Workfront certified system admin spotlight: Chris Flynn, Florida Health Care Plan

[kynabaker16]

We have another wonderful Workfront system admin that we are spotlighting today, super smart guy and while we might disagree about the best flavor of Oreo (I'm all about the Mint Thin Oreos), it's time for you all to get to know @Chris Flynn‚!

Workfront: What was your background before learning Workfront (super technical, lots of project management, or totally something different)?

Chris: I have a Bachelor’s in Health Services Administration, am PMP certified, and most of my career has been spent in IT in some capacity. I’ve been a project manager for almost four years, but before I was a business systems analyst and technical support staff. I’m a PM at a health insurance company, so I’ve found a way to merge my education and work history.

I’ve always been drawn to learning how different systems and processes work, how the different pieces fit together, and how to optimize those systems and processes to accomplish the most work with the least amount of steps. So when I when an opportunity came up to become our Workfront System Admin, I couldn’t turn it down since it gave me a chance to do all those things.

Workfront: In two sentences or less, how does your organization use Workfront?

Chris: We use it to track and manage all projects that are run by our PMO and all independent development done by our in-house development teams. We also have five additional business units (communications, translation services, pharmacy, provider services and corporate reporting) that use it to track requests and status of work and tasks needed by other departments throughout our company.

Workfront: What is the Workfront accomplishment you are most proud of?

Chris: We had large amounts of users that had abandoned the tool and complained finding information was too complicated; but through the roll-out of new, personalized department-specific dashboards we were able to entice those users back into the tool and now constantly receive compliments on how easy it is to use.

Workfront: How will being Workfront system admin certified change things for you?

Chris: The knowledge I gained through the boot-camp and certification process has enabled me to continue to improve my organization’s instance of Workfront. I have also noticed that many of the leaders have acknowledged my new cert and the level of knowledge I’ve obtained to go with it ‚Äì I’m starting to get harder and harder requests from them!¬≠¬≠

Workfront: If you could time travel and go back to tell your newbie-Workfront self anything, what would it be?

Chris: Learning about camel case and the API explorer ‚Äì they’re god-sends and will save you so much time trying to figure out how to get the reporting you want.

Workfront: What areas of work management do you consider yourself an expert in?

Chris: Portfolio management, resource management, project management, dashboards, and reporting. We don’t use proofing currently, so I’m a little behind on that one.

Workfront: Finally, as a fun way to get to know you, when you get snacky and need a quick treat‚Äîwhat is your favorite “vice”?

Chris: Birthday cake flavored Oreos. No one believes me, but they’re better than the originals!