Contents

Cover Letter Tips..................................................................................................................... 3

ATS Tips:.................................................................................................................................. 4
ATS Want Specific Keywords................................................................................................. 4
Focus on Hard Skills............................................................................................................. 4
Customize Your Resume.......................................................................................................... 4
Analyze the job description.................................................................................................. 4
Customize your Target Job Title or Objective to match each job description.................4
Customize your skills, as appropriate, to match the terms used in the job description.......4
Highlight your matching skills in a special section at the top of the resume.......................4
Resume Highlights............................................................................................................... 4
Confirm your location........................................................................................................... 4
What if you dont meet all criteria........................................................................................ 4
The Parts of a Job Posting..................................................................................................... 4
What to Look for When You Review a Job Posting.................................................................4
When to Read Job Descriptions............................................................................................ 4
Summary of Qualification........................................................................................................ 4
Whats are qualifications?..................................................................................................... 4
What Goes in Your Summary of Qualifications?....................................................................4
Brainstorm for Good Summary Statements.........................................................................4
Soft Skills.............................................................................................................................. 4
(Personal/Interpersonal): Communication............................................................................5
(Personal/Interpersonal): Growth and Mindset.....................................................................5
Hard Skills............................................................................................................................ 6
Operating and Automated Systems..................................................................................... 7
Hardware and Software Administration................................................................................8
Server Administration.......................................................................................................... 9
Basic Computer Literacy.................................................................................................... 10
Network & Security............................................................................................................ 11
Enterprise Computing........................................................................................................ 13
Intermediate Technology Competencies............................................................................13
Public Access Technology Systems..................................................................................... 15
Software Proficiencies........................................................................................................ 15
Professional Experience......................................................................................................... 18
Accomplishment Statements based on Keywords..............................................................18
 Team Player........................................................................................................................ 18
Leader................................................................................................................................ 18
Thrives in a Fast-Paced Environment..................................................................................18
Strong Communicator........................................................................................................ 19
Analytical or Qualitative Thinker........................................................................................ 19
Creative.............................................................................................................................. 20
Self-Starter......................................................................................................................... 20
Powerful Verb Replacements.............................................................................................. 20
Projects on Resume............................................................................................................ 20
Business Analyst Accomplishments................................................................................... 20
System Administrator Accomplishments............................................................................25
QA v QC................................................................................................................................. 28
Chart.................................................................................................................................. 28
10 BEST PRACTICES FOR AN EFFECTIVE TESTING & QA IMPLEMENTATION.........................28
Business Requirement Process.............................................................................................. 29
Requirements..................................................................................................................... 29
SDLC PHASES........................................................................................................................ 29
Requirements Definition Phase.......................................................................................... 29
System Design Phase......................................................................................................... 29
Development Phase........................................................................................................... 29
Test Phase.......................................................................................................................... 29
Installation & Acceptance Phase........................................................................................ 29
Automation............................................................................................................................ 29
Gathering requirements for business process automation (workflow)...............................29
Methods of Requirement Verification..................................................................................... 29
Inspection........................................................................................................................... 29
Demonstration................................................................................................................... 29
Test..................................................................................................................................... 29
Analysis.............................................................................................................................. 29

Cover Letter Tips blah. You can imagine multiple candidates

for this position submitting this letter;
Before Version theres nothing especially personalized
about it.
Heres the before version. It reads like 95%
of the cover letters out there. Like those Dear Hiring Manager:
other 95%, it basically says, I know I need a
cover letter, so here are some paragraphs of
Your posting on LinkedIn for a Sales and
Marketing Coordinator recently caught my eye,
and I think you will find I am an exceptional
candidate for this position.
I am an accomplished administrative professional
and a junior in the Marketing & Management
program at Riverrun University. Over the past ten
years, I have provided high-level support in a
variety of industries and across multiple functional
areas. I am now seeking a position that will make
the most of my administrative experience while
offering additional opportunities for personal and
professional development.
In exchange, I offer exceptional attention to detail,
highly developed communication skills, and a
talent for managing complex projects with a
demonstrated ability to prioritize and multitask.
My accomplishments and qualifications are further
detailed in the attached resume. I welcome the
opportunity to meet with you and discuss the value
that I can bring to your organization.
Warmest regards,
Catelyn Stark
After Version
Dear Hiring Manager:
It is with great enthusiasm that I submit my application
for the position of Sales Coordinator for the Westeros
Castle Project. As an administrative professional with
over ten years experience, I know my diverse skills and
qualifications will make me an asset to the
Westeros project team.
As you will see from the attached resume, Ive built my
career in a variety of roles and industries, mostly in
small companies where I was not just the admin but also
gatekeeper, technology whiz, bookkeeper and marketing
guru. Im not only used to wearing many hats, I sincerely
enjoy it; I thrive in an environment where no two work
days are exactly the same.
In addition to being flexible and responsive, Im also a
fanatic for details particularly when it comes to
presentation. One of my recent projects involved
coordinating a 200-page grant proposal: I proofed and
edited the narratives provided by the division head,
formatted spreadsheets, and generally made sure every
line was letter-perfect and that the entire finished
product conformed to the specific guidelines of the RFP.
(The result? A five-year, $1.5 million grant award.) I
believe in applying this same level of attention to detail
to tasks as visible as prepping the materials for a top-
level meeting and as mundane as making sure the copier
never runs out of paper.
Last but certainly not least, I want you to know that Im
a passionate Westeros fan and a longtime supporter of
the new castle. Ive been following the new castle
movement since the earliest days of the original Save
the Tombs campaign, and I am so excited to see this
vision becoming a reality. Ive already checked out the
new castle website, and the renderings of the new throne
and great hall are stunning, to say the least I
particularly love the vintage murals and art featured
throughout the building. Nice touch!
In closing, I am thrilled at the possibility of being
involved in the new castle almost literally from the
ground up, and would love the opportunity to meet with
you and discuss the value that I can bring to the
Targaryen organization and the Westeros Castle Project.
I appreciate your consideration and look forward to
hearing from you.
Warmest regards,
Catelyn Stark
ATS Tips:
ATS Want Specific Keywords
Tailor the content to the exact way the job description is written
including plural words, abbreviations, and numbers

o (e.g., note whether the company spells it nonprofit or non-

profit; three years of experience or 3 years of experience).

Echo the phrasing from the job description on your resume:

o If the position calls for CRM software, your resume must use
those exact words. If you list Salesforce, an ATS will not
recognize that as a match.

Dont use a generic keyword list you found online. Instead, take the
time to review the specific job description keywords youre applying
for.

Include both the spelled-out version and the shortened one

o For example: It wont necessarily know that MBA is the same

as Master of Business Administration. Andthis is keyto
balance between the ATS and human eyes, consider writing the
abbreviation in parenthesis like so: Master of Business
Administration (MBA).

Always write out the entire year, (e.g., 2015 not 15).

Focus on Hard Skills

An ATS primarily looks for hard skills when it scans your resume.

o Soft skills will be assessed later in your cover letter and during
the interview, so prioritizing them on your resume wont earn you
too many points.

For example, commonly used resume keywords and keyword phrases,

such as dynamic, team player, and self-starter, are not
quantifiableso recruiters dont bother to search for them when
sourcing candidates.
 o Instead, focus on your technical skills, credentials, position titles,
and software or tools that are relevant in the industrybecause
those are the keywords theyll be checking for.

Customize Your Resume

Since your first goal is to ensure that your resume contains enough of the
appropriate keywords that it is seen by a human being, start by focusing on
the keywords needed by the ATS.
Analyze the job description.
Carefully read the job description. Make note of:
o The job title used in the description
o The duties and responsibilities
o The specific requirements
o The location
Dont waste your time applying if you dont meet at least 50 percent of
the jobs requirements.
Customize your Target Job Title or Objective to match
each job description
Resume expert and author Martin Yate recommends using a Target Job
Title at the top of your resume, below the standard name and contact
information. If you want to be more traditional, you could call it
Objective, just do NOT use an old-fashioned, meaningless, and keyword-
less objective
o (e.g., Achievement-driven, highly motivated administrative
professional seeking challenging opportunity in a high-growth...).
If the employer has used a standard job title, the one already on your
resume, you are all set. However, if they used a unique version of the job
title, match it.
o For example, lets assume that you are an experienced
administrative assistant looking for a similar job, and lets assume
that you found a good job which the employer has labelled, Medical
Administrative Assistant. So, for this example, Medical
Administrative Assistant would be the exact title you would put at
the top of your resume as the Target Job Title or Objective. Thus, it
would be seen immediately, making it clear that you want this job.

Customize your skills, as appropriate, to match the terms

used in the job description.
Continuing our example, doing a quick scan of the requirements for
the medical admin assistant job posting, assume that you find the
following language used -
 Job description: Advanced knowledge of Microsoft applications (Word,
Excel, PowerPoint) required.
o Ideally, assuming you do have the skills required, you would be smart
to match the reference in your resume with the terms used in the job
description.
Lets assume that your resume currently describes your Microsoft Office
skills like this:
Original resume: Proven expert in the use of the entire Microsoft Office
suite of products.
o Notice that the original resume lacks important keywords which are
included in the job description (applications, Word, Excel,
PowerPoint). This could result in the resume remaining in the ATS,
never to be seen by a human being. Recognizing this problem, you
could adjust your resume to match the description:
Submitted resume: Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office
applications - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher,
OneNote, and Outlook.
o This matches the language in your resume with the language used in
the description, and should help your resume pass the keyword-
matching requirements.
o It also adds the terms Office, Access, Publisher, OneNote,
and Outlook to demonstrate your complete expertise and also to
expand, clarify, and/or confirm your qualifications.
o Including additional terms is fine. Being too complete (having too many
keywords) is preferable to not having enough keywords, as long as the
keywords used are appropriate for you and not just a meaningless list
of words.
Highlight your matching skills in a special section at the
top of the resume
Resume expert Martin Yate recommends capturing the human reviewers
attention by clearly lining up your experience with the requirements in the job
description in a section at the top of your resume, below your contact
information and the Target Job Title or Objective, labelled Performance
Summary. Other resume experts recommend naming the section, Summary
of Qualifications or simply Summary.

In that section, which needs to have only 3 to 5 bullets for most jobs, pick your
experiences or achievements that seem to best match the most important
requirements in the job description or,the relevant achievements you have that
are most impressive
Resume Highlights
Confirm your location
The top of your resume should indicate your location, generally.

o Dont publish your home or work addresses on your resume (EVER!),

but do include a city, county, or other regional term, like East Bay or
Metro West, that fit with the jobs location.

o Use your current location or, if you are trying to relocate, your future
location.

By including a location that fits with the employers requirements, you are
confirming that you could be a good match. Employers
are usually sensitive to the location of the job candidate in relation to the
location of the job. They prefer to hire someone who is located near the
jobs location, for many good reasons: a local candidate is more likely to
stay in the job, a local candidate is more likely to be on time, and a local
candidate will not need an expensive relocation

What if you dont meet all criteria

If you meet the majority of the criteria but not all - but you're convinced you
could do a great job for them, then it may still be worth sending an application
 in. However, don't try to ignore any obvious gaps. You could try some of the
following strategies instead.
Identify ways in which you could easily bridge any gaps: "Although I do not
currently have Sage experience, I have extensive payroll database experience
and have enrolled on a Sage course for next month."
Highlight transferable skills: "Although I have not worked in account
management before, I have always worked in customer-facing environments
where relationship management was essential."
Use extracurricular experience and show your keen interest: "Although I do not
have direct experience of working for a charity, I am actively involved in
volunteering for a large environmental charity."
How to Decode a Job Advertisement

The Parts of a Job Posting

Job postings are typically broken out into several parts although the names of
these sections can vary, expect to see information about the company, details on
the desired qualifications of applicants, and some description of the responsibilities
involved in the role.

Job title: Keep in mind that job titles can have different meanings across
industries and companies. "Editorial assistant" and "assistant editor," may
sound similar, but are actually distinct positions. Look to the job title for clues
about the required experience in this position, the level of responsibility
involved, the salary, and the nature of the work.

Qualifications: Also sometimes called "requirements" or "experience,"

this section of a job description details the type of accomplishments applicants
should have. You may see things here like "high school graduate" or "prior
experience in"

o Here's where you'll find details on the background applications should

have, including prior experience and accomplishments at other
jobs, education, and soft and hard skills. It's not a deal-breaker if you
do not have all of the qualifications listed, but ideally, you'll have most,
and the majority will be at least familiar to you.

Responsibilities: This is what you would do at the job. Take a close look
would you enjoy this work? Look for matches with the experience on your
resume. Some job postings will phrase the responsibilities in sprawling terms
(e.g., "lead the team in generating XYZ"), while others will provide more
granular details (e.g., "create weekly report"). If some bullet points don't
seem familiar, that's doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't apply. But if you're
wildly unfamiliar with all the responsibilities, it could be a sign this isn't the best
spot for you.

About Us: Most job postings will provide background on the company. Let this
be your starting point into researching the company, and understanding its
 culture and values.

Benefits and Pay: While hourly salaries are often explicit, companies tend to be
coy when it comes to salaried positions. You may see phrases like "salary
commensurate with experience" or "competitive salary" which do not reveal too
much. When it comes to benefits, however, companies will generally be direct,
since all employees typically receive the same benefits.

Experience Level: Whether in terms of years or career level, sometimes

postings will include details about the experience level. You may want to review
this alongside the job title a job posting looking for a project manager with 3-5
years of experience will have a different salary and responsibilities from a "mid-
to senior-level" project manager.
What to Look for When You Review a Job Posting
As you review any section of a job description, keep in mind that the most
important items are probably listed toward the top.

o If you fit four out of five of the bullet points listed under
qualifications, that's cause for celebration, not despair.

Remember, with many job postings it will be impossible for any one
person to be a perfect match. Read with an eye toward what's essential
for applicants ("must be comfortable using Excel") and what's a nice-
to-have, or a softer skill ("detail-oriented and organized").

Be on the lookout for repetition: does the job post reference wanting
"self-starters" under qualifications, and then mention a project that
applicants will "independently develop" in the responsibilities section?
That's a tip-off that applicants should be comfortable working without
supervision, and in a leadership role.

Understand the Jargon

Some of the more common phrases self-starter, great

communication skills are intended as clues. Does a job require a
"good sense of humor"? That might signal that daily frustrations abound,
and if you can't roll with the punches, you'll find yourself frustrated in the
position. Jobs that require "multi-tasking" and "deadline-driven"
applicants may have a bit too much work for one person to juggle.

When to Read Job Descriptions

Think of the job posting as a map or a key to getting the position. Read the
description carefully, and several times. It's a good idea to review the want
ad at the following points:
 Initially: Your first look at the job description can be a quick review.
Think of this moment as being comparable to checking out a potential
date at a party: look for compatibility. Follow these tips to help
you decide if you should apply to a job.

Before writing a cover letter: Your cover letter should be

personalized to the specific job, and to the needs highlighted in the
posting. See advice on how to match your qualifications to the job
description.

Before submitting an application: Before you submit your

application, including your cover letter, resume, and any other details
requested, review the posting one more time. Have you followed the
instruction for applying to the position correctly? Did you emphasize
the correct details in your cover letter? Should you tweak your resume
to reflect certain skills above others?

Before an interview: Whether it's a phone or an in-person interview,

read the job description carefully before your conversation. This will
remind you of the details of the conversation, and show you which
points to emphasize.

Summary of Qualification
Whats are qualifications?
The Summary of Qualifications section on your resume contains three to four brief
(no more than three lines each) statements that say why you're the best prospect
for the job you want (your job objective).

What Goes in Your Summary of Qualifications?

When we say "Summary of Qualifications," we mean "Summary of Qualifications for
your job objective." Remember, your resume is a marketing piece for your next
job, not the story of your whole life. So, rather than summing up your entire career
in your Summary of Qualifications, you just need to write about how you qualify for
the next step in your career: your resume job objective.

In your Summary section, you can write about your experience, credentials,
expertise, personal values, work ethic, background, or anything that qualifies you
for the job you're going for. You're free to make claims, drop names, and do your
best to entice the reader to finish reading the resume. Remember, all claims must
be substantiated later when you write the body of the resume, so be honest while
giving yourself full credit.

Brainstorm for Good Summary Statements

Here are some questions and examples to help you come up with strong
summary statements:
How much experience do you have in this profession, in this field, or
using the required skills?
Example:
Someone staying in the field of financial management might answer, "I've worked
as a financial manager for a mid-sized company for the last 14 years."
Summary Statement:
14 years as the financial manager of a company with current sales of $75 million.
Imagine your best friend is talking to the hiring person for the job you want. What
would your friend say about you that would make the employer want to call you
for an interview?
Example:
The best friend of a job hunter desiring an editorial position with a newspaper
might answer, "She even won the Pulitzer Prize! No one from the Examiner had
ever done that before."
Summary Statement:
First syndicated journalist at the Examiner to receive the Pulitzer Prize.
How is success measured in the position mentioned in your objective
statement? How do you measure up?
Example:
A software developer wishing to make a move into technical writing might
answer, "Many different users have told me that my explanations are easy to
understand."
Summary Statement:
Reputation for writing clear and concise explanations for technical and
nontechnical users.
What is it about your personality that makes this job a good fit for you?
Example:
A customer service representative staying in the same field might answer, "I am
very diplomatic, so I get good results."
Summary Statement:
Outstanding diplomacy that consistently produces win-win results for customers
and company.
What personal commitments or passions do you have that would be
valued by the employer?
Example:
Someone wanting to lead an environmental organization might answer, "I am
committed to educating people about industrial waste hazards that are
endangering the environment."
Summary Statement:
Strong commitment to preserving nature through education about environmental
hazards.
Do you have any technical, linguistic, or artistic talents that would be
useful on the job?
Example:
Someone applying to be a teacher in a multilingual school might answer, "I can
speak Spanish, Italian, and Russian."
Multilingual: Spanish/English/Italian/Russian.

Soft Skills
Soft Accomplishment Statements: Using words to
convey accomplishments and results
Developed profitable relationships with clients based on excellent
customer service, plus thorough understanding and assessing of clients
credit needs for working capital, acquisition and investment purposes.
Improved cash reporting system and internal control procedures.
As Large Account Executive, exceeded revenue goals by maintaining
volume, increasing business and renegotiating contracts with
multinational accounts.
Played a pivotal role in firms landing ABC account in pharmaceutical
industry. Convinced ABC to leave competitor and improved perceptions
with ABC account.
Developed and implemented innovative marketing communication plans
which significantly increased firms coverage and reputation in national,
business and trade publications.
Took the lead in developing a New Product Introduction kit to assist
account executives with assimilating information on new products. The
kits comprehensive nature significantly reduced follow-up calls to
product and marketing teams and increased sales teams ability to
introduce new products more effectively.
Performed primary and secondary research on firms worldwide
competitors and created internal knowledge management system to
disseminate information rapidly. Up to date competitive positioning
caused positive changes in product strategy and resulted in releases of
products more suited to customer requirements.
Implemented new employee training program that dramatically
increased productivity and morale in key business unit.
Led a cross functional team to evaluate decreasing customer complaints.
Identified sources of dissatisfaction and recommended new workflow
process that greatly enhanced employee morale and customer retention.
Designed and implemented competitive compensation programs that
improved employee productivity and morale.

(Personal/Interpersonal): Communication
Practices conversation as a valuable means of exploring ideas and making
 sense together.
Shows equal regard for every voice in the conversation
Values multiple perspectives and differences of opinion as openings to new
aspects of the truth
Actively conveys attention, respect, and curiosity
Contributes to the conversation, speaking, listening and making
connections
Uses questions to delve into, open up, explore and connect the full diversity
of thinking
Shares responsibility for the quality of the conversation and the
achievement of expected outcomes.
Communicates effectively using a variety of methods
Communicates openly and directly, both verbally and in writing
Identifies issues and ideas and provides information that is accurate and
timely
Presents ideas in a manner that is clear and concise, with an appropriate
level of enthusiasm
Checks with listeners to ensure message has been received as intended
and comprehended
Demonstrates proficient writing skills (good grammar and sentence
construction, accurate spelling, logical thought)
Demonstrates the technical skills and protocols for communicating
electronically.
Communicates effectively with a variety of audiences and individuals from
diverse backgrounds
Speaks and writes in ways that are professional, welcoming and
appropriate for different audiences
Demonstrates proficient public-speaking skills (articulation, strong delivery,
appropriate animation)
Accommodates and deals effectively with the perceptions, perspectives
and communication styles of different audiences
Fosters an inclusive, affirming and respectful climate for communication.
Selects and applies the most appropriate and effective communication
skills to meet situational needs
Communicates effectively to elicit information and to obtain consensus,
persuade, instruct and/or motivate
Understands and practices techniques of active listening and open-ended
questioning
Selects appropriate communication strategies to manage conflict
constructively
Demonstrates negotiation skills to secure beneficial outcomes.

(Personal/Interpersonal): Growth and Mindset

Pursues a commitment to self-directed learning
Practices ongoing self-improvement in response to self-awareness and
feedback from others
 Identifies as a lifelong learner and assumes responsibility for one's own
learning
Develops one's learning capacity by honing critical and creative thinking
skills
Asks questions to expand one's understanding and knowledge
Seeks exposure to new ideas, both within and beyond the library field, and
stretches beyond ones comfort zone.
Manages the ongoing development of competencies and the advancement of
one's career
Actively pursues personal and professional growth through continuing
education, including formal and informal training opportunities in a variety
of formats
Pursues new information and ideas in order to stay current
Develops strategies for keeping up with new technologies
Identifies learning needs and creates a learning path to achieve them
Formulates a career plan that guides ongoing learning and development
choices
Recognizes the value of professional networking and actively participates in
learning communities and/or professional associations
Seeks opportunities to apply new knowledge and to share experiences,
research and best practices with colleagues.
Anticipates and adapts to change with a sense of optimism and opportunity
Develops the flexibility to accept change and the resilience to adapt with
curiosity and enthusiasm
Welcomes change as an opportunity to build a better future together
Adapts to varied roles, responsibilities and circumstances
Works to achieve excellence in service amidst a climate of ambiguity
Anticipates future trends and recommends changes in priority or direction
that are aligned with organizational goals and service demands
Explores and adopts new technologies for their potential to deliver new
ideas, products and services
Proposes pilot projects as a way of experimenting with change
Keeps a positive attitude in the face of challenges and unanticipated
changes
Supports self and others in pursuit of a healthy, balanced lifestyle;
understands that health and wellness strengthen resilience and
adaptability.
Pursues creative and innovative approaches to library service
Uses a wide variety of idea creation techniques, such as brainstorming
Demonstrates imagination, curiosity and playfulness
Works creatively with others, staying open to diverse ideas and
perspectives
Seeks innovative advances in public library service from other libraries
Applies ideas for service innovation from other sectors and industries
Demonstrates ability to move from idea to implementation, putting
innovation into action
Acts on creative ideas to make useful contributions to the library, the
 community and/or the library field
Views failure as an opportunity to learn.

Hard Skills

Hard Accomplishment Statements: Using

numbers, percentages and facts to convey
accomplishments and results
Grew loan portfolio from $75 million to $225 million and managed $50
million in deposit accounts; portfolio generated over $3 million in
revenue.
Assisted clients with achieving portfolio growth rate of 25-30%, a higher
return than market trends.
Reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) by 10% through attentive
relationship management, frequent credit review and proactive
collection initiatives.
Revamped invoicing system to reduce processing time from three weeks
to five days.
As Sales Manager, produced $6.5 million in revenue in 2003 with
aggressive client development.
As Regional Sales Manager, developed aggressive marketing campaigns
and channel marketing programs, increasing revenue from $5 million to
$25 million over a four-year time period.
Initiated revolutionary lead tracking system that resulted in a 25%
increase in new sales leads being transferred to direct sales team. New
leads resulted in $2 million in incremental revenue over two years.
Managed all merchandising decisions across four product categories and
13 stores. Restructured product lines, renegotiated vendor agreements
and spearheaded new sales programs, resulting in a 45% increase in
new product sales over a three-year period.
As Manager of MIS for XYZ, selected and installed a new purchasing,
receivables and payables solution. Purchase order time was reduced
from four weeks to one, while staff productivity increased by 35% and
company saved over $90,000 in annual overpayments.
As part of management team, successfully completed Customer
Relationship Management project one month ahead of schedule and
$250,000 under budget.
Developed and implemented strategic manufacturing plan including the
realignment and consolidation of six plants worldwide. New plan
resulted in a 40% reduction in headcount and a 25% increase in
inventories.
Managed data center for hosted small business applications. Reduced
hosting costs by 35% while maintaining superior service levels.
Led a team of three IT analysts in the analysis of firms software
maintenance costs. Made recommendations to senior management
team, that ultimately led to a yearly cost savings of $55,000.

Operating and Automated Systems

Installs, configures and maintains all operating systems functioning in
the library environment
Demonstrates general knowledge of operating systems available for
use, including open-source and mobile systems
Selects, installs and configures appropriate operating systems
Understands the terminology, specifications and functions of the
operating systems in use
Devises and executes a plan for operating system maintenance and
update tasks
Troubleshoots problems with the operating systems
Devises, sustains, and tests integrity of effective back-up strategies
Understands and executes the process of imaging PCs
Understands use of terminal servers as alternates to VPN\desktop OS
Manages the process for upgrading systems, including determining
applications compatibility and planning data migration.
Demonstrates advanced understanding of the library automation
systems (ILS)
Articulates the value and purpose of a library automation system
Understands the interrelationships and workflows of the various
modules of the librarys automation system (OPAC, circulation,
cataloging, etc.)
Develops effective working relationships with others involved with
the ILS, including internal staff, ILS vendor support and ILS user
groups
Uses standard or customized reports from the automation system for
management of library operations
Establishes procedures to ensure current backups and regular
updates to the automation system; schedules overnight procedures
and processes
Ensures process for maintaining a log of system failures and
problems
Performs regular evaluations of the systems and communicates with
the vendor on failure, problems and services
Demonstrates familiarity with operating and database systems used
by the ILS
Manages user permissions
Plans for and implements ILS software upgrades
Ensures library policies are supported by the ILS
 Understands and can articulate the functions of software as a service
(SaaS) and other hosting arrangements
Pursues integrated e-book discovery and lending as part of the ILS
Creates database queries not supported within the ILS (i.e. Queries
the underlying database directly (SQL or Oracle).

Hardware and Software Administration

Installs, configures and maintains computer equipment and peripheral
devices
Understands in detail the functions of the computer hardware,
internal components, peripherals and external storage drives
Performs advanced troubleshooting methodologies for computer
hardware and peripherals
Connects and troubleshoots any hardware and drivers required for
RFID
Installs and configures a variety of computer components
Understands hardware performance and the impact of individual
components on performance
Pursues the most effective and efficient ways to obtain technical
support
Isolates, identifies and articulates problems with hardware.
Installs, configures and maintains printers and scanners
Connects printers, including 3D printers, adds printer drivers and
configures properties
Connects scanners, adds scanner drivers and configures properties
Supports users access to networked printers and scanners
Isolates, identifies and articulates problems with printers and
scanners
Implements and supports wireless printing.
Manages software applications for staff and other nonpublic computers
Evaluates and selects software applications appropriate for staff and
other users
Installs and configures software applications
Isolates, identifies and articulates problems with software
applications
Understands and manages licensing for all software applications
Understands group, consortia and discounted purchasing options and
selects the most appropriate option from those available
Understands open-source options for software in libraries.
Provides administration for optimum performance of database
programs
Monitors and implements procedures to improve performance
 Implements measures to secure, back-up, restore and repair
database information
Implements methods for sharing database information.

Server Administration
Configures and maintains the librarys e-mail servers
Understands the terminology and protocols of e-mail systems,
including SaaS cloud-hosting solutions
Identifies and configures the key components for set-up of the e-mail
server
Applies appropriate and effective security protocols for e-mail
transmission.
Configures and maintains the librarys web servers
Understands the terminology and protocols of web servers
Identifies and configures the key components for set-up of the web
server (including static and dynamic content, authentication, log
files)
Determines whether local or remote hosting is best for the
organization
Ensures web server security.
Configures and maintains the librarys file servers
Understands the terminology and protocols of file servers
Identifies and configures the key components for set-up of the file
server (including storage, response time, access and security)
Recognizes benefits and drawbacks of cloud-based storage.
Configures and maintains the librarys print servers
Understands the terminology and protocols of print servers
Identifies and configures the key components for set-up of the print
server to host shared printers and process print requests over a
network
Ensures print server security.
Configures and maintains the librarys database servers
Understands the terminology and protocols of database servers
Identifies and configures the key components for set-up of the
database server
Recognizes when cloud-based hosting is a better solution than locally
hosting a server.
Configures and maintains the librarys other servers as needed
Identifies and configures other server types as needed (DNS, fax
server, game server, proxy server, sound server, web feed server,
telephone).
Basic Computer Literacy
Performs basic functions of e-mail applications
Understand email as a basic business function of the library and
corresponding appropriate use and etiquette
Receives, opens, forwards as needed, or deletes e-mail messages
Composes or replies to, addresses and sends e-mail messages
Sends, receives and saves attachments
Manages addresses/contacts, and extended absence messages
Creates folders and files messages for retrieval as needed
Identifies and uses web-based e-mail programs as well as desktop e-
mail applications
Creates and inserts saved signatures when appropriate.
Performs basic calendar operations and task management
Creates, accepts and sets recurring appointments
Sets reminders for calendar items
Plans and schedules meetings and invites attendees
Creates and manages task lists.
Understands and uses basic computer hardware and peripherals
Understands basic technology terminology
Recognizes and understands the functions of basic computer
components (computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, power supply,
printer, scanner)
Performs basic operations on computer hardware (plug in, start-up,
shut-down, reboot, mouse functions, keyboard functions, uses
headphones and speakers)
Recognizes common removable storage devices (CD or DVD disks,
USB drives, floppy disk) and identifies the appropriate drives
Performs basic troubleshooting procedures for computer hardware
and peripherals
Understands the set-up and use of data projectors and other audio-
visual equipment used for library programming
Performs basic printer maintenance tasks (start-up, load paper and
cartridges, clear paper jam)
Demonstrates familiarity with the librarys assistive and adaptive
devices.
Understands and performs basic operating system functions
Performs basic operating system functions (logs on/logs off, launches
programs from the desktop or menu, uses multiple open windows,
deletes files)
Performs common file and folder management tasks and recognizes
common file extensions
Performs basic computer maintenance tasks (e.g., empties trash or
recycle bin, restores files from trash, runs virus checks).
Understands and performs basic functions and tasks of common
software programs
Identifies different types and uses of common software applications
Performs the manipulations common to most applications
(open/close, maximize, scroll, print, etc.)
Understands and uses the features common to most applications
(menus, toolbars, taskbar, Help menu, product version information,
etc.)
Performs basic procedures to analyze and address software
application problems
Locates and opens basic accessibility applications: magnification,
narration, virtual keyboard, etc.
Determines the most appropriate software application for the task at
hand (i.e. word processing vs. spreadsheet)
Shares content between compatible software applications (e.g.
copies an Excel pie chart into a Word document)
Converts items to accessible PDF format, ensuring consistent
formatting and display when shared or published online.
Performs basic printing operations from common applications
Identifies printers available for a given workstation, changes default
network printer when required
Identifies local versus networked printers
Adjusts the set-up, previews print jobs and performs print operations.
Demonstrates beginner-level proficiency with word processing programs
Creates, opens, saves and deletes files
Selects, cuts, copies, pastes or deletes text
Performs operations to structure, format, spell-check and print
documents.
Demonstrates beginner-level proficiency with spreadsheet programs
Understands the basic structure of workbooks, worksheets, rows and
columns
Enters, saves, edits, finds and replaces, and filters data and text
Inserts rows, columns and worksheets
Copies and moves cells and worksheets
Applies basic formatting to cells.
Demonstrates beginner level proficiency with mobile devices
Demonstrates familiarity with the use of e-reader devices and
downloading of e-books
Demonstrates familiarity with other mobile devices in use in the
library, including tablets and smartphones
Assists patrons to find answers to their questions about device usage
Assists patrons who want to print from their own devices to the
librarys wireless-enabled printers
 Assists patrons who want to access music and video management
applications from their mobile devices.

Network & Security

Installs, configures and maintains the librarys local area networks (LAN)
Understands network terminology, protocols, addresses and ports
Identifies and configures the key components for set-up of the local
area network (LAN)
Understands the infrastructure that supports the librarys LAN and
identifies site-specific network needs
Identifies the options for network administration of hardware and
software
Understands core differences between workstation and server
configurations
Understands the operations of client/server and peer-to-peer
networks, and the advantages of each
Understands and applies the principles of user ID and account
management schema and tools.
Understands and supports the librarys telecommunications and wide
area networks (WAN)
Understands the relationship between a LAN (local area network) and
a WAN (wide area network)
Assesses the librarys overall Internet connectivity needs and works
with appropriate agencies and funders to ensure the long-term
sustainability of high-speed connections that meet those needs
Understands IP authentication and related software for secure
network access
Understands the basic concepts and terminology of
telecommunications
Understands the infrastructure that supports the librarys telephony
and wide area networks
Identifies a librarys site-specific telecommunication needs.
Installs, configures and maintains the librarys wireless networks
Identifies the librarys site-specific factors and their impact on
wireless signal transmission
Identifies the set-up options and the necessary equipment
Installs and configures the wireless components
Applies effective security protocols for all wireless networks
Identifies equipment needs for individual computers.
Troubleshoots problems with the librarys networks in order to maintain
optimal operations for staff and users
Applies strategies to isolate, identify and articulate problems with
networks
 Conducts effective technical support interviews
Locates and uses manuals and FAQs, and contacts appropriate
sources for further technical support.
Develops and implements practices for network security to ensure
maximum protection of library systems and staff and user information
Understands network security architecture and protocols
Understands hardware-based and software-based security solutions
Establishes a password management system and maintains secure
passwords
Identifies, addresses and communicates potential and real security
and privacy threats related to computer and Internet use
Identifies and implements solutions for addressing security threats
such as spam, spyware and viruses
Identifies and develops a plan for regular and automated security
maintenance tasks
Consults appropriate sources to stay informed of emerging security
threats and the most current strategies and tools
Balances need for security with library values of privacy and
intellectual freedom
Establishes metrics that can be tracked, reported and used to
evaluate the effectiveness of services.

Enterprise Computing
Performs enterprise computing management to integrate computing
systems across a large organization
Creates network connections among local area networks (LANs),
mainframes and stand-alone computers, including legacy
environments
Understands the architecture and scale of the enterprise system
Delivers hardware and software configurations for a variety of
platforms and networks
Performs life-cycle management of firmware and applications,
upgrading or replacing as warranted
Establishes and maintains an organization-wide e-mail system
Understands and manages the complexities of operating system
upgrades on servers and workstations as appropriate
Manages multiple vendor relationships and licensing agreements
Ensures password protection and data security across the
organization
Functions adeptly in basic programming and scripting languages
Understands and practices the principles of project management.
Performs enterprise-level software management
Understands and practices software version management
 Defines schedules and implements software upgrade processes
Understands enterprise systems in use in parent organization and
integrates library systems and services where appropriate and
efficient
Understands principles of identity management and integrates
library's need for authentication and authorization with parent
institution's identity management system
Understands and practices good code distribution by designing and
implementing architectures that efficiently distribute processing
across available computing resources
Defines and manages processes to track incidents from receipt to
resolution
Understands principles of cloud computing and software as a
service (SAAS) as software delivery models

Intermediate Technology Competencies

Demonstrates a general understanding of all the technologies utilized
by the library: e.g. catalogue, website, social media etc.
Searches the catalogue competently
Understands the variety of access points in the librarys catalogue
(author, subject, keyword)
Navigates the basic ILS modules with ease (circulation, membership,
catalogue)
Navigates the librarys website knowledgeably.
Understands and uses the Internet and web based applications
Understands the basic structure of the Internet and the World Wide
Web (websites and web pages)
Identifies and uses common browsers for accessing the web;
understands and uses URLs
Uses common functions of web browsers (navigation buttons, scroll,
add bookmarks or favorites, print)
Troubleshoots connections to internet and network connectivity, and
understands how the internet service is provided and who to contact
for technical support (name of internet host, municipal contact)
Downloads and saves files from the Internet, including image, audio
and video
Downloads e-books and audiobooks and performs troubleshooting on
e-readers and other handheld reading devices
Demonstrates familiarity with RSS and feedreaders or other means to
manage feeds.
Performs basic information searches
Identifies and uses search engines, web directories and online
databases
 Evaluates information for quality and credibility
Can organize and communicate information effectively
Demonstrates familiarity with a variety of search strategies
(keyword, Boolean operators, phrase searching)
Utilizes the Find feature to locate information on a web page.
Understands common security protocols related to Internet
use
Understands the purpose of anti-virus and anti-spam software
Identifies pop-up windows and blocks or allows them as necessary
Understands the function of cookies
Recognizes secure transaction sites and understands what type of
activities are conducted there
Understands and applies the librarys computer and Internet usage
policies.
Understands and uses common social media tools
Demonstrates familiarity with micro-blogging
Demonstrates familiarity with social networking sites
Demonstrates familiarity with photo-sharing, music-sharing and
video-sharing.
Uses technology to share information, communicate and collaborate
Demonstrates familiarity with online file-sharing and collaboration
tools (GoogleDocs, wikis, LibraryThing, Dropbox, Slideshare)
Uses web conferencing programs for synchronous, online meetings
or learning
Identifies and uses help menus, tutorials and support communities to
acquire the necessary skills
Locates and follows information sources to stay informed of new
technologies and social tools.

Public Access Technology Systems

Installs and configures the librarys public access computers and
networks to best meet the needs of library users
Determines the needs for public access computers, wireless access
and programs
Understands the nature of security threats to a public access system
Selects and installs appropriate computer, networking and peripheral
hardware for public use
Installs and configures appropriate operating systems and software
applications for public use
Selects, installs and configures appropriate public access computer
security measures
Configures public networks to secure and isolate them from
nonpublic computers and networks
 Selects, installs and configures access, bandwidth and content
restriction measures as directed by library policy
Identifies and implements options for reservation, time and print
management systems
Applies AODA recommendations for physical and electronic
equipment where applicable
Understands pros and cons of open-source vs. proprietary software
and identifies solutions that best meet user needs within
organizational resources.

Maintains and troubleshoots the librarys public computers, networks

and security
Develops and executes plans for maintenance and update tasks of
public computer hardware, operating systems, security and
applications
Tracks and maintains software licences to ensure currency
Keeps current of advances in tools and applications of benefit to
users and determines the implications of deploying them on the
public computers
Establishes metrics that can be tracked, reported and used to
evaluate the effectiveness of public access technology services while
respecting the privacy and intellectual freedom of library patrons.

Software Proficiencies
Demonstrates intermediate proficiency with e-mail programs
Performs calendar operations to manage meetings and appointments
Configures rules, alerts and junk mail settings
Uses tasks, notes and journal features
Adjusts email interface to suit individual needs as required.
Demonstrates advanced proficiency with e-mail programs
Manages e-mail archiving and storage
Uses remote access, instant messaging, fax and voice-mail features
Uses advanced features to manage contacts
Uses advanced calendar features to manage meetings and group
schedules
Performs advanced printing operations
Applies awareness of organizational retention policies to email
management.
Demonstrates intermediate proficiency with word processing programs
Inserts header, footer and page numbers
Inserts and formats columns and tables
Creates and applies styles
Inserts and manipulates images, charts and graphs
 Formats and prints envelopes and labels
Adjusts page layout and ribbons as needed
Inserts and edits hyperlinks.
Demonstrates advanced proficiency with word processing programs
Creates and uses templates/ master documents
Creates and formats footnotes, endnotes and a table of contents
Uses advanced features for formatting pages and tables
Creates and uses mail merges, macros, forms, frames and controls
Understands and uses document security and collaboration features
Demonstrates intermediate proficiency with spreadsheet programs
Applies a variety of formatting options (number, date, etc.)
Manages page settings, previews and print areas
Inserts hyperlinks, objects and images
Uses formulas and functions; finds maximum and minimum values
Creates basic charts to display worksheet data
Imports and exports data.
Demonstrates advanced proficiency with spreadsheet programs
Applies advanced formulas and functions
Performs advanced data analysis (pivot tables, pivot charts, goal
seek, scenarios)
Applies advanced number and condition formatting
Applies advanced data management (sorts, filters and consolidates;
applies mathematical, text and database functions)
Creates, edits and runs macros
Applies validation, protection and collaboration options.
Demonstrates beginner-level proficiency with presentation programs
(Microsoft PowerPoint, for example)
Creates, opens, runs and saves a basic presentation slide set
Applies slide designs, layouts and basic formatting
Inserts images & graphics and modifies as needed
Understands and applies the printing options.
Demonstrates intermediate to advanced proficiency with presentation
programs
Creates and applies custom themes or templates and manages slide
masters
Understand slide transitions, custom animations and action buttons
and uses discretion in their application, with special consideration for
those with accessibility needs
Uses multiple sources for images and graphics, manipulating various
formats
Inserts hyperlinks, sound clips and video clips; records narration
Optimizes presentations for a variety of output options, including the
web or automated kiosk display
 Identifies the most effective use of text and graphics to convey
meaning and engage audiences.
Demonstrates familiarity and beginner-level proficiency with document
management programs (SharePoint, for example)
Understands the file and workspace structure of the document
management system
Adds new files, retrieves existing files, checks files in/out and edits
files
Understands and uses collaboration and information-sharing
features.
Demonstrates familiarity and beginner-level proficiency with web-based
office applications for online collaboration
Understands the advantages of using web-based applications for
collaboration
Identifies and selects appropriate online applications
Collaborates with other content-creators
Identifies and uses help menus, tutorials and support communities to
acquire the necessary skills.
Demonstrates beginner-level proficiency with database applications
Designs a database to meet specified needs and identifies the data
relationships
Creates a basic database and accesses different views of the data
Creates and modifies tables, relational tables and forms
Runs basic queries and reports on data.
Demonstrates intermediate to advanced proficiency with database
applications
Applies advanced processes for retrieving and validating data
Applies advanced manipulations of tables and forms
Applies advanced methods for queries and reports on data.
Demonstrates beginner-level proficiency with photo-editing programs
Opens, saves and prints images
Resizes, crops, uses basic selection tools, and performs basic color
and contrast adjustments
Reverses changes made to an image
Recognizes various file formats for images and their uses.
Demonstrates intermediate to advanced proficiency with photo-editing
programs
Uses the array of tools in the toolbox and image adjustment options
Uses a variety of detailed selection options
Uses layers, creates montages and applies special effects
Optimizes images for a variety of output options.
Demonstrates beginner-level proficiency with electronic publishing
applications
Creates or opens files, chooses layouts and saves files
 Inserts and manipulates text blocks and tables
Inserts and manipulates graphical shapes, images and clip art
Understands and applies the printing options.
Demonstrates intermediate to advanced proficiency with electronic
publishing applications
Works with page masters and advanced layout configurations
Applies advanced techniques to text blocks, tables, paths and
graphics
Creates customized publications, including books with table of
contents and index
Optimizes publications for a variety of output options, including the
web and commercial printing.

Professional Experience
Accomplishment Statements based on Keywords
Team Player
Highlight the times youve worked successfully with other people. Note:
Some people confuse teamwork skills with situations in which they were
supervising a team. Dont do thatpeer-to-peer interactions are
different than manager-employee ones. Make sure youre using
examples that demonstrate the former. (And save the latter for
positions that ask you to highlight your leadership experience.)

For example:
Increased email click-through rate by 20% by collaborating closely
with other members of design team
Partnered with 6 other employees to plan and execute a 200-person
corporate retreat
Increased coding accuracy by 15% by using pair programming
technique

Key Words: Work with, collaborate, partner, participate, merge,

unite, contribute, develop relationships with

Leader
Heres where you can demonstrate your ability to motivate, teach, and
inspire. As youll see, its possible to demonstrate leadership skills even
in an entry-level position. Just reference a circumstance in which you
were giving directionswhether that was leading a seminar or actually
managing a team.
 For example:
Onboarded, trained, and oversaw 5 new employees in the analytics
department
Gave presentation on effective communication processes to 60-
person company
Mentored 3 PR interns, continuing the relationship after they
returned to school
Implemented new time management software system and taught 10
employees how to use it
Supervised 4 direct reports

Key Words: Facilitate, manage, supervise, teach, direct,

delegate, mediate, recruit, advise, administer, moderate,
instruct, guide, counsel, coach, arbitrate, liaise, coordinate,
inspire, influence
Thrives in a Fast-Paced Environment
Nows your opportunity to bring up all the times youve juggled several
tasks at once. (Every day, am I right?) Demonstrating you can handle
multiple responsibilities at any given moment will give the hiring
manager confidence that youll be able to stay calm and efficient, even
when there are hundreds of assignments flying at you.

For example:
Planned and launched 3 simultaneous employee engagement
programs, resulting in a 20% increase in reported employee
satisfaction
Answered 40+ calls per day while helping in-store customers and
maintaining area cleanliness
Identified and solved 20+ customer queries each week while
researching and resolving payment discrepancies

Key Words: Prioritize, expedite, organize, manage, multitask,

dynamic environment, high-volume

Strong Communicator
Heres your place to discuss roles in which you wrote or spoke. In
general, match the communication medium you use to the actual job
description. If youre applying for an HR position in which you'll always
be verbally communicating, highlight responsibilities that required
speaking to other employees, clients, or management. If, on the other
hand, youre applying for a PR position, youll want to play up your
 ability to communicate over email and by phone.

For example:
Interacted with approximately 50 customers per day, improving their
experience through warm, friendly demeanor, and eagerness to
answer questions
Negotiated partnerships with 4 new clients, helping company
establish a strong position in emerging market
Rewrote onboarding process for overseas contract workers, a 100-
page document used to train approximately 500 employees each
year
Kept 10-member sales team focused and motivated by giving 15-
minute weekly speech

Key Words: Compose, write, present, speak, interview, lobby,

persuade, negotiate, author, discuss, interface, clarify,
articulate

Analytical or Qualitative Thinker

Bring up the times youve made logical decisions or worked
with data. Dont worry if your role doesnt involve numbers
career expert Lily Zhang has an excellent guide to quantifying
any job.

For example:
Saved company $10,000 by logging and reviewing weekly employee
pay logs and investigating pay discrepancies
Developed and managed $500K budget for commercial activities,
prioritizing key investments to meet in-market revenue forecast
Designed and implemented A/B testing, using results to increase user
engagement by 40%

Creative
You should incorporate projects or ideas that you specifically developed.
If youre having trouble coming up with an example, you might want to
broaden your definition of creative. It doesnt necessarily mean
artsyfor many jobs, it means being able to find an unexpected
solution. Since every job comes with challenges, youre guaranteed to
have at least one creative win.

For example:
 Proposed new Green Living vertical, doubling average time spent
on site and enabling company to secure eco-conscious brand
partners
Created e-book landing page, allowing company to collect emails
from 1,000 potential leads
Generated 5% revenue increase by designing and implementing new
merchandising solution for regional retail stores

Key Words: Introduce, initiate, solve, create, implement,

design, launch, pioneer, innovate

Self-Starter
Point out the times youve been proactive or successfully worked on
your own. In general, companies searching for self-motivated,
driven, passionate, or self-directed workers want to know you
wont need to be micro-managed, nor will you do the bare minimum of
whats required of you.

For example:
Took the initiative to form Facebook page for stores employees,
improving internal communication and teamwork
Proactively reached out to clients when their orders were going to be
late, reducing number of canceled orders by 20%
Volunteered on company Employee Success team; independently
planned 6 quarterly events for employees

Key Words: Independently, anticipate, identify/resolve, offer,

volunteer

Powerful Verb Replacements

You Led a Project
If you were in charge of a project or initiative from
start to finish, skip led and instead try:
1. Chaired
2. Controlled
3. Coordinated
4. Executed
5. Headed
6. Operated
7. Orchestrated
8. Organized
9. Oversaw
10. Planned
11. Produced
12. Programmed

You Envisioned and Brought to Life a Project

And if you actually developed, created, or introduced
that project into your company? Try:
13. Administered
14. Built
15. Charted
16. Created
17. Designed
18. Developed
19. Devised
20. Founded
21. Engineered
22. Established
23. Formalized
24. Formed
25. Formulated
26. Implemented
27. Incorporated
28. Initiated
29. Instituted
30. Introduced
31. Launched
32. Pioneered
33. Spearheaded

You Saved the Company Time or Money

Hiring managers love candidates whove helped a
team operate more efficiently or cost-effectively. To
show just how much you saved, try:
34. Conserved
35. Consolidated
36. Decreased
37. Deducted
38. Diagnosed
39. Lessened
40. Reconciled
41. Reduced
42. Yielded
You Increased Efficiency, Sales, Revenue, or
Customer Satisfaction
Along similar lines, if you can show that your work
boosted the companys numbers in some way,
youre bound to impress. In these cases, consider:
43. Accelerated
44. Achieved
45. Advanced
46. Amplified
47. Boosted
48. Capitalized
49. Delivered
50. Enhanced
51. Expanded
52. Expedited
53. Furthered
54. Gained
55. Generated
56. Improved
57. Lifted
58. Maximized
59. Outpaced
60. Stimulated
61. Sustained

You Changed or Improved Something

So , you brought your departments invoicing system
out of the Stone Age and onto the interwebs? Talk
about the amazing changes you made at your office
with these words:
62. Centralized
63. Clarified
64. Converted
65. Customized
66. Influenced
67. Integrated
68. Merged
69. Modified
70. Overhauled
71. Redesigned
72. Refined
73. Refocused
74. Rehabilitated
75. Remodeled
76. Reorganized
77. Replaced
78. Restructured
79. Revamped
80. Revitalized
81. Simplified
82. Standardized
83. Streamlined
84. Strengthened
85. Updated
86. Upgraded
87. Transformed

You Managed a Team

Instead of reciting your management duties, like
Led a team or Managed employees show
what an inspirational leader you were, with terms
like:

88. Aligned
89. Cultivated
90. Directed
91. Enabled
92. Facilitated
93. Fostered
94. Guided
95. Hired
96. Inspired
97. Mentored
98. Mobilized
99. Motivated
100. Recruited
101. Regulated
102. Shaped
103. Supervised
104. Taught
105. Trained
106. Unified
107. United

You Brought in Partners, Funding, or Resources

Were you responsible for a great new partner,
sponsor, or source of funding? Try:
108. Acquired
109. Forged
110. Navigated
111. Negotiated
112. Partnered
113. Secured

You Supported Customers

Because manning the phones or answering
questions really means youre advising customers
and meeting their needs, use:
114. Advised
115. Advocated
116. Arbitrated
117. Coached
118. Consulted
119. Educated
120. Fielded
121. Informed
122. Resolved

You Were a Research Machine

Did your job include research, analysis, or fact-
finding? Mix up your verbiage with these words:
123. Analyzed
124. Assembled
125. Assessed
126. Audited
127. Calculated
128. Discovered
129. Evaluated
130. Examined
131. Explored
132. Forecasted
133. Identified
134. Interpreted
135. Investigated
136. Mapped
137. Measured
138. Qualified
139. Quantified
140. Surveyed
141. Tested
142. Tracked
You Wrote or Communicated
Was writing, speaking, lobbying, or otherwise
communicating part of your gig? You can explain just
how compelling you were with words like:
143. Authored
144. Briefed
145. Campaigned
146. Co-authored
147. Composed
148. Conveyed
149. Convinced
150. Corresponded
151. Counseled
152. Critiqued
153. Defined
154. Documented
155. Edited
156. Illustrated
157. Lobbied
158. Persuaded
159. Promoted
160. Publicized
161. Reviewed

You Oversaw or Regulated

Whether you enforced protocol or managed your
departments requests, describe what you really did,
better, with these words:
162. Authorized
163. Blocked
164. Delegated
165. Dispatched
166. Enforced
167. Ensured
168. Inspected
169. Itemized
170. Monitored
171. Screened
172. Scrutinized
173. Verified

You Achieved Something

Did you hit your goals? Win a coveted
department award? Dont forget to include
that on your resume, with words like:
 174. Attained
175. Awarded
176. Completed
177. Demonstrated
178. Earned
179. Exceeded
180. Outperformed
181. Reached
182. Showcased
183. Succeeded
184. Surpassed
185. Targeted

Projects on Resume
Quantify the results of your projects. Don't just say "led project to increase
production." Instead, focus on the specific results: "Designed and managed
the streamlining of my division's production processes, resulting in a 200-
percent increase over the previous year."

Discuss how your specific involvement was beneficial to the project. Briefly
mention the background for the project -- sluggish sales, increased customer
complaints or outdated stores, for example. Use active language to make a
clear connection between your participation and the results, using phrases
such as "developed and led implementation of marketing program to reach
new markets overseas" or "developed training program for new hires that
improved customer service and resulted in a 75-percent decrease in
customer complaints."

Include discussion of any projects in which your leadership or specialized

abilities resulted in surpassing a project's established goals or objectives. If
 you led a project designed to reduce production costs by 10 percent, and you
succeeded in reducing costs by 20 percent, emphasize that on your resume.
Highlight how your involvement led to the project exceeding its goals.

Highlight accolades or awards you or your team received for projects you led.
Mention bonuses for early project completion, company awards for highest
increase in annual sales and industry citations for innovation or process
improvement, for example. Such awards underscore talents or traits likely to
appeal to prospective employers.
Business Analyst Accomplishments

Responsibilities:

System Analyst experience of 6+ years in all phases of System

Development Life Cycle (SDLC): from inception through
implementation and experience in handling multiple projects
concurrently and following Business Process Flows.

Extensive experience working with vendor e-commerce tools

like Microsoft commerce as well as helping construct and
integrate in-house ecommerce applications.

Possess strong theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of

Management Information Systems, Supply Chain Management,
Operations Management, Finance Management and Information
Technology.

Working knowledge of implementing software development projects

using methodologies such as Waterfall, Rational Unified Process, and
Agile/Scrum.

Experience in Structured Query Language (SQL) in writing queries to

perform tasks like update, transform and retrieve that data from the
database.

Working knowledge on end to end integration of merchandising

systems (ORMS) with warehouse management systems like oracle
retail data model system (ORDM) and also led the implementation of
JDA transport management system, with in built knowledge of
logistics procurement and freight and warehouse management.

Understanding of network inventory management services which

include data evaluation, analysis and management and also perform
data capture and migration, network quality augmentation, software
as a service and data life cycle management. Used inventory data
transformation, which enables effective functioning of the network,
helps in meeting the growing demands of the network planning and
provisioning in an organization.

Experience in Healthcare Industry with strong operational knowledge

of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Experience in Test Management tools like ALM, Quality Center, and

 Test Director.

Knowledge of ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis, surgical and procedural

codes.

Experience in creating and organizing deliverables in a secure

retrievable area: such as BRD (Business Requirement Document),
FRD (Functional Requirement Document), PDD (Project/ Product
Definition Document), SRD (System Requirement Document) and
Change Management Documents.

Familiar with HIPAA version changes (4010, 5010) and how it

impacts backend system, frontend system and application.

Strong experience working with HIPAA ANSI X12 transactions []

[]

Creating logic to analyze healthcare costs, utilization and trend data,

to supplement internal and external client deliverables, including
research and development methodologies for identifying/analyzing
quality indicators and up coding in medical billing.

Have expertise on various tools like Rally, SQL Server Management

Studio which help in gathering requirements for the business.

Knowledge of writing test case scenarios, performing test cases and

performing positive, negative and UAT (User Acceptance Testing).

Responsibilities:

Gather requirements by conducting meetings and brainstorming

sessions with senior management of the Research Group and SMEs
and document them.

Performed Requirement Analysis and developed Use Cases, Activity

Diagrams using Rational Rose.

Documented requirements associated change requests with

requirements and connected requirements with Use cases.

Engage client to gather software requirements/business rules, and

ensure alignment with development teams.

Primarily responsible for End to end integration of merchandising

 systems (ORMS) with the Warehouse Management systems (ORDM
and PKMS), Direct to Customer systems (CWD), Allocation Systems
(SIMS), Point of Sale (POS).

Analyzed and translated business requirements into system

specifications utilizing UML and RUP methodology.

Translated Business processes into Informatica Mappings for building

Data marts.

Led the implementation of JDA enterprise module. Played the

integration lead role for the development of JDA applications,
enterprise planning package. Responsibilities included
managing requirements for data interfaces, defining
technical approach and strategy for data loading process and
assist in issue analysis and QA support.

Configures base tables and manages database for TMS

(Transportation Management System) JDA Transport, so routing
algorithm will properly identify proper business rules. JDA transport
management system also delivers powerful analysis and
performance monitoring in logistics procurement and also guides us
in centralized tracking of the delivery process which helps in freight
management.

As a Business Analyst involved in the integration of the

Warehouse Management System (PKMS) with the Oracle
Retail application (ORMS) and other EDI enabled
external applications/systems.

Generate and analyze report using Cognos and analyze data using
Informatica Data Explorer (IDE).

Created the transition rules as per the defect workflow, Creating and
generating reports, creating the Business views, creating the
workflows in HP ALM.

Followed Business Process Testing using Business Process

components in HP ALM.

Support for a major effort to improve the Warehouse

Management System (WMS) capabilities of Supply Chain.

Setup test plan and test set in ALM, upload test cases, mapping
requirement with test cases and made analysis and dashboard to
 report the testing progress.

Utilized Agile/ SCRUM and PMI methodologies to monitor steer and

develop project objectives.

Reviewed the data model and reporting requirements for Cognos

Reports with the Data warehouse/ETL and Reporting team.

Written SQL Queries and verified the data between

and application.

Created Functional Unit/String test cases for Order Management,

Warehouse & Inventory Mgmt., and Planning & Procurement.

Establish documentation for agile methodology for implementation

with a very water-fall-centric development team.

Lead multiple project teams of technical professionals through all

phases of the SDLC using technologies including Oracle, Erwin, Data
Stage, Data Warehousing, Web sphere and Cognos.

Reported bugs and tracked defects using Quality center and ALM.

Worked on Oracle Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management

modules including OM, Shipping and Execution, Pricing, Inventory,
and AR.

Interfaced with developers to identify and resolve technical issues

and bugs in the software to validate end-user requirements.

Involved with Salesforce.com Premier Support and handled the

support cases with the help salesforce.com support.

Participated in the Logical and Physical Design sessions and

developed Design Documents.

Responsible for managing the migration of the department's website

using Web Builder and ensuring that there are no broken links on the
intranet.

Environment: MS Visio, UML, SDLC, BizTalk , Confluence, Rally, HP

ALM, Endeca Search, Microsoft Office Suite, Windows 7/8, MS SQL
Server 2012, Lucid Chart.
Responsibilities:

Addressed the changes made to the Medicare program and created

requirements mapping to that of the system requirements.

Translate stakeholder requirements into over 10 different tangible

deliverables such as functional specifications, user cases, user
stories, workflow/process diagrams, data flow/data model diagrams.

Identified AS-IS a process of claims transactions of 4010/4010A

standard and TO-BE processes (ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS
compliance requirements) of 5010 standard using the gap analysis.

Gathered and documented business requirements from SMEs, user

groups and vendors via workshops, interviews and surveys.

Worked in close collaboration with the Project Manager and business

users to gather, analyze and document the functional requirements
for the project.

Worked in Healthcare Claims Administration - Healthcare Claims

Processing (837/835) includes facility claims and professional claims.

Worked with FACETS Team for HIPAA Claims Validation and

Verification Process (Pre-Adjudication).

Facilitated and managed meeting sessions with committee of SME's

from various business areas including Benefits Administration, Health
Claims Group, HIPAA Administration, Health Policy and Program
Evaluation Team and Data Management Group.

Created Functional specifications for the 834 enrolment files with

their changed benefits in the Medicare program.

Identify and reconcile errors in client data to ensure accurate

business requirements.

Written SQL Queries and verified the data in tables.

Submitted change requests and worked with change request records

in Clear Quest.

Participated in entering, tracking system defects in Rational Clear

Quest.

Involved in Configuration Management, Requirement management

 and analysis.

Provide technical and procedural support for User Acceptance Testing

(UAT).

Responsibilities:

Worked with business users to define product feature requests,

business requirement specifications, and change requests, document
business requirements and then transform them into functional and
technical requirement specifications. Good knowledge about
Business process flows using sequence diagrams.

Participated in one-to-one, web conferences as well as JAD sessions

with different stakeholders of the project, analyzing the tasks and
then coming up with relevant suggestions providing consistent
process for effective communication and resolution of the issues and
managing schedule while working with multiple teams with different
stakeholders.

Draft and maintain business requirements and align them with

functional and technical requirements.

Documenting functional specifications and also use case

specifications.

Effectively working with other team members involved with the

project in reviewing various requirements with the help of user case
and activity diagrams.

Conducting daily meeting with the QA team with regard to the defect
status and progress meeting reports using Clear Quest, which helps
in identifying and documenting all the functional gaps and resolving
new functional needs required.

Facilitate monthly meetings with clients to document requirements

and explore potential solutions.

Involved in monitoring business flows and created business process

verification plans, with the help of the team conducted user test
check list manual for UAT phase.

Responsibilities:
 Responsible for complex database development and analysis
activities while identifying process improvement opportunities
pertaining to data management.
Managing reporting deliverables for Medical, Dental and Pharmacy
claims audit projects using SQL Server and MSBI tools.
Creating logic to analyze healthcare costs, utilization and trend data,
to supplement internal and external client deliverables, including
research and development methodologies for identifying/analyzing
quality indicators and up coding in medical billing.
Creating SSIS Packages using Pivot Transformation, Fuzzy Lookup,
Derived Columns, Condition Split, Term extraction, Aggregate,
Execute SQL Task, Data Flow Task, and Execute Package Task to
generate underlying data for the reports and to export cleaned data
from MS Excel Spreadsheets, Text file, MS Access and CSV files to
data warehouse.
Transforming complex business logic into SQL objects like Stored
Procedures, User Defined Functions, Views, T-SQL, Triggers Scripting
and Jobs.
Developing various Drill-through, Drill-down, Linked and Saved
reports using SSRS.
Creating report models for Ad-hoc reporting.
Creating Ad Hoc reports in Report Builder.
Designing and developing SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
databases and OLAP cubes used in ad-hoc analytic research and
automated reporting.
Create SAS programs to generate clinical trials data from the
Laboratory Information System (LIS) to client data formats.
Used detailed project specifications, wrote SAS DATA STEPs,
PROCEDUREs, and MACROs to retrieve "raw" study databases, create
summarized member level datasets, generate reports and
frequencies, and populate Microsoft Excel-ready output tables in
multiple UNIX environments.
Review and de-bug SAS code; review diagnostic reports to ensure
results are congruent with design intent.
Liaising with SAS administration teams to design, implement and
execute the change control and promotion tasks in SAS as well as to
plan and implement upgrades; establishing best practices and
guidelines for SAS business intelligence usage as well as providing
guidance and assistance to SAS Developers on operational and
technical issues.
Documenting workflow analysis on the business area processes,
systems, and information flows, as part of agile project management
activities.
Complete ownership of data management, data analysis, reporting
 activities for various clients using SQL Server and MSBI tools.

Responsibilities:
Wrote queries and developed reports for various levels of
management by using SQL and Excel.
Provided reporting to management via Excel reports of workload and
work completion on daily, weekly, and monthly bases.
Identified internal and external system requirements, design and
configuration set-up, also created User Documentation and
conducted training classes.
Performed integration testing with the new CTI system.
Prepared test cases required for User Acceptance testing (UAT).
Visual Basic, SQL Server, MS-Word, MS-Excel, DB2, Windows98/NT,
Mainframe, MVS, JCL and Cobol.
Designed and developed project document templates based on SDLC
methodology.
Expert knowledge of SQL and relational database management
systems.
Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint,
Visio).
Experienced in testing the application in UAT and in
Production.
Written Test Plans and created Test Scripts for testing
the applications, maintaining error logs and bug lists.

System Administrator Accomplishments

Managed data center operations and resolved ten daily third-

tier technical support tickets for a medium sized, high density data
center specializing in fully managed external
infrastructures for 273 Fortune 500 and small business clients.
Managed and trained three Technicians providing internet, VoIP, co-
location, and network systems support to 300 clients,
including Checkpoint, Wikimedia, PS Print, Groupon, and Roku, for
a B2B ISP and services integrator.
Deployed eight physical and virtual clouds for seventy Developers
producing custom Big Data analytics software for municipal
governments.
Managed and maintained fifty Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008
R2 servers and the VMware server infrastructure for a credit
union with fourteen branches and 495 users as part of a three-
 member Network Team.
Troubleshot and resolved up to twenty Linux-based support issues
per week for hundreds of PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN clients of
a Private Internet Access service with an infrastructure of
over 800 servers.
Installed and maintained the workstations, servers, printers and
networking equipment, including switches, routers, firewalls and
proxy devices, for a naval ship with over 700 military personnel.
Administered network cabling, NIPRNet and SHF telecommunications
devices, including Super High Frequency, Nonsecure Internet Protocol
Router Network (NIPRNet) computers, and COMSEC equipment.
Designed, implemented, and maintained the company server and
network infrastructure supporting eighty users at an e-commerce
retailer.
Administered and maintained an IT infrastructure for a 25-bed critical
access hospital with seventy Windows servers,
over 300 workstations, and technical business equipment, including
networked devices, document scanners, printers, and a PBX phone
system.

Descriptions of duties: bullet points you can use throughout

your System Administrator job descriptions.
Performed desktop, laptop, and system maintenance, security
updates, security audits, and machine hardening.
Maintained a collocated datacenter with over twenty Windows and
Linux servers, a VMWare virtualization cluster, and technical business
equipment, including a wide-area network, document scanners,
printers, and VoIP PBX phone system.
Received a commendable rating on security practices and
procedures from DSS Inspectors.
Setup and maintained network infrastructure for two offices, which
included a RADIUS server for wireless authentication using the
Virtualbox virtualization software.
Setup and maintained an OpenVPN server, the Redmine project
management application, and a Gitlab code repository on Windows
Server 2008 Hypervisor and Ubuntu 12.04 virtual servers.
Conducted set ups, equipment purchasing, and security in-
processing for ten new hires with JPAS.
 Migrated and maintained web environments.
Resolved WAN and LAN connectivity issues, public and private IP
assignments, and DNS changes.
Created and maintained the company asset inventory for
all computer hardware with Microsoft Excel.
Evaluated and selected a new company email system by researching
and identifying potential systems, creating and administering user
test groups, gathering system user feedback through interviews and
surveys, and selecting and preparing the implementation of new
systems while negotiating with vendors.
Identified, researched, and negotiated the purchase of $25K worth of
hardware from five vendors.
Developed and implemented a cloud computing system
with six hardware nodes by researching, selecting, and negotiating
the purchase of $13K worth of hardware, building and configuring
laptops, and training users.
Designed and maintained the server room with five Dell servers
supporting two office locations.
Set up and maintained company tools, including VTC, IP-based phone
and conference systems, and mobile phones.
Maintained 99.99% uptime by conducting server maintenance,
updates, and patches.
Wrote and collected documentation and maintained the Standard
Operating Procedures, knowledge base, and FAQs.
Monitored and controlled blades and enclosures using HP
BladeSystem Onboard Administrator and Cisco Unified Computer
System Manager.
Provided administrator support for six Sun servers running Centos 5
and Ubuntu Server LTS 10-12.
Created standardized equipment deployments for customers,
including network switches, modems, and routers, saving entire days
of support and planning for each deployment.
Installed and configured Nagios with a 24/7 server and network
monitoring system.
Performed primary Windows and Linux server administration tasks,
including setup, installation, OS patching, data backup, user account
management and access control.
Deployed an internal wiki used by fifteen Engineers and the company
 CEO which included server and workstation inventories and roles,
step-by-step guides to generate daily reports, and vendor
information.
Performed cost/benefit analyses while researching and selecting
hardware vendors for services and devices.
Performed feasibility studies on network distribution
technology based on cost and the time needed to acquire and install
the hardware during purchasing recommendations for management.
Tracked and monitored the security of $500K worth of IT assets
through a proprietary ticketing system.

QA v QC

Chart
Criteria Software Quality Assurance Software Quality Control
(SQA) (SQC)
Definition SQA is a set of activities for SQC is a set of activities
ensuring quality in software for ensuring quality in
engineering processes (that software products. The
ultimately result in quality in activities focus on
software products). The identifying defects in
activities establish and the actual products
evaluate the processes that produced.
produce products.
Focus Process focused Product focused
Orientatio Prevention oriented Detection oriented
n
Breadth Organization wide Product/project
specific
Scope Relates to all products that will Relates to specific
ever be created by a process product
Activities
Process Definition and Reviews
Implementation
Testing
Audits

Training
10 BEST PRACTICES FOR AN EFFECTIVE TESTING & QA
IMPLEMENTATION
10 best practices for an effective testing & QA implementation

1) Process: It is critical that the organization defines a process

that is robust and certified by experts in order to initiate the
software assurance quality culture. The process will serve as a
guideline that may evolve over time. Most importantly, it should
be made official and should be followed through. Improvements
will be made until a mature process is established.

2) Managerial Commitment: Managerial commitment should stem

from the CIO to ensure alignment from each of the development
managers, as well as from the development areas of each country.
Everyone must be aware of the value that is added by testing &
QA to the business. The process, therefore, must account for the
value of the solutions that it offers to the organization.

3) Personal Experience: Hiring someone as a tester that lacks

necessary experience is a common mistake. It is vital to
acknowledge that the position requires experience in both the
business and in software development in general.

4) Deliverables: As part of the software development and testing

processes, it is necessary to define deliverables, such as
requirements, a testing plan, and testing cases. These will
guarantee that testers can effectively follow-up throughout the
project from the software quality perspective.

5) Tool Usage: Both the use of tools for tracking and managing
defects, as well as the creation of test cases and execution, are
essential for increasing the maturity of the testing & QA process.
The process may begin without tools, but they are a requisite for
increasing execution maturity.

6) Metrics: Developing and creating metrics to track the software

quality in its current state, as well as to compare the improvement
with previous versions, will help increase the value and maturity
of the testing process (e.g. the number of components with errors
in the software/the total number of components in the software;
or the number of errors detected in the testing phase/total
number of errors detected).

7) Testing Environment: Implementation of appropriate testing

environments that allow developers to reproduce the system
execution in production environments is crucial to the creation
and execution of the corresponding test cases.

8) Test Data: The testing environment required for day-to-day

operation should provide or ensure availability of the necessary
data to enable the corresponding test execution. Even if you have
developed the appropriate testing environments, developers need
to access specific data required to execute the associated test
cases.

9) Change Management: Like any other production environment,

the testing environment should properly track changes in
configuration, ensuring not only controlled results, but that the
tests are run in environments that closely resemble those of the
real production environment.

10) Developer Awareness: It is critical to have an awareness

process that includes management commitment at each and every
business unit and for associated developers. The goal is to
demonstrate that testing activities add value to their daily work

Business Requirement Process

Requirements
Step 1: Define the successful customer outcome(s) DEFINE BUS /
USER REQUIREMENTS

What is it that the customer really needs? What does the business need to
do to meet those needs?

Step 2: Define the process scope DEFINE SCOPE

Establish what the process actually is from the customer's perspective -

current state (if a current state exists!). Don't take the business's word for it -
their interpretation of what a process is may be radically different to yours.

Document the process at a high level (e.g. SIPOC) - confirm with the
business.

Step 3: Define the current process DEFINE FUNCT/TECH(NON FUNCT)

REQUIREMENTS
Proceed to document the process at a task level. Don't waste too much time
on the as-is if you are going to change the process. Photos of sticky notes on
a wall is sufficient.

Functional requirements are functions or features that must be

included in a system in order to satisfy the business needs and be
acceptable to the system users.(WHAT IT should do NOT HOW)
Typical functional requirement types are:
o Technical Specifications
o System Parameters
o System Constraints
o Calculations
o Data manipulation and processing

nonfunctional requirements focus on the properties or qualities a

system must have. Typical functional requirements types are:
o Efficiency
o Services
o Control
o Information
o Performance
Usability:
Prioritize the important functions of the system based on usage patterns.
Frequently used functions should be tested for usability, as should
complex and critical functions. Be sure to create a requirement for this.
Reliability:
Users have to trust the system, even after using it for a long time.
Your goal should be a long MTBF (mean time between failures).
Create a requirement that data created in the system will be retained for a
number of years without the data being changed by the system.
Its a good idea to also include requirements that make it easier to monitor
system performance.
Performance:
What should system response times be, as measured from any point, under
what circumstances?
Are there specific peak times when the load on the system will be unusually
high?
Think of stress periods, for example, at the end of the month or in
conjunction with payroll disbursement.
Supportability:
The system needs to be cost-effective to maintain.
Maintainability requirements may cover diverse levels of documentation,
such as system documentation, as well as test documentation, e.g. which
test cases and test plans will accompany the system.

Step 4: Improve the process / define new process

List all the tasks in the current process and eliminate or improve tasks
focussing on the outcomes required. If a new process, sticky note the tasks
required to achieve the outcomes required with the minimal amount of
activities.

Don't just consider "sunny day processes" where everything goes right -
consider everything that can go wrong! Look at the paths from every
business rule in your process. Consider all process permutations.

Step 5: Link Process Tasks to Procedural Steps

For each task, create procedural steps - how and why each process step is
done rather than what is done. This can be done very simply in a
spreadsheet. What's more, you can then split it into a procedural document
for your staff to use for training and day-to-day operational procedures.

Step 6: Link Procedural Detail to Business Requirements

The procedural detail helps to create a granular level of detail that greatly
benefits the creation of specific requirements. It forces the analyst to think of
all possible permutations and options - it forces them to think in the context
of the real world, not a gobbledegook business requirements document.

Step 7: Link Business requirements to test scenarios

Use procedural detail and business requirements together to develop test

scenarios and use cases - IT can then use these for their unit testing then
they can be re-used for user testing. Easy.

Step 8: Build it. Iteratively.

Presuming that there is actually an IT solution involved (and let's face it,
there usually is), it's best to adopt an iterative (agile) approach where there
are short development cycles with high business involvement. I have seen
too many waterfall development disasters in my time.
So in eight steps a Business or Process Analyst can create complete
traceability from the customer outcomes to the delivery.

SDLC PHASES
Requirements Definition Phase
define the major functions (critical processes to be managed, including
mission critical inputs, outputs, and reports) of the intended application or
system

Major functions include. Define business and user requirements

understanding the capabilities, features and functions end-users need

requirements gathering (as is assessment) and requirements analysis (to

be assessment) are required across business, end-user, functional, and
technical needs to-determine what capabilities they require to be more
effective

developing a "gap analysis"

System Design Phase
Design elements describe the software functions and features in detail to be built
Define system

starts with approved requirements as it initial input (functional diagrams,

screen layouts, business rules, business process diagrams, and an entity-
relationship diagram with a full data dictionary)

Translate (user)requirements into (system) solutions to create the

systems, features, and functions that are necessary to achieve the
business and functional requirements.

Protyping I use to serve as a bridge between requirements, design and

development; a mockup of the proposed screen layouts, while a more
complex prototype may have selected business rules instantiated as work
flows within the application with active fields to capture and show data or
information

solutions are designed to deliver business requirements and comply with

organisations enterprise architectur

Development Phase
unit test, all features are tested individually
Test Phase
Software features and functions are tested to verify the correctness and
completeness of the software

various types of tests (e.g., unit, integration, system, stress),

validates the efficiency and effectiveness of the requirements and design

includes the scope of work necessary to analyze and document testing

requirements to ensure the solution will implement desired capabilities
and perform

o Technical testers will ensure the underlying hardware, software,

network, database, work flow, and security components conform to
architectural, design and performance requirements (test case set
of conditions or variables under which a tester determines whether the
software satisfies requirements and functions properly.)

Title

Description

Test steps

Expected result

Actual result (Once tested)

o End-users will test and validate conformance of the user interfaces,

screens, data fields, data flows, and reports for business processes
and/ or user functionality (use case- requirements specification that
capture how a user will interact with a solution to achieve a specific
goal. They describe the step by step process a user goes through to
complete that goal using a software system.)

Independent Software Quality Assurance (QA) tests confirm the

development team has followed organization's quality processes and
procedures, and that the solution meets established quality metrics. fg

Installation & Acceptance Phase:

become the watchdog over the project via data that is collected from project,
technical, and frequent status meetings, including the identification of risks,
issues and action items that may be identified as the project evolves.
Automation
Gathering requirements for business process
automation (workflow)

It is very common in IT projects to face a client asking for an automation for some manual
process like a leave request or an Invoice initiation; this requirement forms a big challenge on IT
people as a Project Managers, Business analysts, architects, testers and developers; due to the
following reasons:

1. Manual processes are well-known and practiced by people (Customers) who

doesnt have IT background: converting a manual process to a real efficient automated
process needs some creativity, imagination and good analytical skills adding to that some
strong IT knowledge which is not easily found in a normal business user.

2. Documentation availability: most of the times; documentation of business

processes is missing or out of date and most of the context is known by heart.

3. Process engineering: process engineering is the step that should come before starting
the IT analysis process, but unfortunately this activity is often ignored, and if it is not
ignored; it usually done by purely business people who does not consider Information
Technology standards, best practices and limitations, so you will find a lot of missing details
that highly affect the process and some non-practical assumptions that are difficult to
implement.

4. Change Management: Technically; changes on Workflow and business processes in

IT projects are extremely expensive; so it is always better to have a complete understanding
of the business before starting the technical implementation.

So this article will simply give you as an IT person a full guidance; utilizing some
simple tools (Visio and OneNote); on how to gather a requirements from a client during
the analysis phase for workflow based business, and for illustration purposes; I utilized
the leave request business process as real life example.

This article will take 15 minutes to fully read practice and understand.

You can download related files from here:

Technologies and Environment Preparations:

You need to have the following tools installed in your PC:
Microsoft Visio (any version)
Microsoft OneNote (any version)
In this article I am using Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft OneNote 2010,
However; it is not a must to comply with the those versions.

Assumptions:
Users who read this article should have familiarity with IT based projects, in addition to basic
knowledge of Microsoft Office products that will be used on this article.
This article is targeting technical and non technical users so you will not find any technical
implementation details for workflow, it is just a guidance for the gathering the requirements
Always when you read my blogs, Gray paragraphs are there for extra illustration, you can
safely skip them if you dont want to understand to go with details.

Plan:
Before we start, it is good to know what we are going to do, so we will follow this sequence:
Section 1 Explain the real case scenario (Leave Request).
Section 2 . Exploring Business perspective.
Section 3 Exploring IT Perspective.
Section 4 Implementing the diagram with OneNote & Visio.

Solution:
Section 1 Explain the real case scenario (Leave Request):
Leave request is one of the most common scenarios that may be found in almost
every company, although this process is very simple and basic; I believe that it is very
suitable for the purpose of this article since almost everybody is familiar with this
process and a lot of its activities can be found in many other business processes.

Our scenario can be described as the following:

An employee decided to request a leave; he fills the form describing the purpose and
time of the leave, then his team leader will either approve or reject his request, after
that the HR (Human Resource Employee) will either approve or reject this request.
that exactly what you will hear from a normal business user.

Section 2 Exploring Business perspective:

Now, you need to define the process in a more business oriented way, here we will
open Microsoft Visio to represent the process:

Before you start; you need to consider the following factors:

 Define Actors: The first and the most important data that you need to gather about the
process is the actors (people who are participating in the process); In our business process;
we have three actors: Employee, Team Leader and HR.

Define Activities(Human Activities): Activity represents any interaction between

user and a form ( i.e. ASP.NET or InfoPath form) so you need to define these activities; we
have three activities; Employee Submits Leave, Team Leader Approval and HR
approval.

Define activities flow (logical sequence): It is also essential at this point to

determine the the sequence of the steps, please consider the following when you work on
that:

Starting and ending activities: Always define the start up activity and closing
activity.

Parallel and serial paths: some times workflow takes a parallel shape where
more than one actor can participate without the need of waiting the other to finish his
task(call center scenarios may be also considered), our case is purely serial process.

Nested calls: some times one activity calls another process, or finishing a
process considered a startup of a new process.

Actors relationship: ask you self, after finishing this activity; who is the next
actor?; for example; if the employee submit his leave request; which team leader should
continue the process ( we may have more than on team leader in the department) is it his
direct manager on the Active Directory; or there is some business database that store
each employee with his team leader or there is one team leader for all the employees.

Drawing this diagram is very easy task you just need to go to Start Menu || Microsoft
Visio 2010 || File || New || (in Template Category) Flowchart ||Select Cross-
Functional Flowchart || Select Horizontal

You will have initially the following diagram:

Consider the following when you do the drawing:

Your quote at this level is Devil is in details , so try to summarize as much as you can
at this step.

We use three shapes on this diagram

Polygon: For start and end points

Diamond for approve/Reject (of activities that may have more than one out
put decisions)

Square:for one direction activities.

As you can see from the diagram, activity that comes on the space of the actor indicates
that this activity is done by him; for example; Employee Submission activity is
clearly done by employee as it comes on the area next to employee.

Section 3 Exploring IT Perspective:

Although the name sounds technical; this section should also be handled by business analyst (the
person who is gathering and documenting the requirements), remember that the previous Visio
diagram is useful to to document the process in a more tangible way; but still doesnt mean
anything for the developer and still open for a lot of debates from the client side.

Remember that diamonds and squares doesnt count for developers; what counts for technical
people is forms, clicks, database and code and so forth, so let us try to enhance this diagram to
meet developers expectations!

Initially let us do the following assumption; Each step in the work flow is mapped to a UI
Form(i.e. ASP.NET or InfoPath form), and as we discussed before-we will also call it
an activity; so let us first find a name for the three activities mentioned above:

Employee Submission.

Team leader approval.

HR Approval.

Let us begin with the details

If we want to talk IT word; workflow consists of the following components: Actors, How to
reach the form, Data to entered, Data to be viewed, decisions, Security, Business
constrains, input Validation, Emails and Tasks.
We will discuss all these components in details taking in consideration that we have three
activities; that means that we have three slots of these components.

1. Actors: we have the following actors:

Employee Submission: the Actor is Employee.

Team Leader Approval: the Actor is Team Leader.

HR Approval: the Actor is HR.

2. How to reach: we mean by this the click that takes you to the form

Employee Submission: User goes to the main menu in the intranet and click
on My E-services || Request New Leave (this is just and example)

Team Leader Approval: Team leader can enter this form in two possible ways:

Click on the link from his email (an email will be sent to the Team leader
once the employee submits his leave request)

Click on the task (a task will be created and assigned to the team leader
once the employee submits his leave request)

HR Approval: HR can enter this approval form in three possible ways:

Click on the link from his email (an email will be sent to the HR once
the Team leader approves the leave request)

Click on the task. (a task was created once the team leader approve the
leave request)

Click Action button on the leave request item on the HR portal (in this
case; HR employee has an access to a page that can query all requests for reporting
purpose; so he can use this page to reach HR Approval form as well)

3. Data to be entered: this is the expected data to be filled into the form

Employee Submission: employee will fill the date time (using a date time
picker) and will fill the reason of the leave request (free text box)

Team Leader Approval: will fill a comments box.

HR Approval: will fill a comments box

4. Data to be viewed: Data to be viewed is the data that user will see on the form (this
data facilitate and aid the user in taking the decision ).

Employee Submission: current leave balance for this year and the name of his
team leader.

Team Leader Approval: team leader may be interested in the following:

Leave Request date and time (Filled by Employee)

 Leave request reason (filled by Employee)

Resource sheet and current project status.

HR Approval: HR may be interested in the following:

Leave Request date and time (Filled by Employee)

Leave request reason (filled by Employee)

Employee Current balance ( taken from HR system)

Employee leave history (taken from HR system)

Comments provided by Team leader.

5. Actions: Actions are the available decisions that can be done by actors which control the
flow of the process, one activity may have one or more actions as the following:
Employee Submission: this activity will have only one possible action, I
will discuss the concepts in the this activity:
Submission: (clicking on the submit button) each
action will have 5 related considerations which are:
Security: in our case it is Employee ( normally it
is equal to the actors, but in some cases
different users can do the same activities but
with same permission set).
Business Constrains: we have the following
constrains:
User cannot request a leave if his leave
balance equals to zero.
User cannot request a leave if he has got
an HR warning letter in the previous two
months.
Input validation: This is a validation on the input
data:
Leave date time: Required, should be a
date between current date + 1 year
Reason: Required, should be a free text
that is less than 50 character.
Email: Email notification that will be sent upon
doing this action.
An email will be sent to Team leader.
confirmation email will be sent to
employee
Tasks:
A new task will be assigned to team
leader.

Team leader Approval:

Approve:
Security: Team leader Can do that.
 Business Constrain: No Business constrains
Input validation:
Comments: not required, less than 50 character.
Email:
HR.
Employee (FYI)
Team leader (Confirmation)
Tasks:
HR
Reject:
Security: Team Leader Can do that
Business Constrains: No business constrains
Input validation:
Comments: Required, less than 50 character
Email:
Employee: (FYI)
Team leader ( Confirmation )
Tasks: No tasks

HR Approval:
Approve:
Security: HR Can do that
Business Constrains: no business
constrains
Input validation
Comments: not required, less than
50 character
Email:
Employee ( FYI)
Team leader ( FYI)
HR ( Confirmation )
Tasks: No tasks
Reject:
Security: HR Can do that.
Business Constrains: No business
constrains
Input validation
Comments: Required, less than 50
character
Email:
Employee (FYI)
Team Leader (FYI)
HR (Confirmation)
Tasks: No tasks

6. Custom triggers: (Some times called system activities) these are automated actions
that are done by the system it self as a reaction of executing and activity, a good example of
this is an insert into a databases or a call to a web services that communicate with external
systems.
 Employee Submission: No custom triggers.

Team Leader Approval: No custom triggers

HR Approval: Here once the leave is approved; an update statement will

happen against the Human resource database to subtract the value of the leave request
from employee leaves balance.

Section 4 Implementing the diagram with OneNote:

This is the most existing section! Section 3 was just a detailed explanation of what we will be
done here, let us start utilizing Microsoft OneNote ( which is in my opinion the best tool
Microsoft ever done), I am using OneNote 2010 but you can use earlier or later version of the
product, so here we go!

This section is describing the steps of utilizing OneNote to represent the process, we will go
through the following steps:

Step 1: Create new note book and section

Step 2: Add the Visio diagram
Step 3: Create the template for the activity
Step 4: Fill one activity ( as and example)
Step 5: Link the activities to the Visio diagram

so let us begin

Step 1: Create new note book and section

Open Microsoft OneNote from Start menu (if you dont have it you can get it from here), then
click on File || New || (Store Notebook on) My Computer || (Name) type Workflow ||
Click Create Notebook
Rename the section to Leave Request Workflow

Step 2: Add the Visio diagram

Rename the Untitled Page to Main Diagram.

Go to Visio diagram drawn in Section 3 and copy and paste in into the Main
Diagram page:

Step 3: Create the template for the activity

Go to New Page || Name the title Activity 1 || Create the following table on the page
( you can take it from the Attachment at the end of the article)

To accelerate the process of filling the data, you can add the common fields that may
have the same values in all over the process with template ( like in How to
Reach section, you can add Click on the task as it will be the same for all activities)

Click on Arrow Next to New Page || Page Template ||

Then click on Save current Page as a template

You will get popup that allow you to name the template, type Workflow activity in the
text box and you can optionally check Set default template for new pages in the
current section then click Save
Delete the Activity 1 page.

Now we are ready to visit our client and start gathering requirements, so we can start
filling the fields ( described in section 3) as the following
Now you have a stored template that has an already created table and you just need to
fill it ( it is recommended to add some already filled sections to the template for
example; how to reach section will always contain the sentence Click on
task except on the first step; so you can add this to the template to accelerate the
work)

Do the same for the next two activities.

Step 5: Link the activities to the Visio diagram

We are almost done except one thing that will add good value to our diagram which is linking the
diagram with the activities pages. so let us start:

Go to Main Diagram page and type Details under each activity:

Now start linking the pages with email of those Details labels; so Right
click on Employee Submission || Copy Link to page.

Then go to the Details word under Employee Submission Activity || Select the
text ||Right click on it || Link || (in side address: text box) paste copied link

Do the same for the other two activities, then you will end up with the following on
the Main Diagram page:
Download the sample from here

Methods of Requirement Verification

The four fundamental methods of verification are Inspection, Demonstration,
Test, and Analysis. The four methods are somewhat hierarchical in nature, as
each verifies requirements of a product or system with increasing rigor. I will
provide a description of each with two brief examples of how each could be
used to verify the requirements for a car and a software application.

Inspection
is the nondestructive examination of a product or system using one or more of the
five senses (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, taste). It may include simple
physical manipulation and measurements.
Car: visually examine the car to ensure that it has power windows,
power adjustable seats, air conditioning, a navigation system, a tow
package, etc.
Software Application: visually examine the software for screens that
were requested, check for the fields needed for data entry, verify that
the necessary buttons exist for initiating required functionality, etc.
Demonstration
is the manipulation of the product or system as it is intended to be used to verify
that the results are as planned or expected.
Car: use the automatic switches to verify that the windows and seats
work as intended, start the vehicle and ensure that the air conditioning
produces cold air, take the car for a test drive to sense the acceleration
and cornering as it was described based on the requirements.
Software Application: enter all required fields on a screen and select the
button to return a specific report. Ensure that the report is returned
with the type of data needed.
Test
is the verification of a product or system using a controlled and predefined series
of inputs, data, or stimuli to ensure that the product or system will produce a very
specific and predefined output as specified by the requirements.
Car: accelerate the car from a complete stop to 60 mph, and verify that
it can be done in 5.2 seconds. Accelerate through a turn under
controlled conditions, producing .8G of force, without the car loosing
traction.
Software Application: enter the type and model of car, automatic
windows, power steering, and all other options as stated in the
predefined test plan, select the price now button and receive back a
price quote of precisely $43,690.
Analysis
is the verification of a product or system using models, calculations and testing
equipment. Analysis allows someone to make predictive statements about the
typical performance of a product or system based on the confirmed test results of
a sample set or by combining the outcome of individual tests to conclude
something new about the product or system. It is often used to predict the
breaking point or failure of a product or system by using nondestructive tests to
extrapolate the failure point.
Car: complete a series of tests which rev the engine at a specific rpm for
a set length of time, while monitoring engine vibration and temperature,
to verify that the expected results are achieve. Use this information to
model the failure point of the engine, i.e. max rpm sustained over a
specific period of time.
Software Application: complete a series of tests in which a specified
number of users input the characteristics of the car they are attempting
to price and initiate the pricing functionality at the same time. Measure
the response of the system to ensure that the pricing function returns
its results within the time specified. Analyze the relationship between
increasing number of system users and the time it takes for pricing to be
returned. Record the results to capture system degradation. Use this
information to predict at what point the system no longer meets the
maximum allowable time to return pricing as defined by the
requirements