Chara Vasilopoulou

• Managed the Excise Business Thread within the ITSM3-TES project, ensuring alignment with scope, schedule, and budget.
• Managed the ICS2 Business Thread for the ITSM3-TES project from February 2019 to February 2021, ensuring adherence to the defined schedule, scope, and budget.
• Prepared accurate financial and operational forecasts for specific contracts, ensuring consistency with operational and financial objectives.
• Drafted and maintained Quoted Time and Means (QTMs) documentation, defining service scope, resource allocation, and cost estimations.
• Monitored monthly consumption and performance against forecasts, identifying deviations, and implementing corrective actions.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to optimize resource utilization, enhance forecast accuracy, and support overall business efficiency.

Key Achievements:

• Directed overall planning and coordination among multiple stakeholders (National Administrators, Economic Operators, DG TAXUD, ITSM3 OPS, xDEVs, QA Contractor) during the deployment and 'after-care' phases of ICS2 Release 1, achieving a zero global error rate and meeting all milestones.
• Successfully completed conformance testing and production deployment for EMCS Phase 3.4 under the UK Withdrawal Agreement (Brexit) and Northern Ireland Protocol, within a constrained three-month schedule.
• Successful completion of Conformance Testing and deployment to the Production environment for EMCS Phases 4.0 and 4.1, with all deadlines and milestones successfully achieved.
• Successful preparation and execution of the Conformance Testing for the EMCS Phase 4.2.
• Effective preparation and execution of the hand-over process, including comprehensive knowledge transfer of the excise business thread to the succeeding contractor.

• Member of the Testing Team of the CCN2DEV project (8 people) responsible for verification and validation of Oracle Cots and Tested by the MSs using the In-House developed Reference Applications.
• Provided second-level support to Member States and EC stakeholders as part of the CCN2 Support and PlayGround Systems Teams.
• Delivered training sessions to Member States and internal ITSM2 LOT1 teams, including webinar recordings and user documentation.
• Produced technical manuals, reports, and support documentation across project teams, ensuring consistency and quality.

Projects:

European Medicines Agency (EMA) - Location: London, UK.

Performed the assessment of the IT organization of the agency and developed improvement recommendations based on ITIL best practices.

EU-Lisa (European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice) – Location: Brussels, BE; Strasbourg, FR.

Preparation for the execution of the pilot test of the Smart Borders Package introduced by the European Commission to modernize, speed up, and improve the management of the external borders of Schengen Member States (MSs), as well as help in the fight against illegal immigration.

DG TAXUD (Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union) – Location: Brussels, BE.

Define the best knowledge management practices for capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge.

• Managed and coordinated the quality and testing activities for the project teams of DG EAC - Erasmus+, LLPLink, E-Forms, Lifecard, Valor, Mobility Tool, Stage. Ensured incident, problem, change and release management was delivered according to quality levels agreed in the SLA (Service Level Agreement).
• Successful management of all deliverables, artefacts, assets according to the specified security policies of the Sector.

• Managed the eCustoms Business Thread (6 people) for the e-Customs applications (NCTS, ECS, ICS operations).
• Provided support and IT services according to ITIL methodology on the IT Centralized and Trans European Systems that are used to automate all flows of information and control mechanisms necessary for the uniform administration of the Customs and Taxations Union, as part of an international consortium of Companies (Unisys, Siemens, Bull).
• Successful management of all deliverables, artefacts, and assets according to the specified security policies of the FwC.
• Provided 2nd level Support for the Customs, e-Customs, Excise and Taxation applications to Member States and European Commission users within specific Operation Level Agreement (OLA) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Successful management of all deliverables, artefacts, and assets according to the specified security policies of the FwC.

Key Achievements:

• Coordinated large-scale Conformance Testing for Member State system migration from NCTS Phase 3.2 to Phase 4.
• Successfully managed workload optimization, maintaining full KPI compliance despite reduced team capacity

• Responsible for the ITSM project Take-Over from the previous contractors. Followed the Take-Over trainings given by the previous contractors at the time being the teams of SUPCO, FITSTC, CCN/TC, NCTS and CUST-DEV. Produced the Hand-Over Documentations and Presentations and gave trainings to the Service Desk operators.
• Co-ordinated with the Service Desk manager of the ITSM project before and after start of operations to produce the documents for the Incident Management, Service Desk Management and FAT planning for the Service Desk.
• Organized and implemented the migration of all service calls from the previous contractors.
• Successful management of all deliverables, artefacts, and assets according to the specified security policies of the FwC.
• Successfully managed workload optimization, maintaining full KPI compliance despite reduced team capacity.

Accumulated extensive technical and analytical experience through multiple roles in IT support, system administration, and software development across the private sector. Responsibilities included providing end-user support, implementing hardware and software upgrades, participating in system roll-outs, and developing business applications for major Greek banking institutions.

Key responsibilities and achievements included:

• Delivered comprehensive IT support and infrastructure maintenance for banking, financial, and broadcasting environments, ensuring high service availability and system reliability.
• Supported major roll-out projects for banking and broadcasting clients, including on-site technical support for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, servicing approximately 3,000 users.
• Participated in the analysis, design, development, and testing of business applications using VB .NET, including credit card management, merchandising, and CV management systems for Citibank, National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank, and Piraeus Bank.