Working with IT Risk at GE Capital

As my 3rd rotation wraps up at GE Capital’s Capital Solutions business, I thought I’d spend a bit of time telling you about what I’ve been up to.  For the past 6 months, I’ve been working here with the IT Risk group.  What’s IT Risk you say?  Well, oversimplifying it, we’re the IT side of deal decisioning and Know Your Customer (KYC) in Capital Solutions.  So what’s that mean I do?  Well… let’s just say “a lot."

My first project of the rotation focused on Capital Solution’s AutoDecisioning service.  This collection of systems work together to analyze potential leases and loan deals and determine whether or not we should finance the lease/loan.  This may sound simple enough, but the rule engine behind it is anything but simple.

 The customer’s identity needs to be confirmed, credit bureaus need to be consulted, the deal’s profitability has to be determined, and much more.  My job was lead tester on the systems 1.1 and 1.2 releases.  This meant finding defects, tracking down their root causes, working with the business to determine what correct function should be, coordinating the fix with the build team, and then retesting to confirm the fix.  You might think testing is boring, but this was far from it.  I got to work with a great team of fellow testers, learn a complex, business-critical system inside and out, interact heavily with the business and build teams, and make a big impact to the project.  But that’s just a small part of what I did this rotation. 

Another of my projects was to design and implement a data warehousing solution for storing the data used within the AutoDecisioning service.  Like I said before, the AutoDecisioning tool is fairly complex, which means it uses a lot of data… 12,338 distinct data items to be exact.  So, moving tens of thousands of 12,000+ field records is no easy task, especially when the data isn’t fully clean, standardized, or well-defined.  So, this project took me on a whirlwind of efforts, starting with data clean-up efforts, moving to field definition, then to data mapping, and beyond.  Within it though, I worked side-by-side with the business, the business intelligence team, the enterprise data warehouse team, and all layers of the IT structure… right up to the CTO.  As PM and BA on this project though, I did more than just work with the various levels to get this project pushed through.  Rather, I also went through GE’s tollgate process, bringing the project through the necessary steps, doing the necessary paperwork, and getting the necessary approvals to move the project along.  Working across a half-dozen teams, managing contractors and invoices, and getting down and dirty with the project kept me busy.  But that’s not where the rotation ends… in fact, far from it.

One of the largest projects I’ve taken on has been around compliance.  With the recent financial crises that have hit, new regulations have come forward that require more strict know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) standards.  To apply these standards and ensure that we’re doing the necessary items to stay governmentally compliant and operationally sound, I jumped in to analyze the tools existing within the entirety of GE Capital, determine a cross-Capital strategy to move onto a singular tool that meets new regulatory needs, and frame out the project to implement this strategy.

Having multiple facets, this project has allowed me to work across the entire GE Capital organization and develop a great network.  In fact, these initiatives are so important that I’ve had to personally interact with the CIOs of each business in GE Capital and will soon have my proposal presented to the CEO of GE Capital’s Americas pole.  Not only this, but my work will lead to the creation of 2 multi-million dollar cross-GE Capital implementation initiatives.  A bit more responsibility than you’d expect to see in the hands of someone who’s just over a year out of college, eh?

Well, besides these major projects, I did a series of other items too, each interesting, challenging, and important in their own right, but the above items were my primary focuses.  Overall, this rotation has been a great opportunity for me to work with diverse teams, make impacts on high-visibility, strategic-level, business-critical projects, and learn a lot about risk, compliance, and IT project management.  The thing I’ll miss most though is the people.  I’ve got a great, hard-working team here with me and I really hate to say goodbye to them.  Yet, the horizon holds new challenges as I head off to GE Capital’s Energy Financial Services (EFS) business for my 4th and final rotation.


Anyhow, as I bring this article to a close, I hope I’ve informed you a bit about my rotation with GE Capital’s Capital Solutions business and the sort of work that IMLPs get within the IMLP Program.  As I’m sure you can see, there’s no running for coffee and bagels here.

Comments

[Alana Edmunds]

I love the action shots at the white board...

[Nikhil Gangaraju]

Andrew Knoll, you are the man!

[Andrew Knoll]

Oh, you know it Nikhil...

[Shane Salta]

Great article Andrew!