M.

Shafi
470-344-0227
[email protected]

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY:
 Over 8+ years of Industry experience as a Business Analyst with solid understanding of Business Requirements
Gathering, Business Process Mapping, Evaluating Data Sources, Translating Requirements into Specifications and
Application Design in Insurance domain, Insurance experience includes Personal Property Casualty and Commercial
Automobile Product knowledge, Reinsurance for Commercial Property Casualty, Group and Life Insurance Systems.
 Experience working on Guidewire Claim Center, Policy Center and Billing Center. Experience working on Guidewire
Policy Center Integrations and Configuration User Stories.
 Insurance business knowledge with project experience in various LOB's such as Personal (Auto, Dwelling, Home
owner) and Commercial (Commercial Auto, Workers Compensation, Commercial Property, General Liability,
Business Owners Policy (BOP).
 Extensive knowledge of Policy Admin system and related operations like New Business, Endorsements, Billing and
Claims in property and casualty - Personal Lines.
 Strong understanding of project life cycle and SDLC methodologies including RUP, RAD, Waterfall and Agile.
 Proficient in Technical and Business Writing, Business Process Flow, Business Analysis and Testing various
methodologies.
 Efficient in Designing and review of various documents including the Software Requirement Specifications (SRS),
Business requirements document (BRD), Use Case Specifications, Functional Specifications (FSD), Systems Design
Specification (SDS), Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) and testing documents.
 Extensive experience in gathering requirements through Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions, Group
Interviews and functional requirements in the Property and Casualty Insurance including Risk, Policy Sales, Policy
Administration System, Receivables and Payments, across personal and commercial lines of business.
 Efficient in documenting customization requirements, business rules and data migration requirements for the
Implementation of Guidewire Claim Center and Policy Center.
 Experience in creating functional design document for User Interface, Insurance Forms and Underwriting Rules.
 Excellent Communications & Analytical skills to understand various Business Models, Processes, and Requirements &
transform them to various Requirements Artifacts like Business Requirements Document (BRDs), Functional
Specification/Requirements Documents GUI Prototypes, Flow Diagrams (UML), and Report Mockups.
 Extensive Experience in Gap analysis to compare As Is with To Be business processes and offered solutions.
 Major experience in Insurance suite product(s) like Guidewire and with other proprietary insurance applications.
 Facilitated and managed requirements discovery sessions with SMEs from various business areas including Policy
Quote, Policy Issuance, and Policy Administration for Commercial, Personal, Workers Compensation, and Specialty
insurance.
 Strong Knowledge on elaborating Billing Center configuration user story such as Invoicing rules, Delinquencies,
Policy Cancellation, Automated disbursements, Policy Rewrites, Policy Reinstatements, Billing Parameters, Fees and
Payment distribution rules.
 Expertise in writing SQL queries in MS SQL Server.
 Experienced in SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS), Executing Queries and Running Stored Procedures.
 Experience in extracting UI based information by querying the Oracle database using SQL queries.
 Experienced Microsoft Office Suite including Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook, and other various claims
systems such as IBM Document Manager (DM) and Claim Center.
 Worked with defect tracking tools like JIRA, and Quality Center.
 Strong Experience in using different requirement management and testing tools including IBM Rational Requisite
Pro, JIRA, HPALM/QC.
 Proficient in business process modeling, documentation, and testing using Rational Suite (Rational Rose,
RequisitePro, SoDA, ClearQuest, Robot) as well as MS Visio and MS Project in combination with UML diagramming
techniques.
 Experience on Guidewire's UI testing in Policy Center and Billing Center Screens for Personal lines business Defined
the page layouts, reports templates and dashboard layouts for reservation monitoring and for gathering usage
statistics.
 Experience testing implemented systems and system changes including liaising with QA teams to develop test cases,
test plans, test scenarios, and generating test data; and conducting manual testing.
 Facilitated Change Management across entire process from Project conceptualization to Testing through Project
Delivery, Software Development and Implementation Management in diverse Business and Technical Environments.
 Involved in Test Planning, Test Preparation, Test Execution, Issue Resolution and Report Generation to assure that all
aspects of a Project follow the Business Requirements.
 Strong experience in conducting User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and documentation of Test Cases. Expertise in
designing and developing Test Plans and Test Scripts.

Professional Experience

CNA Insurance, Chicago, IL January 19 – Present

Sr. Business Analyst
CNA is one of the largest U.S. commercial insurer and Property & Casualty insurer. It offers life, group health, auto, and
other property/casualty lines. Currently working on a conversion effort in which targets to implement Guidewire Billing
Center and Policy Center. CNA has implemented web based Claim and Policy admin system known as Guidewire Claim
and Policy Center. The project involves implementing Guidewire Policy Center, for Personal Auto Insurance Line of
Business, for both new business and policy renewal business.

Responsibilities:
• Worked on GPA web portal using web services, helped with mapping and process flow diagrams.
• Coordinated daily Meetings (Agile methodology), Project Planning, sprint planning, sprint review and sprint
retrospective.
• Created various use cases related to GPA functionalities for business users (agents); new claims, quotes, access to
updated business products.
• Frequently presided over the BA touch point meetings and BA team meetings to listen to open concerns, document
them and solution them.
• Independently conducted requirement gathering workshops with business stakeholders (billing supervisors,
disbursement specialists, account specialists, admin specialists, claim specialists) product owner, scrum master,
lead developer, implementation partner, and Guidewire consultants to document functional requirements using
user stories for the new billing and claims module.
• Worked with Business Owners, Project Sponsor, SME and Guidewire Consultants to define Product Backlog, Sprint
Backlog, and estimate efforts for user stories.
• Integrated Claim Center documents management system with Thunderhead for easy access of documents.
• Involved in Configuration of Thunderhead to design templates for all different letters and establish security systems
to the electronic documents so that clients can generate documents.
• Delivered best-in-class capabilities in Thunderhead for commercial policy life cycle using Electronic Document
Management especially in forms management.
• Kept track of all requested services until completion in order to star the Billing Process in excellence.
• Implemented the rules for Payment Acceptability, Payment Request, Billing Instructions, Policy Period, Suspense
Payment and Disbursements.
• Identified As is process and to be process as parts of gap analysis for legacy policy center to current policy center.
• Conducted gap analysis and made As-is-to-be diagrams to understand new business requirements and challenges in
implementing new modules of Billing Center and Claim center over the existing billing and claim management
systems.
• Worked with requirements management, workflow analysis, source data analysis, data mapping, Metadata
management, data quality, testing strategy and maintenance of the model.
• Collaborated with the development team in validating requirements for out of box requirements.
• Documented both out of box and customized requirements.
• Worked on reporting and estimates for Property & Casualty (P&C) on Guidewire Claim Center implementation.
• Created UML diagrams including Activity and Sequence diagrams.
• Worked with Rating team to gather requirements for Rating Engine (rate books, rating table, rate parameters,
versioning, rating routine, rating worksheet, import and export of XML and correcting per specifications.
• Actively participated in JAD sessions for overcoming project issues relating to data processing, user interface, and
downstream system interactions.
• Managed the Code Merges after major, monthly and emergency releases of Guidewire Suite Applications for all
centers in production, including Quote and Bind Portal Application.
• Participated and assisted the scum master in conducting daily Scrum meetings and Sprint review meetings to
ensure development goals are met within four sprints.
• Worked on the development of Tableau Dashboard reports for Key Performance Indicators for the top
management.
• Created Prototypes for webpages using iRise Visualization tools.
• Created various Reports and Dashboard with Tableau and Power BI to gain and gather insights.
• Assisted in development of Guidewire training and transition documents for the upgraded version of the existing
system technology and process improvements.
• Performed complex SQL queries for retrieving data from the database, generating ad-hoc reports, and conducting
data validation testing.
• Assisted QA team in developing test strategy, and test cases and actively monitored various types of testing -
functional testing, Progression testing, system testing, load testing, smoke testing, and regression testing.
• Involved in managing the defect lifecycle - conducting daily defect tracking meeting, reporting and reviewing the
defects, assigning the open defects to developers, and re-testing the fixed defects.
• Managed Requirement Traceability Matrix to ensure test cases are traceable to requirement specifications.
• Actively facilitated complete UAT process - creating UAT schedules, testing guidelines, managing feedback, follow-
up, and resolving open issues.

Frontline Insurance - Lake Mary, FL September 16 – December 18

Sr. Business Analyst
Frontline specializes in smarter insurance products for primary, secondary, seasonal, and commercial property owners.
The scope of the project was to upgrade the current Billing and Policy center tool to create superior customer
experience by understanding customer needs and their desired methods of interaction and providing personalized and
convenient service across all touch points for Billing and Policy. The purpose of the Policy and Billing Center program is
to replace current policy administration and billing systems with more modern policy administration and billing systems.

Responsibilities:
 Analyzed Business needs and objectives to improve Property & Casualty products, contracts and processes.
 Collaborated with the business team in the creation/completion of project charters and project scope for
Guidewire Policy and Billing Center.
 Collaborated with stakeholders in defining and developing billing center requirements for property and casualty
products, disbursements, invoices, transactions, billing plans, delinquencies, and common documents.
 Conducted requirements workshops with product owner, scrum master, lead developer, subject matter
expert, billing supervisor, policy supervisor, underwriters, admin specialist, Guidewire consultant and
implementation partners.
 Worked with SCRUM Master, Business Owners, Project Sponsor, SME and Guidewire Consultants to define Product
Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and estimate efforts for user stories.
 Integrated Claim Center documents management system with Thunderhead for easy access of documents.
 Involved in Configuration of Thunder Head to design templates for all different letters and establish security
systems to the electronic documents so that clients can generate documents.
 Delivered best-in-class capabilities in Thunderhead for commercial policy life cycle using Electronic Document
Management especially in forms management.
 Kept track of all requested services until completion in order to star the Billing Process in excellence.
 Implemented the rules for Payment Acceptability, Payment Request, Billing Instructions, Policy Period, Suspense
Payment and Disbursements.
 Identified "As is" process and "To be" process as parts of gap analysis for legacy policy center to current policy
center.
 Prioritized the Guidewire policy center requirements based on actual business needs so as to align them with the
project roadmap.
 Implemented Plugins to, generate Policy/Account Number in Policy Center, retrieve document template list and to
generate Adhoc documents using Thunderhead, validate address in Policy Center, upload/search/view documents,
send email notifications and connect to integration database.
 Gathered requirements in excel based templates for configuration for rating, underwriting, claims and billing
configuration.
 Worked with stakeholders, subject matter experts, process owners and users to elicit and document needs,
expectations, constraints and external interfaces using various methods.
 Captured business requirements in the form of user stories using JAD sessions, brain storming sessions, focus
groups and personal interviews and ensured coverage on business values, story points and acceptance criteria.
 Identified inconsistencies and gaps within a business process description and collaborated with stakeholders to
clarify and simplify complex processes.
 Followed the Agile (SCRUM) methodology throughout the project. Analyzed all the functional and technical
requirements and put it together in Rational Requisite Pro to convert them into Requirements Document
 Successfully completed data mapping and workflow analysis for underwriting and claims.
 Conducted workshops with various regional unit heads managing the various processes of underwriting, claims and
billing.
 Interacted with Business Teams to understand what needs to be visualized.
 Converted various SQL statements into stored procedures thereby reducing the Number of database accesses.
 Developed Systems Specifications document to define the impact of the new requirements on the existing system.
 Worked extensively with MS Excel and MS access.
 Involved in Performance Measurement to develop measurable indicators that can be systematically tracked to
assess progress made in achieving predetermined goals.
 Set up definitions and process for Scoping, document test cases, test phases included integration testing, end to
end testing and user acceptance test (UAT) and documenting the results.
 Facilitated the Post Production Validation and actively participated in production call support whenever necessary
and ensure smooth running of the system in real time.
 Involved in Analyzing, manipulating and updating Database using SQL.
 Utilized JIRA to communicate constantly changing functional and design requirements with business users and
developers.
 Created test scripts for all the test cases in PL/SQL.
 Involved in creating test plans and testing with the QA team. Executed system test cases in collaboration with test
team and used QC to assign defects and keep track of the defects.
 Collaborated with QA team on test cases, test plans and defects and requirements clarifications.
 Clarified QA team issues and reviewed test plans and test scripts developed by QA team to make sure that all
requirements will be covered in scripts and tested properly.
 Created training guides, assisted in deployment with step-by-step instructions and created appropriate GUI
screenshots.

NJM Insurance Group-West Trenton, New Jersey March 15 – August 16

Business Analyst
The project was an implementation Project a comprehensive Guide wire suite Product implementation which involves
Guide wire Policy center, claim center and Billing center which are custom-made business solutions for the Property and
casualty Insurance needs like Policy Administration, Billing, Claims and Reinsurance Management.

Responsibilities:
 Created several documents and gathered requirements from the responsible Stakeholders and SME's.
 Worked on the Billing Integration which included writing the business requirements for integrating the
existing Billing system with the new Policy Admin system.
 Acted as a liaison with operational and financial management, systems support and sales to identify business
opportunities. Developed a file of ACORD Forms used as the standards in all Property and Casualty markets, for
Personal Lines of Business.
 Worked on Configuration/Business process End to End user stories for Policy center (Policy Administration system)
and Billing center (Account receivable and commission system).
 Worked on New Business, Policy change, Reinstatement, PC to CC integration, New Business DEC package, Policy
Documents, Policy Hold and Suspense Payment in Billing Center.
 Worked on several critical Billing Center modules including but not limited to disbursements, payments,
commissions, trouble tickets, payment plans and billing plans.
 Conducted JAD sessions and one-on-one meetings with the Stakeholder's and SME's.
 Played a key role in claims transformation project using my knowledge of Guidewire Claim Center
for business process re-engineering, system requirement gathering and testing phases of this project.
 Assisted the Project Manager to create a Project Plan.
 Assisted the PM in establishing rules to allow permissible changes to be made to a claim without the assistance of
the IT team.
 Established rules for the Straight-through invoice processing on Claim Center. These rules guided in the automatic
paying of invoices.
 Assisted in creating scripted messages through the Claim Wizard to integrate with new rental car vendors, roadside
assistance and repair vendors.
 Performed GAP Analysis and Root Cause Analysis between the source database and destination database. Then
mitigated the issues from this Analysis.
 Created Process Flows in Visio and Lucid Chart.
 XML processed in Mainframe from the front-end system using Guidewire working with SQL server data.
 Experience with Integration- Data mapping work from Guidewire to various external systems.
 Participated in JAD for user interviews to gather requirements.
 Performed GAP Analysis for new functionality requirements and prioritized them based on the business needs.
 Participated in writing Business Required Document (BRD) as well as write supporting document containing
essential business elements, detailed definition and description of the relationship between the actors.
 Experience on Guidewire's UI testing in Policy Center and Billing Center Screens for commercial lines business.
 Experience in doing the smoke test for Policy Center, Billing Center, Claim Center and Contact Manger.
 Helped in providing management with metrics, reports and schedules as necessary, mapping business processes
and documenting business flows.
 Assisted in producing and adjusting the Functional Specifications Document (FSD), Data Mapping Documents and
the Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM).
 Participated in conducting data analysis with the Data analyst in defining data sources.
 Publish functional requirements, screen prototypes on portal for access by all project participants.
 Created screen designs in VISIO for each step of system including all what if scenarios.
 Used Test Director and Mercury Quality Center for updating the status of all the Test Cases & Test Scripts that are
executed during testing process.
 Worked extensively with the QA team for designing Test Plan and Test Cases for the User Acceptance Testing.

Union Mutual Fire Insurance Co, Montpelier, VT October 13 – February 15

Business Analyst
Union Mutual Fire Insurance Co. is operating through its extensive network of independent insurance agents; the
Companies’ overall business philosophy and culture is one that strives to treat all of our business partners, be they
policyholders, agents or vendors, with the highest level of fairness, integrity and respect. The project I worked was the
Claims replacement for Group disability. Currently all claims for the Group Disability insurance is handled manually on
paper files slowly moving on to the automated application processing.

Responsibilities:
 Responsible for analyzing the business process, creating requirements documents, maintaining vision documents,
supplementary specification documents, and developed use cases.
 Established a RUP (Rational Unified Process) centric business analysis methodology.
 Worked on Developing RUP analysis model using object oriented design concepts that include entity classes, use
Case diagrams and Sequence diagrams using rational Rose to enable developers and stakeholders for a clear
comprehension of the business process.
 Involved in Designing business requirement & systematic approach based on project scope and SDLC.
 Analysis of business requirements and system requirements of the client and also for Property and casualty
modules.
 Translated business requirements into functional requirements and prepared an extensive project plan to reduce
inter-company transactions in equity derivatives and foreign exchange trades.
 Interviewed Business Users to gather Requirements and analyzed the feasibility of their needs by coordinating with
the project manager and technical lead.
 Prepared High Level Logical Data Models and BRD's (Business Requirement Documents) supporting documents
containing the essential business elements, detailed definitions, and descriptions of the relationships between the
actors to analyze and document business data requirements.
 Conducted JAD sessions allowing different stakeholders to communicate their perspective with each other and
resolving issues to come to a quicker agreement.
 Facilitated JAD sessions with end users, development and QA teams. Performed requirements modeling and develop
analysis diagrams, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, state diagrams, data models, and use-case realizations
using RUP tools in Agile.
 Full responsibility of maintaining and filing the company reinsurance claims and providing a financial report to the
management team.
 Responsibility included modifications to a customer's mainframe system to support new product features or
regulatory requirements and, in some cases, involved a system upgrade.
 Review reinsurance contract and amendment language for accuracy and appropriateness
 Worked on Commercial lines Property and Casualty Insurance including both policy and claim processing and
reinsurance.
 Analyze and recommend procedures and guidelines for Fully Insured and Reinsurance products for the entire
organization.
 Worked on Property and Casualty insurance company as an Underwriter. Strong understanding of rating in Property
and Causality.
 Performed Data mapping, logical data modeling, created class diagrams and ER diagrams and used SQL queries to
filter data.
 Maintained key records for purposes of Compliance review and/or regulatory inquiry. Performed Data mapping,
logical data modeling, created class diagrams and ER diagrams and used SQL queries to filter data
 Involved and reviewed TSQL/SQL queries and stored procedures to process, analyze and implement data integrity
initiatives for various business units.
 Verify & Validate the data-mapping by verifying various accounts details in various banking mainframe regions using
test scripts in Quality Centre & filling defect logs if any.
 Worked on Developing UML Use Case models using Rational Rose, workflow and Screen Shots for the application.
 Assisted QA team in executing Test plans and wrote Test Cases.
 Responsible for managing communication and expectations of system vendor, the former parent company IT and
business departments, and Allied Worlds various business units (underwriting, claims, reinsurance, accounting, and
IT).

The Hanover Insurance Group, Worcester, MA October 12 – September 13

Business Analyst
The Hanover Insurance is one of the top regional insurance companies with offices across the U.S. The Hanover
Insurance Company has its own internal SDLC methodology which was followed by me to prepare the requirements
documents. Implemented the process to change all the policy administration systems from their legacy main frame
systems to Guidewire’s web based system. Commercial Lines Replacement System aims at replacing the existing
commercial lines viz., Commercial Auto, Inland Marine, Crime, Worker’s Compensation, Umbrella, Business Owners
Policy, Commercial Property, Commercial Output Policy, Commercial Property Package, Small Pack, & General Liability
policy issuing systems from batch process based mainframes to real time based web application.

Responsibilities:
 Liaison for projects with other corporate departments, including Executive (Underwriting, Billing, Accounting),
Business Intelligent, as well as vendor relationships.
 Collaborated with business stakeholders and IT partners on assessing impacts of new initiatives and assisted in the
development and execution of implementation plans, including the creation of backlogs, estimation of effort, and
identification of tasks.
 Performed analysis to evaluate the associated benefit, considering both qualitative and quantitative factors, as well
as the associated cost, risk and impact to business users, processes, and systems.
 Facilitated JAD sessions with SMEs and business analysts from other feeder systems for a detailed analysis and a
better understanding of impact of various projects on each other.
 Elicited Business requirements and business needs as part of an Agile Scrum team.
 Collaborating with various levels of stakeholders, engaging them in constructive discussion, driving consensus, and
managing conflicts and negotiating requirements in relation to priorities.
 Collaborated with the business and technical stakeholders to accurately documents report, functional, non-
functional and data requirements while ensuring compliance with corporate standards.
 Successfully performed complex analysis and broke down to a simple requirement to be able to capture in the
system.
 Conducted scenario analyses of the requirements to align with the business objectives for effective testing of
reports.
 Used Guidewire to upgrade the current Claim system to track the claim of the policy holders and third-party
applications.
 Worked on Guidewire Policy Center for Policy creation and maintenance using different Policy Transactions for Auto
and Property (including Homeowners).
 Worked on Guidewire software to track the claims of the policy holders.
 Assisted with business analysis and converting the business requirements to system requirements in Property, Auto
and General Liability lines of business.
 Worked on quick quote user stories for Homeowners and Commercial Property policies.
 Worked on Guidewire Policy Center for Policy creation and maintenance using different Policy Transactions for Auto
and Property (including Homeowners).
 Maintained a requirements traceability matrix to keep the clients and all the teams up-to-date with the current
progress of the project.
 Used Rally tool for requirements management and tracking user stories in a sprint and product backlog.
 Tracking business reporting issues on JIRA by creating problem statements that help breakdown the underlying
issue.
 Developed strategies with Quality Assurance group to implement Test Cases in Mercury Test Director for stress
testing and UAT (User Acceptance Testing)
 Collaborated with Quality Assurance Analyst in Automated and Manual Black box testing using Mercury's
WinRunner.
 Suggested measures and recommendations to improve the current application performance.
 Assisted with the development of test plans and strategies, coordinated testing events, and executed test cases in
support of changes to business systems.
 Participated user acceptance testing cycle; worked with business users to define business scenarios, user acceptance
test cases and user acceptance criteria.

Education: Bachelors in Computer Sciences, University of Delhi, India, 2012