Commercial Software
Directed Saber's Voter Registration and Elections Management practice end-to-end, conceiving and delivering a market-disrupting COTS product for the S&LG sector. Scaled revenue 10x against intense competition and aggressive delivery timelines, ranking the company 181st on Deloitte's 2007 Technology Fast 500.
Saber Consulting was a Portland, OR-based technology company specializing in Commercial Off-the-Shelf
(COTS) software deployment for the State and Local Government (S&LG) sector. Following significant
growth and market success, the company was acquired by EDS in 2008.
Opportunity: The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 mandated States to create
centralized voter databases, issue provisional ballots, and increase access for disabled voters, among
other provisions.
Proposition: Adopt a Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology and build strategic
partnerships with local vendors to deliver a highly configurable COTS system, enabling rapid deployment
across States with varying legislative and operational requirements.
Strategic Partnerships: Cultivated strategic partnerships to secure county buy-in and
adoption, leveraging Saber's strong public sector track record and established state relationships. I
negotiated partnerships with two trusted local election solutions providers and hired retired county clerks
to serve as essential Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), ensuring local familiarity and accuracy during
requirements and scope definition. Personally visited all jurisdictions to observe workflows and instill
user confidence by ensuring their voice and requirements were heard and integrated.
Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM):
Led Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions with subject matter experts across all 36 counties in
Oregon
to capture requirements and achieve consensus. Used MoSCoW prioritization to define aggressive one-week time
boxed development windows. Simultaneously designed the core system's normalized Entity-Relationship (ERD)
database model, factoring in optimal performance, system scalability, and critical user configuration
requirements.
Iterative Development: Drafted screen layouts during JAD sessions and guided developers
to ensure compliance with development windows. On completion of every development sprint, I demoed the
screens
to SMEs to secure sign-off and any feedback. Through frequent prototype review sessions, I successfully
accelerated the
delivery of a highly configurable Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within a compressed 12-month timeline.
Key Features: The system delivered full HAVA compliance across all 13 deployed states,
covering:
- Duplicate Voter Detection
- Multi-Jurisdiction Coordinated Merging and Transfer of Records
- Interfacing with External Departments (e.g., DMV)
- Address Validation
- Poll Book Generation
- Redistricting with GIS Integration
- Document Scanning capabilities
Jurisdictions Onboarding: Engineered a scalable, six-track onboarding framework
(Project Control, Customization, Interfaces, Data Migration, Infrastructure, Rollout) to support successful
multi-state deployment. This standardized, parallelized approach ensured zero-failed transitions, optimized
resource utilization, and significantly accelerated time-to-value across all 13 states.
Call Center: Established a centralized scalable call center for after-sales support.
Started with 5 agents and scaled up to 20+ in the first year with rapid response and resolution maintaining
high customer satisfaction and trust across all 13 deployed states.
National Sales Support: Provided critical pre-sales and solution architecture support,
partnering with Bid Managers throughout the entire sales lifecycle. This involved in-depth analysis of
complex RFPs to define detailed functional compliance, technical solution scoping, and precise budget
estimation. I supported the creation of compelling technical proposals and delivered high-impact
demonstrations to executive-level client stakeholders.
Saber ranked 181st on Deloitte’s 2007 Technology Fast 500 list. The
practice's sterling market
reputation and noticeable growth in revenue and market share were key drivers for the acquisition of the
company by EDS in 2008.
Oregon state annuncing partnership with Saber
Celebrating success, growth, and great wins!
900%
Revenue Growth in 4 Years
13
U.S. States Deployed
181st
Deloitte Tech Fast 500, 2007
EDS
Acquired by EDS