SELECTED OPERATIONAL INITIATIVES

Operational Improvement at Volkswagen

Operational Improvement at Volkswagen

Operational Improvement at Volkswagen

Alongside project governance work, I lead and support internal initiatives that improve how teams plan work, onboard people, and use digital tools.

Employee Lifecycle Automation · Annual Capacity Planning · AI & Digital Process Improvement

01 · EMPLOYEE LIFECYCLE AUTOMATION

Make onboarding easier to navigate and maintain.

Make onboarding easier to navigate and maintain.

Problem

Onboarding had no consistent structure. New hires had to piece together role and system information, while PMO manually maintained employee records without a reliable notification process for workforce changes.

What I Did

  • Gathered feedback from new hires and managers and mapped the existing process

  • Designed a structured onboarding workflow, checklists, and communication steps

  • Implemented automation using Power Automate and PowerShell where appropriate

  • Piloted with PMO, managers, and new hires; incorporated feedback and supported rollout

What Changed

  • More consistent onboarding instructions

  • Automated communication and checklist steps

  • Less manual PMO maintenance

  • Better visibility into employee changes

Before

Manager memory

Scattered information

Manual PMO updates

Inconsistent onboarding

After

Employee change identified

Checklist / automated communication

Employee information captured

PMO records updated

Representative workflow — simplified for portfolio presentation.

02 · ANNUAL CAPACITY PLANNING

See resource conflicts before they affect delivery.

See resource conflicts before they affect delivery.

I currently lead the execution of an annual capacity-planning model designed to connect project milestones with estimated role demand across shared teams. The concept originated with my manager; I own running and maintaining it.

Multiple projects share the same people. When a milestone shifts, someone can get pulled toward one project and unintentionally put another project’s milestone at risk. This model is meant to make those conflicts easier to see earlier.

Inputs

  • Project type

  • Milestones

  • Dependencies

  • Role effort

  • Work windows

  • Non-project work

Model / Data Flow

MS Project

Spreadsheet exports / macros

Power BI source data

Decisions Supported

  • Potential resource shortages

  • Competing milestone demands

  • Staffing needs

  • Budget planning

  • Resource reallocation


Forecasts become less certain farther into the future, so the model supports planning rather than implying false precision.

03 · PROJECT GOVERNANCE & DELIVERY STANDARDS

Make the structures behind project delivery easier to use.

I support the systems behind project delivery at Volkswagen—documentation, role clarity, escalation, and reporting—so teams have clearer information and a more consistent way to work.

5

Confluence spaces supported by the PMO

~25

Departmental role descriptions consolidated and standardized

Where I contribute

  • Documentation standards and reusable templates

  • Facilitate and scribe the Project Escalation Round; track decisions and action items

  • Communicate topics requiring director-level escalation

  • Maintain project reporting in Confluence and Jira

  • Support management-level consolidation of project information

04 · AI & DIGITAL PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Use digital tools where they remove real friction.

Use digital tools where they remove real friction.

I coordinate and analyze improvement opportunities involving AI and automation, working with IT, managers, internal teams, and colleagues in other organizational units to evaluate where digital tools can reduce repetitive work.

Agentic AI exploration for Confluence


Power Automate + AI prompts for PDF parsing and data storage

AI-supported training and workflow experiments

One proposed ticket-quality automation was paused after changes to the underlying ticketing platform altered the business need — a reassessment, not a failed pilot.

The common thread

The common thread

I look for friction that affects execution, understand the current process, and build practical improvements with the people who actually use it.

Ashley Vincent · Project Management | Operations | Process Improvement

Ashley Vincent · Project Management | Operations | Process Improvement