Temple University

Information Systems Manager at Denver Health Medical Plan, Inc.

Aurora, Colorado, United States

Denver Health Medical Plan has strong ties to the community. In fact, we see that as one of our greatest strengths. Denver Health Medical Plan was created in 1997 to provide quality, accessible and affordable health care services in the Denver metro area. As a hometown insurance carrier, our support team is easily accessible, providing our members with personalized service. Our work is to improve the health and well-being of our members by promoting wellness and disease prevention, providing access to culturally diverse, comprehensive health services and enabling members to play an active role in their health care. The Information Systems team plays a large part in making sure the information that our company needs to properly server our community is easily accessible and that our members are well informed as a result.Part Operations, part Development, part Design and Architecture, the Information Systems (IS) team is involved with every aspect of the business.  It is a fast paced organization that needs to be highly compliant because it is highly regulated.  The business resources disseminate the necessary requirements and it’s up to IS to implement them.  Running several lines of business that include a mix of:•	Employees of the City and County of Denver•	Denver Public Schools•	Denver Police•	Denver Health and Hospital Authority•	Medicare Advantage plan for Denver residents, •	Child Health Plan Plus plan by DHMP and •	Elevate Health Plans for individuals and families through Connect for Health Colorado. And a Provider network that includes:•	Denver Health•	UCHealth•	Children’s Hospital Colorado •	The Cofinity networkMeans the IS team has to keep the integrations between systems up and running to keep the information and communications flowing.  For career opportunities at Denver Health Medical Plan, visit the Denver Health CAREER CENTER and select Managed Care in the ‘Select Facility’ field: <a href="http://www.denverhealth.org/about-us/career-center">www.denverhealth.org/about-us/career-center</a>

Denver Health Medical Plan, Inc.

Information Systems Manager

Lead the design and development of a in-house code deployment tool that: -Increased the number of successful deployments-Decreased hand-offs between siloed teams-Increased customer satisfaction-Maximized the output of less technical resources-Grew the use of the tool from 5 pilot customers to over 25 customers in 2 years.Introduced Automation to a greenfield data center leveraging vRA & vRO-Reduced team hand-offs for quicker tenant builds-Decreased time to deliver new tenants and new environments within the tenant-Introduced standards to the build process which increased stability due to a standards based repeatable process being put in place.Expanded the Release Acceptance program to catch product issues during sprint cycles-Reduced the number of support calls from customers-Increased customer satisfaction-Improved the stability of the customer environments to allow for additional training of support resources.-Contributed to increased velocity in automation project releases by providing stable gold images to the teamIntroduced a transition process to the team so less technical resources could leverage the product of the engineers work which was a virtual appliance approach to deploying TriZetto products.-Reduced build time from 6 months to 1 week-Increased product stability-Reduced support calls-Leveraged less technical resources for buildsCreated a small effective team of developers to consolidate the development of home grown tools under one umbrella.  -Grew the use of the tools over 18 months so that the team could be transitioned to the Product group to formally market and commercialize the tool set.Introduced and Implemented Agile Practices and Scrum methodologies to improve delivery turn around and improved project tracking & resource accountability.

Cognizant

Software Engineering Manager

Main Street provides IT, Web & Social Media consulting services to micro, small & medium sized businesses. One customer is particular, Kids' Adventures engaged Main Street for a variety of support reasons.  A a small startup who provided after school and summer day care programs, they used each employees personal email for communications.  While effective at first, once employees started to turn over, it became difficult for parents to keep up.  So we got them stood up on Google Apps for Work (currently named G Suite) and created email groups for each school in which they were present.  Every parent would know what school their child attended, so this worked well.  On another occasion we assisted with the redesign of the company logo.  Later, we assisted with the update of their website and the maintenance and upkeep it required.  As they continued to expand, we assisted with the creation of Social Media accounts and the content to create a following.

Main Street Solutions, LLC

Owner

Managed internal and external development resources for clients during version upgrades, Work Orders projects, and Break Fix incidents. Established departmental “Lunch & Learns” in order to expand the knowledge of the department and/or sharpen existing skills.Encouraged staff to explore new technologies through “clubs” formed to test new technologies for usefulness.Introduced pair programming sessions to overcome difficult issues and provide for cross training/backfill support.Improved process of Work Order & Break Fix flow so front-line support personnel better captured the crucial information for development resources.Created an improved documentation process to provide better and faster access to necessary information.Responsible for development of business and IT technical requirements documentation, coordinating module, batch and EDI development and peer reviews of design specification documents and program code.Directed staff on how to perform detailed analysis of backend database objects for process and performance improvements.

The TriZetto Group

Sr Business Analyst - Hosted Solutions.

Performed custom code updates to client RDBMS’s.Drove the upgrade & dehost project of a large BCBS client of TriZetto.Managed internal TriZetto resources as well as client resources to perform upgrade work on time & on budget.Managed the resources responsible for the source control of all code as well as deployments to insure correctness & system integrity.Documented code updates and revisions within structured documents and committed those to source control as well.Performed RDBMS analysis to cleanse database of unused and unnecessary database objects for processes not being migrated or previously decommissioned but carried forward.

CIBER, Inc.

Consultant

I was a General Partner for the firm.  I was technical and would analyse the technical requirements for the firms we worked with.  We were able to assist Brunswick hospital to bring convergence of legacy systems to a fresh new browser based GUI.  This allowed them to slow down their migration project and really focus on documenting their requirements for a new system to replace the legacy system.  It allowed for proper planning with the right requirements to ensure a successful migration to a more modern platform.  We also worked with startups to develop their brand, enhance web site UI, increase web site traffic and thus increase advertising revenue. We also provided comprehensive database management, integration and/or migration for our customers, who included:DMJM HarrisSitrick & CompanyInternational Action Sports AllianceExempla HealthcareBrunswick Hospital

Sincerae Technology Solutions

In Cantor's attempt to take advantage of the dot com bubble they spun off all technical resources into their own company know as eSpeed.  After the work I had done for the Comms department & the successful integrations with development teams, a development manager offered me a job as a developer to work on a variety of projects for the various trading desks that Cantor had in existence.  These were mainly small Visual Basic projects with a Sybase backend. I was able to experiment & try new things.  I was well mentored within the group.  It gave me a deeper understanding of the role of a developer & the role of adequate requirements in their success. Development is part art & part science; there are many "right answers" but even more subjective opinions of how an idea gets implemented.Eventually I moved away from Visual Basic & app development to be strictly a database developer.  Working with some very seasoned DBA's I was schooled in the art of dirty reads, table & row level locking, cursors & the like.  "Select *" was forever removed from my lazy practices.  I was mentored in data modeling & implementation, stored procedure & how to test and modify for performance, cross database selects, cursors & poor man's cursors.  Eventually I owned the securities database where I would be responsible for providing the trading systems their instrument information & roll the instruments, be they government securities or energy instruments (before the Enron debacle) or anything else.  I needed to manage global banking holidays & roll the instruments relevant for that region correctly to the next appropriate business day. I modeled Swaps & Basis instruments, Mortgage Backed Securities & may others in order to open new desks for Cantor. The technology I used each day encompassed HTML, CSS, TSQL, Crystal Reports & Crystal Enterprise. Familiarity with Unix, Bash, Perl, & Crontab as well.

eSpeed

Programmer/Analyst

Recruited by Cantor Fitzgerald as a Global Inventory Control Manager to manage all Telecomm inventory via The Angles Groups Cable Management application and bring peripheral departments online. Required modeling of data and process design to track all aspects of inventory for the Comms department. Each month we would reconcile the inventory and bill back the appropriate departments, turning the telecom department from a monthly cost center to a break even department.  In addition, we'd integrate with the company employee database to 1) confirm circuit accountability on a department by department basis and 2) an accurate company directory. That integration allowed me to interface with development resources and continue my liaison role between business and technical resources.

Cantor Fitzgerald

Global Inventory Control Manager

This company produced telecommunications based software.  From Cable Management to Call Accounting as well as a couple of specialize packages, the software spanned verticals because all companies needed to know where their phone lines were run, the circuits they owned, and how to account for the telecom usage.  Written in Basic using Btrieve databases (eventually upgraded to Visual Basic & Microsoft Access, and then Sybase) the system was straightforward and performed as advertised.  As a project manager and trainer, I was able to travel the country and meet a variety of people in a variety of verticals.  I had been focused on the Cable Management application and got to work with people from Universal Studios, Cantor Fitzgerald, Fort Hood, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia International Airport, CPS Energy and the University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill. Analyzing each companies requirements, working with them to implement the system that met their needs and training their staff on how to mange the system long term provided me with the ability to work well with both technical and business resources. I needed to be the liaison between the 2 groups and communicate effectively with each.   I was then promoted to technical sales lead and moved to Chicago to assist the sales team in that region.  We were trying to get ahead of technical issues that, to date, hadn't been addressed in the sales cycle and would cost time and money once uncovered during implementation.

The Angeles Group

Project Manager

In order to make sure I had one steady stream of income, during the time I was running DPM Computer Services I was also teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) students in the mornings.  The program was 9 moths long, with a rolling enrollment (which didn't really work).  The first module would start with computer basics, where all of the students needed to be.  We'd then get into basic word processing and spreadsheet usage.  Finally we'd get into basic layout using Word as well as PageMaker.  With the rolling enrollment, however, I'd have new students who didn't know how to use DOS or Windows dropped into the middle of basic design and layout.  This was a huge problem that I couldn't get the administration to understand.  I did the best I could with the time I had.  I enjoyed the students and the diversity of the class. The student were eager and open to learning and from that perspective it was an incredible experience.

Los Angeles ORT Technical Institute

Instructor

A Transportation PA calls around to get cars for stunts, camera vehicles, etc.  I'd collect time cards from all of the Teamsters and submit them to accounting and then hand out the checks when they were cut.  Occasionally I'd drive cars to and from set.  It was 12 hours days, in the office, and not a lot of action.  To fill the time, in the days before Google Maps, I would draw out maps for the location team.  Giving out Thomas Guide grid numbers didn't always work, so I'd use Illustrator to draw out generic maps based on the Thomas Guide with my own version of "turn by turn" instructions.  It was an unusually long gig for the entertainment world.  9 months of pre-production and production.  It was great stability and really quite fun... but I was ready to start making my way back to IT.

Entertainment Partners

Strange Days - Transportation Production Assitant

This was my first foray into working for myself.  The people I had worked with on Baywatch and Thunder in Paradise had referred me to other production companies that needed IT help.  Some were completely new and I was tasked for recommending systems, helping them get the POs worked out and then installing them in the office.  Others needed to figure out how they could let writers work from home and send their scripts or script changes to the office. Pre-Internet days had me setting up a Bulletin Board system (PC Board) so writers could send files to the office. Hard drive upgrades, memory upgrades, fax\modem installations... each day provided new challenges.

DPM Computer Services

My next stop in the world of Entertainment landed me on the show "Thunder in Paradise".  While shot in Florida, the writing staff was based in LA.  I was still a "Story Guy", but had little to no interaction with the cast (Hulk Hogan and Chris Lemmon).  It was really just a small office where I would act as office PA as well as story guy.

Thunder in Paradise - Production Assitant

When you work in the Entertainment industry, you get processed and paid by Entertainment Partners.  The other thing you typically do is work one or two gigs a year and take time off... but that's not how my time played out. My journey in entertainment started at Baywatch.  In the credits (and if you really dig into IMDB) you will see me listed as a Production Assistant.  In the office I was referred to as the Story Guy.  I got the gig because the guy who maintained the software they used to produce daily pages for script changes had left and they needed someone to pick that up along with other generally technical issues\questions that came up.  So each day, I would get changes from one of the executive producers, I'd then run the program that would compare yesterdays version to today's version and spit out only the pages that had changes on them.  I'd then look at what color was up next for page prints. Monday may be yellow... Tuesday might be baby blue and so on.  I'd have to print up copies for the entire cast & crew and send them out to set.  Not mentally challenging work... but fun none the less.  Although never documented nor credited, Greg Bonan would occasionally want script changes and he'd let me write them... typically the intro "save scene".  All the interior sets were in a warehouse right behind the executive offices, so interior shooting days were fun with all the cast on set.

Baywatch - Production Assitant

After MicroLeague, I moved to Southern California and started working for DPSC Software, Inc.  I started off in Customer Support handling calls for the Call Reporter software.  It was a system that banks would use to submit their quarterly Call Reports to the government.  It was a DOS based system, written in Basic using Ashton-Tate Dbase databases.  Support was fairly straight forward. The customer base was varied.  Some people were fairly technical, others didn't know how to mount a 5.25 inch floppy disk nor access it.  It gave me a lot of experience in being able to determine the customers capabilities and how to approach them to achieve success. Listening, as opposed to talking, served me well in these situations.After about a year I moved up to a more technical position assisting the development team with screen designs for new applications that were being developed.

DPSC Software, Inc.

HelpDesk

This position set me up for long term success.  As a small company, growing to no more than 30 people, I was exposed to all areas of the entertainment software business. I was able to watch, learn and try just about anything.  I came in the business as I had just graduated from Temple University's Radio, Television & Film program and the owner wanted me to perform QA and let him know what needed to change in the graphics from a lighting perspective.  Their main game was a statistically based baseball game that allowed you to be the manager of the team.  From that position I was allowed to "watch & learn" about several others.  The owner would say "Hey, I'm kinda tired of paying a contractor to write & produce manuals, can you do it?" I'd tell him to pay for one more, let me watch and learn, and I'd do the next.  I did that for documentation, box design (when software came in boxes with "3D printed Save Icons"), Screen Photography (Snag-it didn't exist), Newsletter writing & design, computer assembly & repair, and, finally, programming.  This was done all in a 2 year span while also matriculating to the head of customer support where I designed a very simple call return process using Lotus Agenda. For a first job out of college it was a great experience.

Daniel McCarthy

Daniel McCarthy