Alan Faulkner
Technical Consultant
Phoenix,AZ
Summary
A dedicated and passionate IT professional offering over 25 years of progressive technical experience with managing, consulting, software development, data integration architecture, data warehousing, and business intelligence development projects. The focus is to work closely with stakeholders to develop architecture frameworks that align with organizational strategy, processes, and IT assets. Specializes in Business Intelligence (BI), Data Warehousing, database architecture, design and implementation, performance tuning and troubleshooting. Professional experience spans across project management, consulting, development, testing, data integration, data quality, customization, and support in major OLTP, Business Intelligence (BI), Cloud, and Data Warehousing environments. Industry experience includes Banking, Education, Government, Medical, Retail, Shipping, Health Care, and Hospitality. Experience across disparate industries, applications, and tools assists in the efficient delivery of business data solutions that provide clients with the ability to deliver flexible and scalable data architectures that provide robust transactional and analytical capability.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
4
4
Certifications
Work History
Manager | Technology Consulting – AI & Qualitative Modeling
Ernst & Young (EY)
2021.01 - Current
- Focus on implementing solutions and working in client engagement teams to deliver technical consulting services.
- Collaborating with Cloud Solution Architects in implementing end-to-end Enterprise solutions on Microsoft Azure.
- Supports strategy, planning, and implementation of data design services, providing sizing and configuration assistance, and performing needs assessments.
- Developing and maintaining data lake and data warehouse schematics, layouts, architectures for relational/non-relational databases for data access, reporting, and advanced analytics.
- Work with customers to understand their overall data estate, IT and business priorities and success criteria to design implementation architectures and solutions.
Solutions Director
3Cloud
2020.08 - 2021.01
- Broad understanding of Microsoft data and cloud technologies
- Support growth of 3Cloud through sales support, technical leadership, and billable engagements
- Work closely with sales organization to provide technical architecture and project scope support for 3Cloud’s customers.
- Lead envisioning and design sessions, environment assessments, and roadmap creation.
- Provide project and technical support related to Microsoft data and analytics technologies both on premises and cloud.
- Deliver value for customers using technology expertise to drive their technical and digital transformations.
- Develop exceptional client relationships in support of partnership and trusted advisor strategy.
- Self-learner who can discuss new technologies and where they fit into customer's overall data and analytics strategy.
- Experience in customer facing roles and success leading deep technical architecture and application design discussions with senior customer executives to drive data and cloud solutions.
Principal Consultant
Pragmatic Works
2018.01 - 2020.08
- Broad understanding of Microsoft data and cloud technologies
- Support growth of Pragmatic Works through sales support, technical leadership, and billable engagements
- Work closely with sales organization to provide technical architecture and project scope support for Pragmatic Works' customers.
- Lead envisioning and design sessions, environment assessments, and roadmap creation.
- Provide project and technical support related to Microsoft data and analytics technologies both on premises and cloud.
- Deliver value for customers using technology expertise to drive their technical and digital transformations.
- Develop exceptional client relationships in supporting partnership and trusted advisor strategy.
- Self-learner who can discuss new technologies and where they fit into customer's overall data and analytics strategy.
- Experience in customer facing roles and success leading deep technical architecture and application design discussions with senior customer executives to drive data and cloud solutions.
Senior Consultant
Pragmatic Works
2014.06 - 2017.12
- Serve as a technical business partner of customers and work closely together with them to increase the efficiencies of the technical investments they have made
- Support business and revenue goals by providing high quality business and technical presentations and demonstrations
- Possess breadth of knowledge in the Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure data and analytic offerings
- Help clients gain a competitive advantage by implementing information management and analytical solutions which provide them with business insights optimizing their operational performance
- Demonstrate advanced knowledge of SQL Server, SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, Power BI, and some experience with programming languages
- Knowledge of Azure Machine Learning, R programming, Analytics, Big Data, Hadoop, Spark, Data Lake, and SharePoint
- Demonstrate strong communication skills that required regularly dealing with clients and their staff, as well as with specialists from related fields, including architects, administrators, engineers, and business specialists
- Teach live and virtual training classes in the following technologies SQL Server, SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, Power BI.
Principal Consultant
Business and Decision North America
2011.05 - 2014.06
- Work closely with project managers, developers, and focus groups to avoid redundancy, minimize expenditures, and improve overall synergy within the organization
- Establishing best practices and guidelines for selecting, developing, and implementing information systems within the enterprise
- Create future vision architecture to expedite data delivery
- Outline current and future vision enterprise architecture, including traceability from business and IT strategies to suggested technologies
- Coordinate with architects and business experts across IT to translate key strategic objectives into actionable and governable roadmaps and designs
- Collaborate with key stakeholders and internal teams to define enterprise architectural principles, standards, guidelines, and blueprints
- Provide technical consultation, leadership, oversight, and design of enterprise data warehouse, and data mart implementations focused on using Microsoft SQL Server technologies
- Provide technical consultation, leadership, oversight, and design of Business Intelligence and OLAP solutions and implementations
- Provide technical consultation, leadership, oversight, and design of data extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) - architecture and implementation
- Consultation in business intelligence and data warehouse life cycle development
- Serve as technical leader and mentor to BI practice team members
- Provide pre-sales technical assistance and presentations
- Lead the technology/functional strategy development process for data platform projects and initiatives
- Collaborate with internal solution architects and management team to develop practice area solution offerings.
Technical Solution Specialist (Data Platform)
Microsoft Corporation
2011.01 - 2011.05
- Provide strategic technical leadership supporting Microsoft customers and partners to adopt, deploy, and support solutions based on SQL Server and related data management technologies, including analytics, reporting, business intelligence, transaction processing, and data warehousing
- Critical in assisting the Southwest District achieve its SQL Server revenue goals by providing deep technical expertise, effective sales support, and superior customer focus
- Provide strategic technical advice to customers, communicating value-added contributions of Microsoft products and services, including both long term messages about products, technologies, and services, as well as short term positioning for competitive situations or dynamic market conditions
- Provide technical expertise in helping customers evaluate solutions based on SQL Server, while influencing the business decision-making process
- Assist enterprise customers to understand how SQL Server could be applied to drive business value
- Understand the competitive landscape and be able to articulate the competitive differentiators with an emphasis on Oracle and Teradata
- Understand and effectively communicate the key strengths and functional breadth of Microsoft SQL Server and integration of our product line for development and deployment
- Drive the business value message of SQL Server through effective business-oriented product presentations
- Increase and accelerate SQL Server deployments
- Drive customer and partner satisfaction for products and solutions
- Connect enterprise customers and partners back to the product groups
- Assist with partner and internal sales readiness
- Team with Sales Representatives, Partners, Microsoft Consulting Services and Marketing to meet customer needs
- Support proof of concepts projects proving Microsoft's capabilities meeting customer's requirements.
Senior Consultant
Business and Decision North America/Straight Line Partners
2008.04 - 2010.12
- Provide technical consultation, leadership, oversight, and design of enterprise data warehouse, and data mart implementations
- Provide technical consultation, leadership, oversight, and design of Business Intelligence and OLAP solutions and implementations
- Provide technical consultation, leadership, oversight, and design of data extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) - architecture and implementation
- Consultation in business intelligence and data warehouse life cycle development.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Computer Information Systems
DeVry University
Phoenix, AZ 1999.01 - 2002.09
Skills
Project Management
undefinedCertification
Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900), 2023
Skills Reference
Azure
- Azure SQL DB/Managed Instance
- Azure Data Factory
- Azure Synapse Analytics
- Azure Data Lake
- Azure Analysis Services
- Azure DevOps
Power Platform
- Power BI
- Power BI Service
Languages
- SQL
- DAX
- Power/M-Query
- MDX
- PL/SQL
- MySQL
Methodologies
- Well-Architected Framework
- Solution Architecture
- Data Strategy
- Data Architecture
- Conceptual/Logical Data Modeling
- Physical Data Modeling
- Dimensional Modeling
- Kimball
- Agile
Industry Lines
- Utilities-Electric
- Oil & Gas
- Marketing Communications
- Health Care
- Financial/Banking
- Government
- Consumer Goods
- Hospitality
- Travel
Published Works
- FalconTek Solutions Central - Personal blog dedicated to providing Microsoft data platform informational and educational resources based on my experience as a Data Professional.
- Pragmatic Works - Published blogs, tutorials, and webinars focused on a broad range of Microsoft Azure and SQL Server data platform solutions.
- Published Book (11/2020) – Technical Editor – Hands-On SQL Server 2019 Analysis Services
Activities
- Recipient, Pragmatic Works – President's Award (2019)
- Recipient, Pragmatic Works – Client Whisperer (2017)
- Recipient, Pragmatic Works – Rainmaker Award (2016)
- Recipient, Wells Fargo - Best in Business Award (2007)
- Member, Professional Association SQL Server (PASS) (2014 – present)
- Member, Arizona SQL Server Users Group (2011 – present)
- Member, Sigma Beta Delta Honor Society (2001 - Present)
Timeline
Manager | Technology Consulting – AI & Qualitative Modeling
Ernst & Young (EY)
2021.01 - Current
Solutions Director
3Cloud
2020.08 - 2021.01
Principal Consultant
Pragmatic Works
2018.01 - 2020.08
Senior Consultant
Pragmatic Works
2014.06 - 2017.12
Principal Consultant
Business and Decision North America
2011.05 - 2014.06
Technical Solution Specialist (Data Platform)
Microsoft Corporation
2011.01 - 2011.05
Senior Consultant
Business and Decision North America/Straight Line Partners
2008.04 - 2010.12
Bachelor of Science - Computer Information Systems
DeVry University
1999.01 - 2002.09
Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900), 2023
Databricks Lakehouse Fundamentals, 2023
Microsoft Challenger, 2019
SSAS Maestro, 2011
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