This document provides a career summary for Ray Groom, an ITIL expert with over 10 years of experience in service design and transition. It details his roles and achievements in creating and implementing service design and transition processes at various companies, including managing the transition of over 28 new applications as Service Transition Lead at Crossrail. His experience includes developing support models, RACI matrices, and defining key business processes.

1. Ray Groom
Career Summary
ITIL Expert qualified with ten years’ experience in Service Design and Transition through
following formal processes and great customer engagement.
Vastly experienced in creating Support Model documentation and managing handovers for
new applications, thereby securing support readiness.
Expertise in creating RACI matrixes so that all key IT related BAU roles are understood and
approved. Also well versed in the definition of key BAU processes for IT teams, e.g. on
Incident, new user requests and patching, so that new services are run professionally by IT.
Created and implemented Service Design and Transition processes in two companies.
Recently completed 8 months as a contractor for a Merchant Bank in the City of London.
Service Transition Lead at Crossrail for 6 years, responsible for ensuring that new
applications were fit for purpose prior to go-live and in effective operational support. Here I
had to manage a high volume of services in Transition promptly to a 3,500 customer base.
Career Summary
Close Brothers Limited (Banking Division)
Job title: Service Design Analyst August 2016 – April 2017
I was the lead person initially then worked on a team of 2. My remit was to create and
implement a new standard process with templates, then use it effectively for the
introduction applications. I originally had a 6 months contract and then was given a 2
months extension.
Achievements:
 Developed a new Service Design process which I integrated into the project
methodology. It included gates for control, information sharing, and facilitate a
handover to Transition in a logical way. I met with stakeholders to make sure their
needs were met on the new process.
 Created templates the new Service Design process. Key standards were developed by
me for a Service Design document, templates for the gateway meetings and a generic
plan for projects in Service Design.
 Documented and presented the new Service Design process to key stakeholders. This
ensured we had a formal, repeatable process that was well communicated and
understood.
 Designed-in support related non-functional requirements to new applications. This
involved meeting with the business to establish their needs on support targets for
Incident resolution, support hours, Recovery Time & Point Objectives and Availability. I
then worked with the suppliers on support SLAs, and with internal IT teams to come to a
consensus to meet the business’ requirements.
 Ran workshops to understand IT operational roles for new applications. Including all
management with roles helped gain buy-in, ensured we put effective processes in place
and was practical with people engaged.
 Documented each new application and major upgrade. The key audience and their
requirements were the business the understand IT’s offering; operational teams so they
understood their roles and how to do them, and IT management regarding business
alignment and key information such as on-going costs.
 Worked very closely with Service Desk and Application support teams on the creation of
knowledge articles to help set-up support go-live.

2.  Worked on a team to review and update the Operational Acceptance Criteria for new
applications. This meant working with operational teams for a standard list of criteria
which they needed to collaborate with projects on and see is fulfilled. A process activity
to define criteria from the standard set for each project was also created, along with an
agreed way to hand over to Service Transition.
The applications which I managed Service Design for were:
o Agreements and Liabilities Management system; this applications runs models to
help manage risk from areas such as interest rates and foreign exchange.
o Robotic Process Automation
o SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) upgrade.
o New Bank intranet and collaboration site
o Banking Operational Risk Management database
o Group Board presentation pack aid (BoardPacks)
Crossrail Ltd May 2010 – May 2016
Job title: IT Service Planning Analyst. My key roles and responsibilities were:
Service Transition Lead
Achievements:
 Created a Service Transition process. This was done collaboratively with our major IT
partner so was commercially bound, as well as integrated with the IT project delivery
lifecycle. The process’ aim was to ensure that new applications were fully tested,
communicated, in commercial support and that service aspects were in place such as
help guides, training and service request processes. I was also the gatekeeper to
ensure that Service Acceptance Criteria were met, and that gateways such as the
Go/No-go and handover to support were properly run. This meant that Crossrail had a
logical, organised and repeatable process for service introduction.
 Created standard templates for the Service Transition process. Files were established
by me for the Service Acceptance Criteria, Support Model, RACI matrix and Gateway
agendas. These documents were then approved by IT management and our main IT
partner, so we had formal standards to return to. I also documented and presented the
Service Transition process in order set expectations with key stakeholders.
 Managed the above Service Transition process for 28 new applications. This resulted
in minimal and understood risk at go live.
 Created a shorter Service Transition process for minor applications. This involved
agreeing a definition of minor and major applications. This meant that IT and the
business had a bespoke process with bureaucracy minimalised.
 Produced a weekly RAG status to report to management on IT services in Transition.
This tracker enabled management to see that agreed deadlines for deliverables and
gateways were being met and problem managed.
 Ensured that excellent operational support was in place prior to new applications going
live. Worked with IT support teams to make them part of projects and arranged
successful handovers, including ensuring that their Knowledge Bases were updated.
 Worked with IT Project Management, the business and support teams to create
warranty processes for post go-live.
 Ensured that Service Acceptance Criteria was met by warranty support to handover to
BAU. E.g. I managed activities around the knowledge transfer of incident volumes,
known errors (with associated workarounds) and outstanding technical changes.
 Ensured that new SLAs from vendors were fit for purposed for the business. I worked
with external parties to review their offerings against my customers’ requirements. This
resulted in service requirements for key elements such as Incident Management and
Availability being met at the right cost.
 Provided a presentation to stakeholders on the Service Transition process. This raised
the profile of the process, and set expectations for how key groups such as Project
Managers and Application Support teams would be participating. Customers from the
business would also be made clear of the importance of Transition during Gateway 1.

3.  Arranged and chaired Transition Gateway meetings. These had clear objectives and
standard agendas.
 Chaired regular pipeline meetings with the Project Office to establish which projects
were being initiated and were hence within the scope of Service Transition for me to
manage. These sessions hence successfully ensured that all relevant projects followed
the formal Transition process.
 Implemented a Service Decommissioning process. This helped make sure that
services were removed effectively, and benefits such as cost savings from licensing,
support and hosting were realised on time.
 Arranged for new applications to be added to the IT Service Request System, with the
appropriate process flows around role types, approvals, software installation and
permissions. This benefited customers by them being able to request and receive
applications in an organised way.
 Ran three annual reviews of the Service Transition process. I brought key stakeholders
together and we celebrated the successes, then brain stormed how the process could
be improved. This resulted in the regular improvement of Service Transition templates
and an increasingly efficient process.
 Implemented a new process to manage requests from the business for small items of
new software. This involved creating a logical flow to gather requests in an organised
way, then for IT to review if it had an existing solution, assess each request by way of
cost/benefit, then purchase and deploy if appropriate. This made certain that IT was
listening and acting on the crucial matter of customers having the applications they
need to do their job.
IT Business Engagement Manager
Achievements:
 Management of 2 IT Customer Forums. This involved inviting the main customers of
the IT Service team. IT’s key aims were to listen, log feedback and act. I organised
ways in which customers were encouraged to provide feedback, so that IT could listen
and evaluate improvement ideas. The Forums were also IT’s main means for
communicating key news in person. I created an agenda working with IT teams who
interacted most closely with our customers, then introduced the session and presented
parts of it.
 Managed an IT Satisfaction Survey. Issued questions on the effectiveness of Crossrail
IT’s major service offerings to its customers. I then communicated the key findings, and
actioned follow-up initiatives such as raising Service Improvement Initiatives and
meeting with the most dissatisfied customers. I enjoyed the challenge, and my work
showed me that unhappy customers can change their minds when IT shows it listens
and acts!
 Organised and chaired Service Review Meetings between the business, IT
management, vendors and operational support. We would methodically work through
problems and aim to build relationships.
Halcrow Group Ltd August 1998 – October 2009
My job titles and responsibilities were:
Service Transition Analyst October 2006 – October 2009
Achievements:
 Managed the Service Transition process for new IT applications, including the
successful implementation of the HR system and WebEx.
 Produced communication to IT and the business, including the promotion of new
applications. E.g. I gave presentations on new services and created communications to
be sent by IT to the business, meaning that customers and IT properly understood and
benefited from new applications.

4. Project Manager and Infrastructure Engineer January 2001 – October 2006
Achievements:
 Project Managed the migration of 13 offices from NetWare to NT4
 Third line server and infrastructure support.
 Crisis manager - main person responsible for recovering business data on servers on 4
occasions from failed file and print servers.
Second Line Support Manager August 1998 – January 2001
 Lead a team of 2 supporting a Business Unit of 170 staff.
Long Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge June 1997 – July 1998
Worked on a team of 4 supporting the IT needs of staff, teachers and students.
NB: I was a mature student from 1992-1997. See education section below.
Prudential Assurance Company Ltd November 1985 – July 1992
 IT Technical Assistant. May 1987 – July 1992. 1st
and 2nd
line support.
 Clerical Assistant. November 1985 – May 1987.
Education/Qualifications
 ITIL v3 Expert. June 2011.
 ITIL Manager’s Certificate in IT Service Management (Red Badge). July 2007.
 ITIL v3 Intermediate Certificate in Service Transition. May 2009.
 ITIL v3 Foundation Certificate (Green Badge). April 2009. Plus v2 March 2005.
 Upper Second Class Honours degree in Business Administration. April 1997.
 HND in Business and Finance. 7 distinctions and 10 Merits. July 1995.
 BTEC National Certificate in Business and Finance. July 1993.
 Expired qualifications: Prince 2 Foundation Certificate. IntraNetWare 4.11 Advanced
Administration, IntraNetWare 4.11 CNA, NT4 Workstation & Server.
Contact details:
Phone: 077 343 206 72
E-mail: RayGLondon@Yahoo.com