Coach of the Quarter – Paula Zappala

Paula Zappala is a Technical Advisor who is known for her innovative ideas and hardworking nature. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requested a change request (CR) that informed all the Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) about the Peraton virtual data center (VDC) migrating to a new location in Washington. This type of move is not simple as it requires many moving parts.

Paula has over 36 years of experience in this field, which proved to be invaluable for Palmetto GBA. With her calm demeanor, strategic approach, and flawless execution, Paula led the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) team and associates, ensuring that all deadlines were met without any major issues. As a result of her outstanding leadership skills, we are delighted to announce Paula as our Division 34 Coach of the Quarter.

Team of the Quarter – JJ, JM, & RRB Prioritization Reports

The team responsible for creating Jurisdictions J (JJ) and M (JM), Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) Prioritization Reports consists of ten individuals who work diligently to improve a set of five high-quality products. These products are designed to facilitate data-driven decisions regarding future JM, JJ, and RRB activities. The team pays close attention to detail while working collaboratively with each other, maintaining constant communication with the requestor, and updating progress regularly. Their final products were delivered on time, met all requestor needs, and were coded to require minimal updates for future products. For this team's enthusiasm and teamwork, we congratulate them as our Division 34 Team of the Quarter.

Team members: Lenae Brainar, Sanoussy Diallo, Khosrow Heidari, John Obal, Sukgoo Pak, Michael Petzold, Austin Shaeff, Carol Stone, Joshua Thompson, and Akshayaa Viswanathan

Process Improvement of the Quarter – KOFAX Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Password Reset Tool

This process improvement helped to make it easier for users to synchronize their passwords across all platforms within the Data Warehouse using one tool. Previously, the tool only synced passwords across two platforms, making it impossible to sync all passwords when a new third platform was added.

To address this issue, a bot was created to update passwords on the new platform and integrated it into the tool. As a result, the password reset tool can now change passwords on all three platforms and comply with security standards without requiring manual intervention. The bot automation has completed 93% of password changes, greatly reducing the need for manual password resets. We congratulate the team on achieving this Process Improvement of the Quarter award for Division 34 for their efforts in improving efficiency.

Team members: Yunus Chippa, Ann Gainey, Vishvada Ganapati, Venu Boppa Gopal, Sherri Hunter, Amukta Jambula, Billy Osborne, Satish Palakurthi, Derek Roberts, Paige Sable, Melissa Thompson, SanthoshKumar Thota, Reginald Tolbert, and Ramya Vaddempudi

Associate of the Quarter - Phani Atluri

We are proud to announce that Phani Atluri has been named our Division 34 Associate of the Quarter. Phani is a highly experienced Senior Developer who possesses exceptional technical knowledge and expertise in his field. He is an integral part of our organization and actively participates in special projects and assists beyond the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contract (CBIC).

Phani has played a vital role in championing the development operations (DevOps) initiative by helping teams throughout the organization establish streamlined deployment pipelines. His profound understanding of DevOps principles and tools has enabled CBIC to fully automate production deployments, leading to improved release management processes and more reliable releases.

Moreover, Phani offers technical advisement and recommendations to seven CBIC project teams, demonstrating exemplary leadership qualities. He is always available to answer questions, assist in testing efforts, provide testing data, research issues, and find solutions for his fellow development team members, even when busy. Phani maintains a positive disposition and professional demeanor, setting a remarkable example of teamwork. He approaches tasks with enthusiasm, inspiring others to do the same, and creating a positive atmosphere that motivates the team to overcome obstacles and achieve exceptional results. His natural ability to inspire and empower others has elevated the performance and growth of the entire team.

We congratulate Phani on his exceptional performance and thank him for his invaluable contributions to our organization.