Jenny Franklin's official title at FedEx is Business Applications Adviser but any TBMA who sees her work space, will recognize her as one of their own.
Our Member Spotlight series, is designed to give you some insight into the way other TBM professionals work and one of the things I've learned in producing this series is that our community is full of skilled and talented people who enjoy what they do. Show me another profession that can lay the principles of Cost Transparency into 70's pop culture memes.
Creating a system of record to drive IT business decisions keeps one busy, so I was grateful to Jenny, our most active Community member, for taking some time to be interviewed for this spotlight. Here's a look at our conversation...
OK Let's get the basics out of the way with this rapid fire:
Do you work in a TBMO?
How is it organized...Under IT or Finance? How many members of the TBMO are there and what are their roles?
Do you all sit together? Are you in the same office?
Yes, we have two teams – one under IT and one under Finance – and we work as one collective TBM team. The IT team sits together in one building and the Finance team sits together in another building on campus. On the IT side we have one PM who acts as PM for both sides. We have five TBMAs who work reporting, modeling, and data primarily around the infrastructure side. On the Finance side we have three TBMAs who do the same, but primarily around the finance side. We all come together regularly to discuss/review ideas, proposals, etc.
What is your role related to Apptio?
I started out several years ago in a PM capacity, then created/distributed reports, and now primarily work the modeling/configuration side and assist both IT and Finance with that.
Do you use Apptio to support any reoccurring reviews or processes? If so which one(s)
Yes. Different types of reviews are held within the areas we support and TBM data is used/discussed, but we are not present for all of them (different areas, different processes, etc., but the cool thing is TBM is a common thread across us all). The data from TBM is also used as the first step in developing business cases and is used as part of the chargeback to the Business (operating companies).
Wow. I think a lot of our members, especially those earlier in their experience will be impressed by the reach and coordination of your TBMO. It's inspiring. What would you say about your TBMOs contribution to FedEx?
TBM allows us all to speak each other’s language. Each area benefits from having the additional knowledge of what each side is doing and what drives the costs. TBM is a huge eye opener – not only in showing costs and getting everyone on the same page, but it also lends itself to data cleanup/quality as well.
Your experience is evident in your Community contributions, but I’m guessing you didn’t go to college to become a TBMA ;-) What brought you to your current role?
I started out working the PM side, but the more I dug into TBM – the data, the model – the more I loved it. A few of the original crew went on to other opportunities and so I was able to move into the system side and very much enjoy it. I’ve worked on the IT side (love technology) and the Finance side (love numbers) – and now I get the best of both worlds!
What was the first job you ever had?
Worked at a local restaurant called “Danver’s” while I was in high school. After high school it was mainly office management type jobs while attending college.
"Danvers" Nice! At some point I want do do a poll on TBMA first jobs. But getting back to today, when someone says, “Jenny, what do you do for a living.” What do you say?
For those outside of FedEx, I tell them I work for a little known shipping company and we use a cool cloud program that marries data from various systems to help show the total cost of IT. For those internal to FedEx, I give them the more descriptive elevator speech of TBM. And if they ask what I do specifically for TBM, I tell them I do the modeling – but I don’t do catwalks because I’m an absolute mess in heels.
Ha! You’re really active on Community. What do you like most about the community of Apptio customers we’re creating?
Oh my gosh, I love Community – that is my Google when it comes to TBM and Apptio. It not only houses all the information I need – to learn, to grow, to help me when I get in a bind – it’s an awesome gathering place for like-minded folks in TBM Land. It’s great for bouncing ideas off folks and I love reading the blogs and threads people contribute about how they’re using TBM.
"Like-minded folks in TBM Land" I love that. Jenny, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate you giving us a peek into how you work with Apptio.
Thank you guys! #DreamJob