Once a month we'll shine our virtual spotlight on one of the CA PPM community's members. It's just a fun, easy way for us to get to know one another a little bit beyond our work-related interactions here on the site. This month, we're featuring Kathryn Ellis, Principal Support Engineer, Ca Technologies.
Kathryn is pictured here with her two children Kristen and Kevin, amd with her husband Alan.
How long have you been at CA? 10+ years. I joined Niku in February 2004. Niku acquired in July 2005
Are you a dedicated engineer as part of an enhanced support package? Yes. I have been supporting Catholic Health Initiatives for approximately 4 years.
What was the career path that led you here? I have been in a customer support role for most of my career. I have supported customers directly as a Support Engineer and also through indirect positions as a Support Delivery Manager or a Business Analyst. For some period in my career I was also a customer and I personally know the challenges and pressures from the customer perspective in getting assistance to solve issues to get back on track with a smooth business operation. I work on the CA PPM team as a Principal Support Engineer in the Silicon Valley Technology Center in Santa Clara California. I began my career at ROLM in 1986 providing technical support for telephony systems working towards a position as a Business Analyst supporting the production of a new telephony parts catalog. In 1990, I began working for Aspect Telecommunications as a Programmer Analyst and IT Applications Analyst. I designed and developed workflow and business rules for a configuration web application and prepared test cases for validations. I moved to Selectica in 2000 as a Senior Systems Applications Analyst managing a CRM application resulting in an 80% increase in efficiency for reporting and invoicing project time and expense data. In 2004, I joined Niku which was acquired by CA Technologies one year later and has provided excellent technical customer service and team leadership. I am known as the 'problem solver' for which my skills include functional usage analysis, data analysis, technical documentation, and various programming expertise. During my leisure time, she enjoys socializing with friends while creating knitted and crocheted items, hanging out with the family, listening to jazz music, reading mystery novels and learning new dance moves.
What product do you support? CA PPM (formerly CA Clarity PPM)
What keeps you at CA? The people on my team are great! We are always helping each other to accomplish a ‘one ca’ persona to our customers. I really like the CA PPM product with its vast functionality, the product is always interesting and I am learning new things constantly. I also like sharing my knowledge with my co-workers and with my customers. I am known as the Knowledge Champion on my team.
What is your passion outside of work? What do you like to do? (Give readers a glimpse into who you are…prove you’re a live human being!) I have a great family. My husband and I are very proud of our daughter and son in their aspirations and goals. I meet weekly with a group of friends to socialize while working on knitting or crocheting projects. Our group of friends schedule monthly field trips to local fun spots to discover hidden attractions. In the spring and summer months our family enjoys Jazz, Art and Wine Festivals; taking our time to enjoy the time together.
What is your educational background? Graduated College
How has support changed since you started? It is interesting to see how the internal business model within support changes. With any model within support the greatest challenge is working with a sense of urgency and trying to get timely collaboration across the globe. We have implemented global SME office hours to meet this need and it seems to really have a positive impact for helping to solve problems.
Why should people be involved in the communities? I feel the general involvement in answering questions or posting tips or ideas helps our customers to see that we really go the extra or ‘plus 1’ service because we truly care about or we are passionate about the work that we do to make the customer successful in their endeavors.
Why should customers read Knowledge Articles? With CA PPM product, due to the highly configurable nature of the product, there are some common or best practice configurations or alternative configurations that will assist the customer in evaluating how to best use the application to avoid some know limitations of the product. I firmly believe in the saying ‘Knowledge is power!’. The more you know about the product the better you are able to configure it in a manner that will yield the best results and foster user adoption.