Cameron Bell

Studied Management at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, focus on technological projects

Studied business-related Organizational Behaviour through Athabasca University

Studied business planning with Thompson Rivers University

Studied Project Management and Information Technology Project Management within the government of British Columbia

Studied Business Analysis for E-Business with Royal Roads University

As the Business Support Analyst with the BC Ministry of Forests and Range, Compliance and Enforcement Branch, I supported a variety of ongoing, simultaneous IT projects of various scopes. I successfully telecommuted this position from a government office located in Cranbrook. Among my duties, I directed contract programmers and provided technical and interface advice to users, conducted analysis and explaining reports, processes, procedures and interaction impacts. My responsibilities also included collecting and managing data and using databases (including gathering, synthesizing, evaluating, reporting and interpreting data and information from diverse sources) and matching business requirements with report design. I assisted with Quality Assurance to the high standards needed to meet legal requirements. I chaired teleconferences and led project and testing teams for whom I was responsible. I represented the C&E Branch in cross-Branch initiatives involving management and executive staff to assess Ministry software requirements, identify areas for improvement, propose solutions and elicit feedback. I provided test data for my teams to use in the test environment. I also worked closely with Information Management Group on shared problem-solving goals, participating in bi-weekly Bugslist meetings where we reviewed documented issues, documented new ones, troubleshooted said issues and proposed and documented solutions based on client need and with attention to available technology and resources. We often used internal professional media networks to communicate between offices and branches. I worked both on my own and within teams to analyze and determine methods of modifying or integrating enhancements to existing applications, and planned and led testing initiatives, consulted with field users, for quality assurance and user acceptance. I wrote testing plans and testing scripts and queries to facilitate our needs, and maintain the posted results on an interactive website. I also attended regular meetings where I provided status updates, as well as relaying these reports through e-mail and telephone as required. I worked with both the Information Analyst and the contractors to create innovative and efficient solutions to new requirements.

I enjoy learning opportunities and helping others to learn. I challenged myself to improve my management experience by volunteering to be the non-partisan Chairman of the 2009 British Columbia Provincial Election All Candidate’s Forum for Kootenay East. This involved working with politicians, their campaign managers, the media, staff, volunteers, public interest groups and the public in general. I hosted meetings, directed volunteers, corresponded with Elections BC and managed the candidates, working with them and their staff to establish a productive, public forum in a deadline-intensive environment. I have excellent time-management and communication skills.

Operating a small business as an I.T. consultant, I succeed in my trade by quickly learning the environment and tool-set that the next client prefers, and then providing exemplary service according to their preferences and requirements. If the environment is not previously established, I work with the client to learn their requirements based on their goals and constraints, and give them an honest assessment of their needs along with recommendations. I provide advice, guidance, technical service, stand-alone and website programming and training to a range of business and residential clients. To operate my business successfully, I am constantly required to demonstrate skill and talent when dealing with people of all levels within my clients’ organizations. I assist my clients with all aspects of IT as needed.

I have trained new employees while working with contract developers.

I have experience working with not-for-profit organizations, both as an employee and a willing volunteer, having previously completed a term as general technological support, internet trainer and help desk with the Cranbrook Public Library. I worked with the Director to aid in assessing the IT and network needs, both hardware and software, and producing innovative new solutions to those needs for the move to the new library building, as well as assisting in the acquisition of the necessary hardware. I also aided with the planning involving the integrity and security of the data and equipment during the move from the old building. I collaborated with the Director to update their cross-platform website and give it a more modern look, as well as improving some of its features. I continue to work with the Director on a volunteer basis, providing technical assistance to the library and its staff. I tutored patrons of all ages both with appointments and on an on call basis, planned,facilitated and instructed at group seminars both on and off-site, and assisted patrons with their technical needs. I also created and produced new help brochures and manuals, and updated existing ones, based on responses to client-need surveys which I created. I established liaisons, both within the provincial library network for training and personal improvement, and externally, promoting cooperative efforts with other local affiliations of shared goals.

While working as a Business Analyst for the B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range, Compliance and Enforcement Branch, I facilitated a cross-province testing team. While facilitating a team on-site in Victoria, B.C., I simultaneously facilitated users logging in from all over the province.
The software to be developed was, be requirement, accessed by users, both public and private, from the entirety of the province, since foresty, be definition of geographic layout of the forests, cannot be centralized and must be collaboratively managed over a wide geographic area. To this end, the cooperation with Information Management Group to address bugs in the two critical projects was also a joint effort to facilitate a province-wide and Ministry wide team of users, although in this case the management of the projects was done by an entire team of facilitators of which I was a very willing member.

I found myself doing a lot of interpreting and mediating between the technical forestry people who had to use the software (and therefore define some of it's operating parameters), and the abstract programmers developing the software, and the legal department which defined the legal parameters of the software. All three groups, most notably the first two, were highly intelligent, well trained and competent people who simply had no idea what the others meant or contributed, and by understanding how each group worked I was able to coordinate them as a larger overall team.

I have led testing and development on a website project within another country from my home office, facilitating a much smaller team of about a dozen people.

I have also facilitated website design and maintenance, as well as desktop publishing assistance, for K.I.C.S. some years ago, without ever having met them face to face.