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Project Detail

Business Objects Modernization

Employer: Zurich North America Department: Zurich Risk Engineering Engagement: Zurich Risk Engineering Data Engineer Project Type: Platform modernization Visibility: Cross-functional

One-Sentence Summary

Represented Risk Engineering on a large steering committee guiding a Business Objects modernization effort required to move the organization off an aging, soon-to-be-unsupported platform.

The Context

This project centered on an enterprise business intelligence platform that had fallen behind on upgrades and was approaching loss of vendor support.

The Challenge

We had not upgraded our Business Objects platform for a few years and the version that we were on was scheduled to lose support.

Why It Was Hard

The technical upgrade carried broad organizational dependencies, which meant the work could not succeed as a purely IT exercise. It needed active coordination across stakeholder groups with different priorities and downstream impacts.

The Constraints

The existing platform version was nearing end of support, and the dependency footprint was large enough that upgrade decisions had to be made through broad cross-functional coordination.

The Approach

Given the dependencies, IT realized that they needed many voices in the room for a successful upgrade.

My Role

Risk Engineering asked me to represent them on this steering committee.

Key Decisions

  • Use a large steering committee so dependency owners and business groups could surface risks early instead of discovering them during rollout.
  • Give Risk Engineering a seat at the table so reporting consumers with real operational needs were represented in platform decisions.

The Outcome

While the project encountered the typical friction, the large steering committee proactively steared the effort with strong technical leadership from IT.

Evidence / Signals of Success

  • The organization mobilized a large steering committee rather than treating the effort as a narrow technical upgrade.
  • The effort benefited from proactive steering and strong technical leadership from IT despite the normal friction of a broad modernization project.

Resume Bullet Seeds

  • Represented Risk Engineering on a cross-functional steering committee for a Business Objects modernization effort, helping guide a high-dependency platform upgrade away from an unsupported version.
  • Worked as both technical representative and consultant in enterprise governance discussions to surface downstream reporting needs during a major BI platform transition.

Interview Story Angles

  • Influencing a program through governance rather than direct implementation authority.
  • Managing platform risk when a business-critical tool nears end of support.
  • Recognizing when many voices in the room are a feature, not a bug.
  • Representing a business unit effectively in a technical steering process.