Dan (Mba) Císar
Delivery Director for Global Delivery Management Team
Experience
Dec 2023 - Nov 2024
1 year Pilsen, Czech Republic
Delivery Director for Global Delivery Management Team
On Time Edge
- Overseen delivery management team of global managers assigned to blue-chip clients to deliver production planning (Kinaxis RapidResponse) and advanced scheduling solutions (PlanetTogether’s PlanetTogether).
- Responsible for hiring and development of “world class Delivery Management team”.
- Responsible for allocation, budgetary oversight, as well as training and professional development of the team.
- Acting as Account Manager toward to the clients who were being delivered projects.
Dec 2023 - Oct 2024
11 months Pilsen, Czech Republic
Integrated Supply Chain and Logistics Project Manager
Asahi Europe and International
- WMS and 3PL project manager responsible for project delivery across external vendors (Accenture) and consulting houses of logistics solutions (JDA/Blue Yonder; Shippeo).
- Assigned delivery of TMS and WMS systems projects for EMEA region (Italy, Romania).
- Delivered SHIPPEO visibility tracking tool integration across EMEA region countries (Italy, Romania).
- Total budget of EUR 3mil.
Oct 2023 - Oct 2024
1 year 1 month Prague, Czech Republic
ERP / SAP ECC Deployment and Rollout Manager for EMEA region
Norsk Hydro
- Site-level SAP instance implementation and its integration with APICS (MES) system to collect data and measure performance of production lines.
- Responsible for overall execution and delivery of core ECC functionalities across FICO, MM, QM/BM, and SCM modules and their integration with MES (APICS) solution.
- Designed and proposed delivery ROADMAP of 13 sites across EMEA region bundled with budget forecast for each site individually as well as program (total of EUR 12mil).
Dec 2022 - Apr 2023
5 months Ljubljana, Slovenia
ERP (SAP ECC) Program Manager of de-merger activities for Slovenia
Novartis/Sandoz
- De-merger of innovative medicine (Novartis) and generic pharmacology (Sandoz) legal entities and respective SAP ECC instance and integration build-up.
- Part of Orbit program / Sirius SAP ECC – Complex Carve Out Slovenia.
- Joined the ongoing project to replace the current program manager and bring the program back to "Green".
- Responsible for overall execution and delivery of core ECC functionalities across FICO, MM, QM/BM, and SCM modules.
- Responsible for OQ and PQ execution of these core ECC functionalities.
- Responsible for non-ERP and 3rd party systems integrations.
- Responsible for the coordination of activities across business and technology organizations.
- Interfaced with Change Management, and Change Advisory Board, as well as delivering regular and frequent CxO-level communication on status and progress.
- Overall budget responsibility of $9 mil.
Apr 2022 - Nov 2022
8 months Prague, Czech Republic
SAP S/4HANA Fit to Standard (Explore Phase) Senior Project Manager
Knauf (via Deloitte CZ/DE)
- Engaged with Knauf DE, a construction material manufacturing client, for the Explore Phase of a digital transformation project from SAP ECC to S/4HANA, leading preparation for the Realize phase with an emphasis on standardization and harmonization of business processes.
- Responsible for overall execution of the Explore Phase of S4HANA project, including:
- Setting up Training environment.
- Enabling Test Sand Box.
- Executing DDA (Digital Discovery Assessment).
- Executing Business Process Mapping and Business Process Mining.
- Delivering next Phase Program Planning.
- Formulating Key Design Decisions for Change Advisory Board.
- Preparing Business Case documentation.
- Covered all modules: FI/CO, SD, TR, PS, MM, PM/PP, and BW.
- Assessed three platform types (Public Cloud, Private Cloud, On Premise) as part of architectural decisions, considering current business process requirements.
- Reported on forecasted project budget of $2 mil.
Jun 2021 - Feb 2022
9 months Prague, Czech Republic
SAP S/4HANA Senior Delivery & Integration Project Manager
Zentiva Pharmaceuticals
- Led the turnaround of a behind-schedule global SAP S/4HANA delivery project in the highly regulated pharmaceutical space. Selected by this private equity-owned European pharmaceutical company to turnaround and stabilize an at-risk global SAP S/4HANA delivery project, moving it from RED to GREEN status in just 3 months.
- Led all integration activities for the global SAP S/4HANA template rollout.
- Managed delivery of multiple SAP modules’ functional components, including MM, SD, FI, and CO.
- Directed the SAP S/4HANA deployment in Bulgaria (Cloud – AWS platform), including integration with third-party logistics (3PL) provider Scorpion Shipping.
- Created new reporting structure, fully aligned PMO processes, and stakeholder engagement channels, including office hours and regular Q&A sessions, to improve communication, collaboration, and buy-in.
- Planned and managed a $1.5mil project budget.
Dec 2018 - Jun 2022
3 years 7 months Prague, Czech Republic
Senior Program Manager
MSD Pharmaceuticals
- Managed financial and resource aspects of multiple programs (overall budget over $3mil) in the “Keep the Business Running (KBR)” category within Research, Laboratory, and Compliancy space. Ensured on-time delivery of program benefits and project deliverables essential for maintaining business-critical IT services, requiring detailed business case preparation and CxO-level presentations for scope extensions due to narrow annual budgets.
- Led Data Quality and Data Integrity initiatives to enhance manufacturing process capability and comply with new GAMP regulatory policies.
- Machine Learning and Operational Effectiveness Program:
- OA / OEE (Operational Availability / Operational Equipment Efficiency): Collecting operational data from production sensors and using automated calculations to analyze and display them on a Dashboard.
- PCM (Predictive Maintenance): Using Machine Learning on operational data to predict efficient maintenance windows for production line components.
- Utilized external development resources from Amazon.
- Program budget: up to $2 mil; Team size: up to 15 members.
- Enterprise Lab Platform KBR Program:
- Maintained laboratory space platform, covering multiple critical platforms (e.g., LIMS, Empower, Nugenesis, OpenLab).
- Project goals: deliver capacity and functionalities for business requirements and support estimated business growth.
- Key deliverable: removal and upgrade of obsolete platforms.
- Program budget: up to $2 mil; Team size: up to 20 members.
- Pre-Clinical Development and Compliance KBR Program:
- Managed a cluster of projects driven by laboratory and compliancy space requirements, with deliverables ranging from Proof of Concept and EDI integration development to essential service build-up and delivery to Production.
- Compliance segment deliverables included meeting regulatory body requirements for reporting, ensuring information availability for auditors.
- Program budget: up to $1 mil; Team size: up to 15 members.
- Acronis Back Up (Disaster Recovery) Capability for IT Manufacturing Infrastructure (GxP regulatory):
- Managed global delivery of an off-the-rack solution for data backup and restore capability to comply with new GxP and Data Integrity policies.
- Built infrastructure in 25 manufacturing sites globally, managing HW procurement (tender, quotation, vendor selection).
- Organized local technology teams for workstream assignments, application deployment, and GxP testing and validation (overseen by Quality Assurance).
- Managed delivery of SDLC (Solution Delivery Life Cycle) documentation for regulatory compliance and Quality Assurance.
- Project budget: over $2,000,000; Team size: approx. 30 concurrently, 130 overall.
- Access Center Application Interface Migration (GxP regulatory):
- Managed an initiative to provide a uniform UX (User Request Form - URF) for access requests across 70+ business-critical applications.
- Managed business requirements discussions between Business Owners and the Development team (mapping current processes, proposing migration improvements).
- Managed off-shore Development team (3rd party vendor) delivery to meet business requirements, scope, and timeline.
- Held complete budgetary responsibility for project financials.
- Project budget: $1,000,000; Team size: approx. 15 concurrently, 200 overall.
Sep 2017 - Dec 2019
1 year 4 months Prague, Czech Republic
Senior E-Commerce Program Manager
Tech Data
- Led an Organizational Change Program (related to Apple Care insurance product) to ensure business (sales) processes complied with new EU regulations. This involved product and process re-definition and organizational change (business process and structure), creating opportunities for process leaning and functional improvements.
- The change was driven by an EU legal ruling requiring specific methods for selling insurance products, necessitating process modification and implementation across 8 EU countries (AT, DE, CH, IT, FR, NL, UK, SE).
- Directed SAP delivery and integration program spanning SAP SD, FI, BW, MM, TM, and LO modules.
- Consulted and coordinated with multiple Business Functions (Controlling, Audit, VAT, Legal, Procurement) to ensure proper process implementation.
- Managed requirements and knowledge gathering sessions driven by Business Analysts across all scoped countries to map and document future solution design and delivery.
- Managed delivery of the SAP team, e-commerce web-portal modifications, and Integration teams.
- Managed Stakeholder and Customer involvement, expectations, and communication channels to maintain engagement and secure resources for an extended testing phase.
- Project budget: €200,000; Team size: approx. 60-70 people.
Nov 2014 - Jun 2017
2 years 8 months Prague, Czech Republic
Senior Technology Program Manager
DHL/DHL Supply Chain EMEA
- 4PL Supply Chain Integration (Delivery and Test Lead):
- Delivered on time, within specification and budget, the replacement of a previous 3PL provider's logistics systems with new DHL Supply Chain infrastructure.
- Managed work streams including business process mapping (generic and in-country specific) and IT systems implementation, integration, user-acceptance testing (UAT), GO LIVE, and production operations switch to new systems.
- Implemented EMEA-wide Warehouse Management Solution supported by Blue Yonder (JDA) and Oracle R12.
- Project covered all EMEA and Pakistan. Budget: €2 mil; Team size: approx. 30.
- Warehouse Management (JDA/Red Prairie) Cloud Transformation and Migration:
- Managed migration of 120+ JDA instances to a new environment (Red Hat 7.x; 30+ cloud-based servers on Google Cloud Platform) due to OS license requirements. Also delivered other cloud transformation from physical server farm to cloud infrastructure, including OS upgrade (AWS).
- Developed and executed business change strategy and plan, breaking migration into 10 waves with successful pilot.
- Ensured strong stakeholder management for smooth implementation.
- Solution supported by Google Cloud Platform (Google Storage, VPC, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud IAM), Blue Yonder (JDA), and Oracle R12. Budget: €1.5 mil; Team size: approx. 40.
- Vision Picking WMS Functionality Global Pilot (UK and NL):
- Took over IT work stream for a pioneering program implementing Augmented Reality and Google Glass equipment (IoT innovation) in warehouse operations, resulting in 30% process time improvement.
- Managed infrastructure delivery for interface testing among WMS components (JDA/Red Prairie, Manhattan).
- Oversaw business change process analysis and solution improvement delivery for post-pilot clients.
- Responsible for global vendor performance management.
- Solution supported by Blue Yonder (JDA), Ubimax software interface, and Oracle R12. Budget: €2 mil; Team size: approx. 40.
- Global Infrastructure Network Backbone Upgrade:
- Turned around a project to upgrade bandwidth for regional data centers in the U.S., Europe (EU), and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) to global MPLS Cloud connectivity.
- Led global change initiatives and implemented vendor controls to meet time/performance goals.
- Drove interconnectivity for a “global Cloud” presence, enabled high-performance enterprise-level SAN, and boosted performance/availability to 99.999% SLA. Budget: €25 mil; Team size: approx. 70.
- Virtualization Upgrade:
- Managed supplier in upgrading virtualized environment (server and desktop) to Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop 7.6.
- Acted as primary liaison for delivery timelines and solution testing.
- Managed stakeholder communications and weekly board reviews. Budget: €500,000; Team size: approx. 20.
- Global Machine Security Certificate:
- Collaborated with security partners to design a machine security certificate program to guard corporate data, strengthen IT asset management/hardware lifecycle policies, and control acceptable use of personal devices to remediate findings and recommendations for IT services audit. (This initiative also covered upgrading VPN access security from personal to machine certificates).
- Crafted and managed BYOD/COPE policy framework.
- Directed application testing for seamless production launch. Budget: €1.5 mil; Team size: approx. 40.
Feb 2013 - Oct 2014
1 year 9 months Prague, Czech Republic
Senior SAP & E-Commerce Program Manager
Tech Data
- Business Change Program & SAP Service Management Transformation:
- Propelled business performance by 30% by managing EDI infrastructure build-out and developing optimized B2B workflows (including managed build and delivery of dedicated B2B infrastructure for Google and Phones4You).
- Managed business change resulting from technological upgrades, leading to re-design of Standard Operating Procedures for new customer-dedicated environments.
- Collaborated with SAP Center of Excellence (CoE) to manage their center-wide Change Management process consolidation and improvement program, significantly enhancing process performance and reliability.
- Expanded ERP (SAP) capabilities by designing and delivering a $250K custom database application for real-time pricing for HP distributors.
- Selected by senior management to stabilize business and IT change processes, developing/delivering change plans, and managing implementation communications with a cross-functional Change board.
- Managed stakeholder involvement in change programs. Budget: €500,000; Team size: approx. 20.
- E-Commerce Software Development Project Manager:
- Managed a Business Unit account for Business Functionality development in an Agile (SCRUM) environment, project-managing SCRUM-driven software delivery of functionality pipeline for e-Commerce business unit.
- Managed a portfolio of projects delivering functionalities for the e-commerce web portal (main sales channel).
- Collaborated with Product Owner to define requirements, prioritize (Business Criticality), and set up product roadmap.
- Worked with Scrum Master to evaluate requirements, define interdependencies, and manage sprints and delivery.
- Supported Product Owner in story creation, organized daily Standups, Sprint Demonstrations, and groomed backlog. Budget: €500,000; Team size: approx. 10.
Feb 2012 - Present
13 years 6 monthsProject & Program Management Professional (Freelance)
ACL Management
- Approached by clients and engaged to lead and manage regional and global initiatives, to optimize SAP S4HANA delivery and to support strategic delivery of IT Products and Services, Cloud Transformation, Migration and Integration of Infrastructures and Software solutions.
- Coordinated and managed key External IT Outsourcing Partners (e.g. telecommunication infrastructure providers, software off-shore delivery, and consultancy).
- Supported these engagements with strong communication skills strengthened by interaction with senior leaders of organizations.
- A management consulting boutique focusing on consultancy and management services of program and enterprise management.
- Supporting clients across multiple industries (supply chain, logistics, e-commerce, pharma, constructions, manufacturing, automotive) with management and delivery of organizational changes, digital transformation, enterprise solutions implementations, global rollouts, and transformations.
- Focus areas include:
- Software development
- Service delivery
- Digital Transformation
- Enterprise solution roll-out (e.g., SAP ECC and S/4HANA rollout)
- Organizational changes and transformations
- Program management of corporate-wide initiatives.
Feb 2012 - Jan 2013
1 year Vienna, Austria
Regional Manager
Kuehne + Nagel
- Managed and delivered B2B integration of corporate clients to MIS.
- Project-managed SCRUM-driven software delivery of a functionality pipeline for the logistics business unit.
- Deployed ITIL incident management process company-wide, resulting in a 90% decrease in incident response and delivery time.
- Engineered change management processes, spearheaded employee adoption and engagement, and oversaw a change management board.
- Led global projects and business change delivery, achieving over 60% reduction in operation and administration costs and enabling clients to track goods en route from Asia.
- Acted as business analyst and project lead, including developing business cases and execution plans (e.g., client site visits in Moscow).
Jun 2005 - Jan 2012
6 years 8 months Prague, Czech Republic
IT Program Manager
DHL IT Services
- Led multi-million-dollar global system implementations for clients like HP, IBM, Oracle, and Kyocera, liaising between business, IT, and customers.
- Led a cross-functional distributed virtual team of 30+ remote professionals (business consultants, testers, B2B engineers, business process testers) to implement solutions across Europe.
- Managed user acceptance-testing workshops in the US and Asia.
- Achieved 20% reduction in resource and program costs by centralizing processes through business needs analysis and building strategic alliances.
- Regional Data Center Optimization Program (SAP Service Management Transition):
- Delivered an EMEA-wide Data Center consolidation program, including building new SAP infrastructure and consolidation of in-country SAP instances into a central Data Center.
- Established new IT Support structure and processes for hundreds of IT and ERP business solutions (SAP WM, OM, HR, FiCO, TM, IT).
- Program included full SAP Template rollout delivery. Budget: €35 mil; Team size: approx. 40.
- Global Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Project Implementation:
- Managed project delivery for global WMS implementations including SeLECT (SeLECT UPGRADE), PROLOGS, and Blue Yonder (JDA)/Red Prairie WMS across U.S., Europe, and APAC regions.
- Managed a team of 15+ virtual resources for a $1.5M WMS implementation.
- Led a 2-week UAT workshop in Houston, TX.
- Managed end-to-end project delivery (integration, scope, time, cost, quality, HR, communications, risk, procurement) with full budgetary responsibility.
- Oversaw business analyst team delivery for business and change process analysis covering Supply Chain processes.
- Successfully managed offshore vendor delivery for business process flow customization. Budget: €2 mil; Team size: approx. 35.
Summary
Program management expert leading multi-million-dollar cross-functional programs in manufacturing, pharmaceutical, supply chain, and e-commerce industries for Pfizer, Novartis, Sandoz, Deloitte, Knauf, Merck, Zentiva, Google, HP, IBM, Oracle, DHL, Kuehne + Nagel, and Kyocera.
Performance-driven leader adept at guiding virtual, multi-cultural teams in the delivery of cloud infrastructure, solution integration and migration initiatives and innovations in GxP regulated pharmaceutical environments (Manufacturing, Research and Laboratories); Agile/SAFe SCRUM-driven software development initiatives; SAP ECC, S4/HANA, and Blue Yonder (JDA)/Red Prairie WMS solution implementations, IT strategies, organizational/business change programs and project management methodologies to align organizational vision and ensure success.
Over eighteen years of experience in program management, consulting, and full life cycle cloud program delivery services (AWS, Google Cloud Platform), SAP migrations and S4/HANA template full roll-out and engagement from early stages of pre-sales meetings to final delivery. Experienced SDLC delivery of innovation to manufacturing environment within pharmaceutical industry.
In distributed and matrix-based environment, creates friendly, collaborative, accountable, and atmosphere with emphasis on “we will have fun, but we still have goals to achieve”
Languages
Czech
Native
English
Native
Education
Oct 2010 - Jun 2012
Chapman University
Master of Business Administration · Business Administration · United States
Oct 2006 - Jun 2009
University of Economic Studies & Management VSEM
Bachelor of Science · Corporate Finance and Management · Prague, Czech Republic
Certifications & licenses
SAP Activate for S4HANA
SAP
Change Management Practitioner
Prosci
MSP (Managing Successful Programs)
Axelos
PMP (Project Management Professional)
Project Management Institute
ITSM Service Delivery ITIL Manager
HP Europe
Prince II
Axelos
Similar Freelancers
Discover other experts with similar qualifications and experience