Meet our people
Patricia Rankine
SAP Change & Release Manager , Information Systems
"I've been here for four years but have had three different roles in that time. There are real opportunities to progress, so I'm always keeping my skills up-to-date."
What does your current role involve?
I am responsible for planning and delivering all the approved SAP application changes that are outside of our Business As Usual service. . The role activities includes defining the development effort, resources required, managing deliver costs, implementation and delivery to business colleagues so benefits realisation tracking can occur.
How did you start out at Severn Trent? What’s your career path been?
I was looking for a job that required my core skills (Oracle applications and business intelligence) at a big organisation. Severn Trent Water hit the nail on the head. It’s a FTSE 100 company which offered a job that covered my skill combination – a rare find! I’ve been here for four years but have had three different roles in that time. There are real opportunities to progress, so I’m always keeping my skills up-to-date and making sure I’m still marketable.
How has working at Severn Trent met or challenged your expectations?
My role focuses on changes to SAP which has it’s own challenges in developing and implementing improvements with minimal disruption to a service that is required 24/7. It’s been quite a challenging learning curve due to the level of business process knowledge I need to gain to perform my role effectively, but I’ve really enjoyed it. You have to think on your feet as there’s a lot of information to absorb which keeps your mind busy.
What do you like the most about Severn Trent?
It’s a corporate business but very family orientated. Some of the people here have been working for Severn Trent for a long time so the social network is very strong – you feel like everyone knows each other, so it’s easy to talk to anyone. I’ve also found everyone to be really committed to their job and to go the extra mile – it’s really motivating.
What have you found most enjoyable?
Moving into a new department within IT will be great as I shall be working with new colleagues within STW and the variety of roles I have undertaken here means there is always opportunities to take on new challenges.
What are you most looking forward to?
I’m still learning SAP so from a career perspective, developing this knowledge is great – it’s a highly marketable skill. I’m looking forward to settling into my new role and really delivering improvements to SAP that benefit not only the operational side of our business but the company’s overall performance.
