Paula Gogoasa

• NAB to MLC Life (MLCL) Data Migration (KIzuna) Program –Technology and Operations
• Build and Lead high-performing Testing Team of 11 Test Engineers and Quality Analysts and drive plans to achieve delivery of quality solutions and services in support of NAB - MLCL Insurance (Nippon) separation (Kizuna migration to MLCL program), one of significant milestone in simplifying NAB.
• The role plays critical management role interfacing between discrete projects, technology, business and myriad of stakeholders to ensure solutions are fit for business purpose and deliverables are of highest calibre through full lifecycle from requirements gathering, gap analysis, design and overseeing testing through implementation.
• The program consists of massive portfolio involving significant complexity, volume amidst tight timelines.
• Improved product quality by implementing rigorous testing processes and procedures.
• Implemented continuous improvement initiatives, resulting in significant cost savings and enhanced product performance.
• Oversaw implementation of automated testing tools to improve test coverage speed up defect detection timeframes.
• Researched and evaluated new techniques and technologies to improve product quality.
• Partnered with senior management to analyze issues and find appropriate solutions.
• Created detailed reports on quality metrics for senior management review, driving data-driven decision-making across the program.
• Facilitated process improvements to successfully decrease errors.
• Mentored junior engineers, fostering a culture of professional development and knowledge sharing within the department.
• Developed and implemented comprehensive quality assurance program to guarantee organization products met safety and quality standards.
• Partnered with engineering teams during product development phases ensuring optimal integration of best practices related to QA/QC from inception through launch.
• Led problem-solving activities to quickly identify and permanently resolve quality and productivity issues.
• Championed a culture focused on continuous improvement and excellence, fostering a shared commitment to delivering only the highest-quality products and services.
• Participated in team projects, demonstrating ability to work collaboratively and effectively.
• Used critical thinking to break down problems, evaluate solutions and make decisions.
• Exercised leadership capabilities by successfully motivating and inspiring others.
• Used strong analytical and problem-solving skills to develop effective solutions for challenging situations.
• Self-motivated, with a strong sense of personal responsibility.

Achievements:

• An important part in this big success has been played by the decision of insourcing our Data Sourcing team / process that has established its own migration engine using best practise ETL processes and validation techniques driving efficiency, flexibility and cost savings of approx.4mil and successfully separated and migrated billions of structured and unstructured data from NAB to newly created entity MLCL.
• Flawlessly delivered the program over 4 major migration projects, by continually driving efficiency and cost savings. Successfully hit all program milestones including final migration, deactivation and decommissioning of data and systems, enabling NAB to hand over MLC Wealth to MLCL and IOOF as a ‘clean’ business.

• Cards Acquiring, Regulatory, Schemes and Payments Compliance Program.
• Introduced and applied quality assurance in the specialised Payments Business of the Bank by mentoring, guiding, and leading the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Business Verification (BVT) across several Payments platforms and applications.
• Developed a very robust UAT and BVT framework that increased efficiencies mitigated risks, optimized cost and delivered quality outcome for several projects simultaneously.
• Ensured solutions were fit for business purpose and deliverables were of the highest calibre through the full systems lifecycle from requirements gathering, gap analysis, test strategy and execution of UAT through implementation and Business Verification.
• Established metrics, applied industry best practices and developed new tools and processes.
• Established new and improved QA processes by developing test processes, test cases and assigning and executing tests.
• Recommended software solutions such as automated test tools or improved test processes to meet business strategies.
• Designed test plans based on project requirements, ensuring comprehensive validation of functionality according to specifications.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of QA efforts into product development lifecycle.
• Enhanced product quality by implementing rigorous testing procedures and protocols.
• Mentored junior team members in quality assurance best practices, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Identified process gaps and implemented corrective actions, resulting in higher efficiency and reduced error rates.
• Coordinated with developers to troubleshoot issues discovered during testing, expediting resolution times and minimizing delays in product release schedules.
• Improved customer satisfaction with high-quality products through meticulous QA processes.
• Developed and maintained defect databases for known issues.
• Applied effective time management techniques to meet tight deadlines.
• Passionate about learning and committed to continual improvement.
• Developed a QA governance model, optimizing testing through tools to reduce effort and time.
• Implemented continuous improvement initiatives within the QA team to elevate performance levels consistently across projects over time.

Achievements:

• Within a year, I’ve made a visible and significant contribution to the Payments Systems by working closely with stakeholders, technology and business teams to lift engagement productivity and ensure testing operating rhythm is achieved to reduce risk and improve quality and customers experience.
• Built a QA (Quality Assurance) UAT & BVT team delivering end to end business functional testing for the annual $20m Payments and Schemes Compliance changes. Team consisted of Test Analysts, Business SMEs, and offshore resources.
• Identified opportunities and delivered testing approach that reduced UAT test effort by 50% by leveraging, combining testing and reusing Regression libraries I’ve developed that are used across multiple Payments Systems projects.
• Reductions in time associated with manually build test data and execute TCs by developing automated test scripts and custom macros with expected results.
• Build a QA Test Lab from ground up that has multiple EFTPOS Testing Terminals for UAT testing and multiple Production Terminals for pilot testing and BVT verification. The test lab has enhanced how Cards Acquiring Team operates now from QA perspective for Card Acceptance, APCA Compliance and Schemes Compliance testing.
• Gained strong leadership skills by managing projects from start to finish.

• Personal Banking – NextGen Program

• Core Banking – NextGen Program

• Investment and Insurance Technology

• Superannuation Technology

• Superannuation Business