Project Description

Alexander Rivkin

Alexander Rivkin

Program Manager

Areas Of Expertise:

  • Program Planning & Delivery
  • Financial Services
  • Telecommunications
  • Energy and Supply Chain
  • State and Federal government and non-for-profit sectors

Education:

  • Prince2
  • Certified SAFe® 5 Agilist (Scaled Agile Inc)
  • Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations (Sure Step)
  • Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (Cloud Platform)
  • Certified in Cybersecurity (ISC)
  • Master of Commerce (Funds Management), UNSW
  • Bachelor of Manufacturing Management, UTS
  • Mental Health First Aid

About Alexander Rivkin

Alexander is a Program Manager, who joined Seven Consulting’s Sydney team in January 2019. He brings over 22 years of industry experience with delivering projects and establishing governance mechanisms. Alexander couples his extensive consulting history across multiple industries with a strong knowledge of the delivery lifecycle and IT transformation. 

What Alexander brings:

  • Industry experience across financial services, telecommunications and energy, supply chain and transportation.
  • An understanding of Traditional and Agile development methods.
  • Strong influencing skills and the ability to drive organisational change.
  • Proven ability to manage stakeholder expectations and consult senior management on strategically important projects.
  • Experience in delivering business critical solutions, driving IT architecture transformation, design and building enterprise and solution architecture.

Client feedback:

Chief Operations Officer, Government Organisation – 2023

“Alex is quick to work out key stakeholders and then manage staff to drive project outcome.”

 
Sharmini Sivathas, Executive Director, Corporate Services – 2022

“Structured and persistent; transparent and objective.”
Poon Fletcher, Senior Legal Consultant (Product Owner) – 2021

“Alex has escalated matters/issues where required, ensuring the right stakeholders have the authority to initiate the action requested. He has used all the available tools to the advantage of the project and very few, if any deliverables have passed as a result of something within his control. He has a strong focus on all aspects of project governance, thereby ensuring that all issues meet project requirements. Change control has been very important in this project and he ensured that the relevant Change stakeholders were engaged early in the piece so they have been on the journey and have a strong understanding of their deliverables.”
Nancy Woo, Head of Project Management – 2020

“Alexander is very experienced/knowledgeable and organised. He responds promptly and been able to push us to deliver the project on time. Alexander is able to articulate very well when there is a difference in options/suggestions and always has a recommendation. Alexander established our end to end framework repository on sharepoint and where required, he researched the functions to get the most efficient way to help us create the knowledge repository.”

Key Clients:

  • CSR
  • VicRoads (Victoria)
  • CBA
  • CFS
  • ASX
  • Indue
  • Woolworths
  • NSW Dept of Education
  • Lifestyle Solutions
  • Link Group
  • ASIC
  • Macquarie Bank
  • Genworth
  • Fuji Xerox Australia
  • Uniting Financial Services

Key Achievements:

As Senior Project Manager, Invocare, Alexander lead a review on their planned HR Systems and Payroll implementation program. Deliverables included delivery approach, governance structure and a validation of schedule to deliver.   

As Senior Project Manager at Colonial First State (CFS), Alexander led the delivery of GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) project. Following its recent divestment from CBA, CFS has been establishing its own independent IT landscape. The GRC project purpose is to establish a Cloud-based ‘Protecht’ platform focusing on risk and compliance management supplemented by business continuity and crisis management and internal audit capabilities. The project benefits will include fit-for-purpose simplified CFS-specific business frameworks, processes and corresponding system workflows, reduction in manual risk and compliance processes coupled with the ability to create incident records by the whole organisation. The project incorporates a business framework and processes workstream informing the parallel delivery of the technology platform by the second workstream. Alexander has successfully achieved alignment of the business and technology workstreams, with a focus on stakeholder and change management and has led the project Phase 1 through the Feasibility (business case, roadmap) to Execution (delivery and go-live) stages. 

As Senior Project Manager at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Alexander led the ‘Administrative Systems’ group of 6 projects within the Project Spark (program) at CBA. Spark was a divestment of CFS (Superannuation) by CBA comprising multiple underlying projects. As a part of that program and afterwards, Alexander led ‘iManage’ project establishing a Cloud-based legal case management solution for CBA and CFS respective legal and group governance units. The project scope included explicit non-functional penetration and performance testing of the solution. The iManage project went live successfully in February 2022. Additionally, Project Spark included several cloud-based solutions of lesser scale (Risk Management, Internal Audit, Group Governance) where Alexander oversaw end-to-end coordination and planning across all the workstreams and drove the delivery. One of the challenges addressed successfully was the delivery by external vendors and by the business stakeholders through stakeholder and dependencies management and risk and issue management. The delivery approach is a mix of traditional and Agile methodologies, most often using a hybrid. 

As Program Manager at CSR, Alexander was responsible for delivery of the Transport Management Optimisation solution based on CSR SAP platform. Alexander also acted as an acting Program Director overseeing the overarching TMS program while the title holder was on leave. The Optimiser is to deliver business benefits including improved cost ratios and operational efficiencies achieved through improved planning automation, efficient planning and carrier selection. Alexander successfully managed the delivery of the solution by the key delivery vendor including the internal rollout through the state-based operations Hubs. The delivery has been successfully concluded with the hypercare transitioned into BAU ownership. The solution rollout enabled CSR to gradually increase the share of freight delivery planning to be carried out automatically (i.e. with minimum human involvement). It also created the foundation for further exploration of adjustments in the engagement of the third-party carriers by CSR. 

As Portfolio Delivery Lead at VicRoads (Victoria State Government), Alexander established ‘Service Delivery Reform’ portfolio of streams of work and managed its delivery during 2023. The purpose of the Portfolio was to improve the digital experience of VicRoads customers and to digitise other services. This would deliver tangible benefits to the organisation through an increased shift by the customers to the digital channels and accompanying reduced demand for the customer service and call centres. Alexander successfully built the portfolio foundation by shaping four Agile squads with the balanced participation of the Product and Project Delivery. The portfolio also included Change Management and Go-To-Market streams timely and appropriate support of releases for the internal and external stakeholders and customers. In parallel, Alexander established projects covering the transactions reporting for executives and a training solution.

As Senior Project Manager at Colonial First State (CFS), Alexander led the delivery of GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) project. Following its recent divestment from CBA, CFS has been establishing its own independent IT landscape. The GRC project purpose is to establish a Cloud-based ‘Protecht’ platform focusing on risk and compliance management supplemented by business continuity and crisis management and internal audit capabilities. The project benefits will include fit-for-purpose simplified CFS-specific business frameworks, processes and corresponding system workflows, reduction in manual risk and compliance processes coupled with the ability to create incident records by the whole organisation. The project incorporates a business framework and processes workstream informing the parallel delivery of the technology platform by the second workstream. Alexander has successfully achieved alignment of the business and technology workstreams, with a focus on stakeholder and change management and has led the project Phase 1 through the Feasibility (business case, roadmap) to Execution (delivery and go-live) stages.

As Senior Project Manager at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Alexander led the ‘Administrative Systems’ group of 6 projects within the Project Spark (program) at CBA. The Project Spark was a divestment of CFS (Superannuation) by CBA comprising multiple underlying projects. As a part of that program and afterwards, Alexander led ‘iManage’ project establishing a Cloud-based legal case management solution for CBA and CFS respective legal and group governance units. The project scope included explicit non-functional penetration and performance testing of the solution. ‘iManage’ project went live successfully in February 2022. Additionally, Project Spark included several cloud-based solutions of lesser scale (Risk Management, Internal Audit, Group Governance) where Alexander oversaw end-to-end coordination and planning across all the workstreams and drove the delivery. One of challenges addressed successfully was the delivery by external vendors and by the business stakeholders through stakeholder and dependencies management and risk and issue management. The delivery approach is a mix of traditional and Agile methodologies, most often using a hybrid.

As Project Manager at Indue, a key financial technology provider to Australian financial services industry, Alexander delivered an end-to-end delivery framework covering multiple aspects of Indue’s processes and methods for conceiving, prioritising and creating technology solutions and for portfolio and projects governance. The Framework captured and provided guidance on the processes in the Project Management Office (PMO), Project Management and Solution Delivery. A modern web-based User interface was created providing easy navigation and mapping the Artefacts (templates) library to the processes. The benefits of the Framework include improved quality and staff capability and consistent delivery leading to increased customer satisfaction, return on investment and speed to market.

As Project Manager at Lifestyle Solutions, a large non-for-profit player in the Australian Disability services sector, Alexander was leading an engagement where the project aimed at creating a cohesive and sustainable operational ecosystem around its “Enquiry-to-Pay” end-to-end core business process. The main business outcome sought from the Project was restoration of sustainability of Lifestyle Solutions operations. The Project scope covered business processes redesign, technology landscape transformation with a significant emphasis on Change Management. Following the portfolio reassessment, the Project’s successful outcomes were embedded into the business and other parts of the scope redistributed within the portfolio.

As Project Manager at ASX, Alexander conducted a review of the CHESS Replacement Project, a large transformation initiative based on blockchain technology. The Project has an intensive exposure to the industry and public. The review concentrated on the project health and identifying its key strengths and weaknesses including review of the delivery methodologies. The outcome was recommendations towards the project structure and governance optimising the chances of success. Further, Alexander was instrumental in the initial implementation of the recommendations for the project.

As Project Manager, at Woolworths, Alexander managed the cutover process of a complex program for the divestment of its Petrol business. The cutover was critical for the completion of the business transaction between Woolworths and Euro Garages (EG). Alexander coordinated the activities across 11 teams and external parties in different locations. The responsibilities included alignment between the business teams from Woolworths and EG, creation and execution of a consolidated cutover plan, cutover resourcing, and communications plan. Alexander played a critical role in driving the completion of the required deliverables across the program for the cutover successful outcomes.

As Project Manager, at Link Group, Alexander managed a complex implementation of a solution based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM platform. Link Group required the Solution to replace its legacy CRM system for subsequent rollout to Link’s client superannuation funds. As the outcome the Solution provided new user and business capabilities allowing Link to retain and expand its client group. Alexander ran a team of up to 23 consultants at its peak with the team budget reaching $4 million. The project consists of multiple workstreams including Dynamics 365 with ETL and real-time integration, data migration, Azure Cloud components and testing including migration performance. Alexander delegated the workstream management to team leads, while concentrating on the stakeholder, risk and budget management. A combination of Agile and Waterfall methodologies was employed as relevant to achieving the best possible outcome.

As Project Manager, at ASIC, Alexander worked on a critical Regulatory Transformation Program which required implementation of DevOps framework as a key enabler. Alexander managed the successful delivery of Automation Lifecycle Management Microsoft technology components (TFS 2017) in an Agile environment. The project team consisted of 5 people with an overall budget value of $450k.

As Technical Lead, At Macquarie Bank, Alexander provided leadership to the ASG consultants at the Payments Gateway API Management project. The project run by the bank migrated 43 billers from the legacy payment platform to a new payment provider. The responsibilities included guiding the delivery by ASG team applying Agile and DevOps frameworks, provision of integration architecture and design, overseeing performance testing.

As Team Lead at Genworth, Alexander directed the ASG team towards creation and application of the assessment criteria, collation of best practices and provision of resulting recommendations. The outcomes drove subsequent implementation of the recommended frameworks in the next project phase.

As Consulting Architect at ASG, Alexander worked on a large-scale ERP replacement for Fuji Xerox Australia. The scope covered the solution and integration architectures where integration was a key enabler for the project. Alexander guided the delivery, non-functional testing, and rollout of the integration layer by ASG integration team. Elements of Agile Scrum were applied during the delivery.

As IT Services Delivery Manager at Uniting Financial Services, Alexander oversaw several strategically critical IT projects delivered using Agile and Waterfall methodologies. These projects included replacement of the banking core system with Temenos T24 Cloud-based platform and moving the desktops infrastructure to a Citrix-based ecosystem.

As a Consulting Solution Architect at Logica (CGI) Alexander’s responsibilities included consulting services in solution and integration architecture, collaboration solution and IT alignment and Portfolio/Project Management Office offerings.

As Senior EAI Consultant at Aipex, Alexander worked on engagements in the Integration and Institutional Banking service lines, managing a development team of 6 delivering TIBCO integration for new billing platforms for a large Telecommunications company, stakeholder relationships, solution design and estimates.

During his time with Accenture, Alexander worked on large scale system integration projects performing client facing roles. Alexander moved through various SDLC stages including design, build, functional and non-functional testing, and production support within large Telecommunications industry clients.

Other Team Members