Asset Register but this work was discontinued before finalization.
 Responsibilities of Data Quality process where we analysed our processes from data quality point
of view and evaluated how well the process identified data quality issues and defined corrective
actions. Steps were then agreed to reach better ranking.
 Have done a course in Data Modelling and assisted in work where Finance related data
modelling was done.

3. 4 Team Leading
Working as the Head of Development Systems and Master Data, Data Capture and GL in the development
part of the Finance Shared Services in Nordea. I lead a team of five people placed in three Nordic
countries. Four of these were Concept Owners who had the responsibility of Data Capture and Data
Transformation for both the General Ledger and Data Warehouse flows as well as BASEL II calculations in
SAP Bank Analyser and SAP FICO.
My Employers
Nordea and its predecessors 1984 - 2006
Nokia/Microsoft Mobile September 2006 – continues until March 2017
Education
I am originally an HSO-secretary but have worked as a secretary only a few years, instead I set on the
Controller path already early on.
During the years I have entered different kind of courses ranging from Project Management, setting up
Shared Service Centres, Data Modelling, Enterprise Architecture to management training at Jyväskylä
University not to mention a wide range of SAP courses. I was also chosen to participate a Female
Manager Programme the aim of which was to promote women’s will and courage to apply for Manager
positions in Nordea.
In November 2003 I was certified as a SAP R3 FICO consultant. SAP has changed since but the basics
are of the system are understood.
Language Skills
Written Oral
Finnish Mother tongue Mother tongue
English Excellent Excellent
Swedish Good Good
German Basics Basics
Activities
In my leisure time I relax at the summerhouse with my husband and our dog. Horseback riding has been
a dear hobby of mine ever since I was a child and I still have a horse of my own. I also enjoy theatre and
concerts whenever there is time for it.