1. Overview of Major Project Efforts Managed by Stan VanBibber
Option One Records Warehouse Closure:
Objective
Nine months prior to lease expiration on the records warehouse facility, Option One senior management mandated that the
corporate records warehouse be closed, all records in the warehouse be converted to image, and leasehold improvements
be removed from the property.
Scope
• Selection of imaging vendors and technology.
• Acquiring project team resources to revise business process which had a dependency on physical loan records and
revision of those business processes.
• Physical removal, secure transfer, scanning, and destruction of approximately 650,000 mortgage loan records.
• Retraining staff in use of the new imaging technology.
• Turnover of the new solution to teams responsible for on-going operations.
• Physical remodel of the facility to return it to the condition specified in the lease.
Risks and Constraints
The project’s main driver was the nine-month deadline in order to avoid financial penalties in the lease that would have
totaled more than $500,000.
The Facilities Management team required three months (of the nine allocated) for the remodeling work.
Senior management did not set a budget for the project, but expected costs would be less than $50,000.
There were no in-house project resources available for the project.
Project Execution
• The LOA Program Director (Stan VanBibber) assumed the project manager role, and leveraged strategic partnerships
with recruiting firms to quickly contract three senior-level management consultants to perform the business analysis
and business process re-design work in the project.
• Collaborated with the Records Warehouse, Facilities, and IT management teams to leverage their expertise and
contacts to handle the physical file transfers, coordinate the remodel, and select the imaging technology vendors.
• Elected to use Agile project management techniques in this project because time constraints did not allow definition
of a full nine-month schedule prior to initiation the project. The project plan was decomposed into eighteen 2-week
sprints to allow flexibility to meet business needs that would continue to evolve during the project.
• Status reporting to the business and executive sponsors occurred once per week, was made verbally, and was
regimented to last no more than 30 minutes and to focus on issues and problems which required the management
team’s attention or action.
• The project manager successfully negotiated a flexible budget in exchange for the absolute deadline and fixed scope.
• The project exceeded expectations; there were no deadlines or deliverables missed throughout the project. The one-
month contingency slack time built into the schedule was not needed and the project finished one-month ahead of
schedule.
Option One LOA Exception Management System (project rescue):
Objective
Automate manual processes for tracking and managing mortgage document exceptions (errors) identified during various
post-funding audits. The solution would also document the status of efforts to correct the errors. The project had been
estimated at six-months’ duration, and was in its 12th month when Stan VanBibber moved into the LOA Program Director
role. No formal requirements, statement of work, product scope, or technical design documentation existed.
Scope
• Technology: design and develop the application and user interface; design and develop the database and ETL scripts
(from enterprise database tables); design and develop reporting and analysis features.
• Business Processes: Redesign existing upstream and downstream business processes to incorporate use of the
automated system.
• System Documentation: The system was being developed outside corporate IT, but was to be turned over to corporate
IT for on-going operational and maintenance support.
Risks and Constraints
• Very poor relationship between Corporate IT and the LOA technical team.
• LOA Management had no insight into the status of the project or an understanding of the solution being built for
them.
Project Execution
• Fired the technical team lead, and re-assigned the business analyst. The project manager assumed both roles.
• Negotiated with corporate IT to assume roles in the project as a sponsor, and as technical architects of the solution.
• Captured LOA business requirements and performed gap analysis on the solution being built vs. requirements.
• Negotiated with LOA management to scale down scope to essential Phase 1 functionality. Developed work-arounds
for the missing functionality which was allocated to a Phase 2 project.
• Replanned the project to a four-month schedule.
• Completed the project on-time. The client considered the project, and the system, successful because they were
aware of the missing functionality, and had had the opportunity to negotiate and agree on the deliverable.
• IT assumed responsibility for on-going system support based upon their input into the design of the solution.
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2. Overview of Major Project Efforts Managed by Stan VanBibber
PlanetOut Partners Data Center Relocation
Objective
The lease on the company’s offices was terminated without prior notice and the company was given a 60-day eviction
notice. Office space was extremely rare in San Francisco during the height of the dot.com boom, and the best space
available on such short notice were the upper floors of a 90-year old high-rise in the San Francisco Tenderloin district.
Scope
• Design, bid and contract for build out of a new data center on the 12 floor of the high-rise (cabling, power, HVAC,
access security, safety systems).
• Bid and contract for cabling offices and workstations on all three floors for data and voice.
• Move all servers and networking infrastructure with zero downtime of the mission critical website.
• Move all business and office systems with zero downtime during normal business hours (M-F / 8-5)
Risk and Constraints
• Hard deadline date; if move was not completed by the eviction date the entire headquarters operation would be out of
service.
• For 30 days after receiving the eviction notice had to plan the move without knowing the new location or the type of
facilities the company would move to.
• No additional resources available for the project; had to organize, plan and execute the move with the existing team
and simultaneously maintain the day-to-day operations and services.
• The ISP and telecom providers required a 45-day lead time to move service from the old location to the new location.
• The high-rise did not have a service elevator, and the landlord restricted use of the passenger elevator for construction
and materials transport to after normal business hours and weekends. (There were numerous facility-related risks and
constraints)
Project Execution
• Negotiated with the CTO to share responsibilities for day-to-day operations to allow Stan VanBibber to function as
the project manager.
• Negotiated with the Facilities Manager to be included on tours of potential office space to reduce time scoping the
facility later.
• Produced generic space/facility requirements that could quickly be converted to actual requirements after the facility
decision was made.
• Formed a SWAT team consisting of the Project Manager, the senior systems administrator, and Help Desk manager
to complete the detail planning and execute the plan (clear priorities, agile, close-order formation, unencumbered by
other tasks).
• Managed upward to leverage authority of senior management to overcome obstacles that threatened project success.
• The move completed successfully with zero downtime for the website, the business, or the employees. The entire
construction cycle for the new data center and cabling of the offices totaled 45 days (ready for occupancy was 30
days).
Wellpoint-Anthem Y2K Compliance
Objective
Upgrade the corporate servers, network infrastructure and desktops to comply with Y2K standards.
Scope
• Inventory systems hardware and software housed in data centers and server rooms across five states.
• Assess equipment to determine appropriate upgrade and replacement paths.
• Review and revise corporate hardware and software standards.
• Install and upgrade.
• Dispose obsolete equipment.
Risk and Constraints
• An accurate equipment inventory did not exist at the start of the project.
• Common standards and processes for server, network and desktop environments did not exist.
• Absolute deadline of September 30, 1999.
Project Execution
• Develop costs estimates and submit project proposal to management for approval.
• Define project plans for server consolidation and migration, network infrastructure upgrade, and desktop upgrades.
• Coordinate procurement of equipment, software, and services with corporate financial and procurement teams.
• Maintain the Asset Management records, and manage disposition of obsolete equipment.
• Project completed on-time.
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3. Overview of Major Project Efforts Managed by Stan VanBibber
Wellpoint-Anthem Network Operations Re-Engineering
Objective
The Y2K assessment of the company’s corporate networks revealed extensive, pervasive problems. Networks were not
being properly maintained and upgraded, standards and processes were inconsistent across the corporation, and the
capabilities/capacities of networks and network computing platforms routinely failed to meet business needs and
expectations.
Scope
• Assess and revise the duties and responsibilities of the Network Operations group.
• Restructure the hierarchy and reporting structure of the Network Operations group.
• Re-assign Network Operations personnel within the new hierarchy.
• Evaluate, select, and implement a single network management system across all corporate networks (Tivoli)
• Define and implement a single set of operational policies, processes, standards and metrics for Network Operations.
• Revise and enhance existing HR programs for staff professional development, performance reviews, compensation,
and career path management.
Risk and Constraints
• Re-engineering and Y2K projects were interdependent and had to be executed simultaneously, using many shared
resources.
• Messaging on the re-engineering project had to handled carefully due to a legacy of failed outsourcing efforts by
Anthem IT in the 1990’s.
• Consolidating independent network operations in multiple states under a single corporate entity was politically
unpopular with management and staff.
Project Execution
• Inventory, analyze and assess the work performed by WAN, LAN, and desktop operations and support teams in the
five states. Determine work to keep, transfer and eliminate.
• Redesign workflows for each of the major task areas.
• Define a new organizational hierarchy based on work performed and workflows (aligned by technologies vs.
geography).
• Slot existing management and staff into the new hierarchy. Identify staffing additions and eliminations.
• Develop the transition and training plans for moving management and staff into new roles in a new structure.
• Define requirements for the corporate network management solution, and manage the request response process.
• Evaluate, select, procure and implement the corporate network management solution.
• Roll out the new organization and technology.
Wellpoint-Anthem Novell Netware Licensing Compliance
Objective
The Y2K assessment of the company’s corporate networks and systems gave a preliminary indication that Anthem had
violated the Novell Netware software licensing agreement and faced potential fines of up to $60 million. The V.P. of
Corporate Systems assigned me the task to negotiate a settlement with Novell and the Software Publishers’ Association.
Scope
• Gain a full understanding of the nature and extent of the licensing violations.
• Define the root cause of the problem.
• Compose a confidential report to management on the findings, with risk assessments and solution alternatives.
• Coordinate with Anthem’s Corporate Legal counsel and act as the single point-of-contact with the SPA and Novell.
Risk and Constraints
• Research and data collection had to be confidential to ensure information did not leak outside the company (preserve
business reputation), and to reduce possibility staff would cover up or doctor records to reduce their own culpability.
• Extreme discretion required in all conversations with the SPA and Novell to prevent an escalation of the problem or
their perception of the problem (e.g. “manage the message”).
• Urgency: important to resolve the matter quickly for a variety of business and legal reasons.
Project Execution
• Completed research and report to management in two weeks. Completed negotiation and settlement in one month.
• Tactical course of action: reconcile Anthem licensing records with Novell and SPA records, gain agreement on extent
of violations, ask for estimates to bring all past and current license use into compliance.
• Strategic course of action: negotiate purchase of a corporate site license for all Novell products, plus a long-term
maintenance contract; leverage this additional business to limit/reduce fines and adjustments for prior license
violations.
• Resolution: $6 million fine assessed; the fine was waived by Novell in exchange for full payment of the unlicensed
seats ($1.25 million). All servers had to be brought into compliance within 60-days of the agreement. Purchased per-
seat site licensing (for future purchases of Novell software) and a 2-year NOS maintenance contract.
• Earned a five-figure bonus for my work on this task.
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