Name

Date Of Birth

20 September 1975

Nationality

British

Technical Skills

MS Office to Version 2003 inc. Excel and Access, Visual Basic, VBA, HTML, CASE Tools,  Adobe PhotoShop, SQL, SQL Server, Ms Dos to 6.22. Windows 311, 95, 98 NT, 2000, XP, 2003 MS FrontPage, VB script, MS Operations Manager 2000, 2005 2007 beta, Visio, Active Directory, Sage, Macromedia Studio, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Macromedia Fireworks, Adobe Acrobat, BizTalk, Test Director, ISA Server, TelAlert, Solarwinds, Prince 2, SSADM, MOF, System Center, SystemCenter, SCOM, System Center Operations Manager, System Center Reporting Manager, SMS

Business Areas

Back Office Banking, Telecommunications, Government, Public Sector, Utilities, Scientific, Insurance, Rail, Oil and Gas, Travel, Property, Laboratory, NHS, Food, FMCG, Chemicals, Financials

Functions

Human Resources, Finance, Sales, Consultancy, Marketing, Telecoms Operations, Telecoms Billing, Back Office Banking, IT Operations, IT Rollout Team, Helpdesk, Safety and Audit, Laboratory, Test Team

Languages

English, French and German

Other Skills

Change control and management, Issue control and management, Skilled negotiator, In depth knowledge of Legal Issues surrounding IT, Extensive  Industry, Vendor and Consultant contacts

Memberships and Partnerships

Microsoft Registered Partner, Sophos Partner, Microsoft Beta Programme Participant, HP Partner

Period Covered by this Document

1998 – Present, Full CV available upon request

August 2005

[snip]

Microsoft Operations Manager

Lead Consultant

A short contract to Advise on Microsoft Operations Manager and implement into a test environment. The brief included performance tuning of management packs and communication with HP Openview and Network Node Manager.

May-September 2005

[snip], Bradford

Microsoft Operations Manager

Lead Consultant

Working with this major service provider, my project brief was to implement Microsoft Operations Manager into a test environment, produce an architecture solution for the live environment and advise and guide the organisations through the transition to the live environment. The second part of the brief was to advise on MOM integration with HP Openview and create test plans for a pilot co-existence of the two products. MOM was successfully deployed to the live environment. Lastly I advised on change, procedure design and project planning for the MOM implementation.

January 2005 – May 2005

[snip], Billingham

Microsoft Operations Manager, SolarWinds, Tel Alert, ISA Server

Lead Consultant

This project involved the handover of the monitoring environment from this chemical company’s outsourced provider to an internal team. The project had several distinct work packages. 

1)       Audit the current environment and ensure that on handover day the environment could be monitored correctly.

2)       Compile a list of immediate improvements, plan and execute their implementation.

3)       Assist with the design implementation and handover of ISA Server

4)       Educate internal teams with regards to Microsoft Operations Manager

5)       Test and implement Microsoft Operations Manager integration with SolarWinds and TelAlert.

6)       Design and build test, development and production environments for Microsoft Operations Manager

7)       Devise a strategy for the continued development of Microsoft Operations Manager within the organisation.

8)       Execute MOM Handover and implementation.

November – December 2004

[snip], Walton On Thames

VBA, VB6, SQL Server Excel Access

VBA Test Consultant

This project involved setting up a suite of tools written in Access, Excel and VBA to hold, dispense and distribute test information, plans, datasets and results. The core back end system was developed in Access with VBA; The system held Datasets for testing the forthcoming SAP roll out. In some cases these datasets were deliberately corrupted by the system to test the integrity of the SAP build. The system also distributed management reporting for the testing phase. The test result recording application was developed in Excel with VBA. The final part of the project was to develop and implement test reporting processes and procedures.

April 2004 – November 2004

[snip],  Leeds

Microsoft Operations Manager, Mercury Test Director, BizTalk, Windows 2003, Net IQ App Manager, VBScript, Prince 2, T-SQL, SQL Server, Visual Basic 6

Lead Consultant, Disaster Recovery and Failover, Operations tools, testing and business analysis.

This project was at the time the largest Microsoft Implementation in Europe. The first part of my brief was to design and test procedures for operations, event and SQL Server monitoring. The monitoring tools of choice were Microsoft Operations Manager and NetIQ App Manager. This involved designing, testing and implementing the MOM environment, configuration, standard Management packs and event processing rules and also custom management packs and event processing rules. In addition Active directory was mildly re designed and tested. The network utilised windows 2003 servers and SQL server 2000. VB script was used to develop custom event and alert processing rules. The Microsoft Operations Manager environment was designed to monitor 196 Servers in the SQL Server BizTalk, SMS and MOM environments. A final part of the task with to test Co-existence with Net IQ App manager. The second part was to advise on, prepare and execute disaster recovery tests and scenarios for SQL Server, cluster failover and Microsoft Operations Manager failover. Mercury Test Director was used for the design and execution of test plans and scripts. SQL Server and Visual Basic and VB Script were used to design ancillary tools for testing.  The final design was a multi-tiered heavily customised environment.

The third part of the project was to design and execute test plans for Net IQ App manager and ensure that the Net IQ environment was tuned correctly. The final part of this project was to design and implement a VBA based event log injection and result interrogation tool. This was developed in Excel with VBA. The tool interrogated event monitoring results from a web based interface and produced test results and scores in a management friendly format. Prince 2 was used for project management purposes and SSADM for database design tasks.

December 2003 – February 2004

[snip], Staines

Access, Excel, VB6, VBA, T-SQL SSADM, Sage

Consultant Developer / Business Analyst

The project brief here was to design, create an implement an MS Access based reporting tool interfacing with the company’s existing business critical systems for the travel and property sectors allowing both high and low level reporting and a custom reporting facility. The system was built in Access with VB6, interfacing to the sage financial system, with plug in's for excel and a HTML output facility, SSADM was used for the system design and Prince2 was used to manage the project.

October 2003 – November 2003

[snip], Maidenhead

Excel, VBA, Access, T-SQL, VB6

Analyst/Developer/Consultant

A short contract to finalise a data-auditing tool. The auditing tool was half completed and required testing, issue correction and tool completion. The tool was completed and fully documented. The tool comprised Visual Basic 6 to import and manipulate files, Access for data preparation and Excel as the preferred output and reporting mechanism.

May 2003 – September 2003

[snip], Frankfurt

SQL, VB, VBA, T-SQL, Access, Excel, SSADM, Prince2, Microsoft Operations Manager, WMI, Active Directory

Developer, Test Consultant

Working primarily with the applications group my role was four fold. Part one was to develop a security application interfacing with Active Directory, LDAP and Microsoft Exchange, this application was developed in Visual Basic 6 with SQL server and WMI scripting. This application enabled the Security Team to have instant access in an easy to use environment to security related user information and allow them to take control that is more effective. SSADM was used for the design and Prince2 for managing the project. Part two was the testing, implementation documentation and customisation of Microsoft Operations Manager; this included complex Vbscript and use of SQL Server to tailor Microsoft Operations Manager to suit the organisations requirements. Part three was the testing of various applications to ensure compatibility with windows XP and providing advice and guidance for next steps where individual applications failed the tests. Part four involved advising the organization on applications strategy, delivering papers and presentations to support a database and applications strategy for SQL Server 2000, Visual Basic 6/. Net and MS Access XP.

August 2002 – February 2003

[snip] London

SQL Server, VB, VBA, Access, Excel, SSADM, Prince2, T-SQL

Analyst/Developer/Consultant

Working on a system for the Human Resources department, part one of my brief was to obtain user requirements and produce a proposal for development, implementation and migration of data from an existing MS Access system. Following Extensive requirements analysis and the design and production of a prototype, my proposal was accepted, and I was tasked with developing the system. Utilising evolutionary prototyping the system was then further developed into a fully working product that was then documented tested and rolled out to a user base of 30 users. The system was developed in MS Access and SQL Server. The protocols of SSADM were used for system design and Prince 2 was used for project control and management. The migration and data cleanse application was written in Visual Basic. The second part of my brief was to administer and support the existing MS Access system until the new system was available; this consisted of bug fixing, user support and database administration.

March 2001 – April 2002

[snip], Dublin

Access, Visual Basic, VBA Excel, Ms Project, SSADM, Prince2, T-SQL

Senior Consultant

Working on a variety of full project lifecycle, mission critical systems for this telecommunications company. 

Carrier Pre Select

The existing system was MS Access 97 based, with a Visual Basic Client and links via ODBC to a SQL Server database, the project included liaising with users, advising users on the most efficient use of the data, problem solving, development of new features, support and administration of the system, user liaison and training until the rollout of a replacement (based on UNIX) and migration of data from MS Access to the new system. The migration took 8 weeks to complete and involved the transfer of detailed information pertaining to approximately 400,000 telephone numbers. This had to be set up so that numbers were migrated in batches of approximately 20,000 according to set criteria. In addition I wrote UAT scripts and supervised a UAT exercise for the new system. I also took part in testing of a web based reporting utility to compliment the new system.  

Sales Order Logging

Another project was a system for logging sales orders and relevant information, for example financial information and client details, and the production of management reports from within the system. I managed and developed the project from conception through User Liaison and requirements definition, advising users on functionality and how to make best use of the system and the data stored within it, solving a number of problems en route, through development to UAT, documentation, delivery and post implementation support. The system produced a variety of reports including finance reports, sales personnel commission reports and reports for the billing department. 

EMEA Pricing System

The system allowed the users to obtain a price per minute for any call (from anywhere in the region to anywhere in the world) or to obtain a list of costs of calls from any country in the region, across multiple tariffs. The system also incorporated bulk loading of rates on a regular basis in a user-friendly manner. The system was developed in MS Access with a SQL Server back end. The system also produced feeds for output to the company intranet. I was involved with this project from start to finish, including analysis and design, user liaison and problem solving.

In addition to the above, I developed some smaller applications using Visual Basic, Excel, Access, and MS Project. Mainly using Access as a server side data store and Visual Basic to develop a desktop client. Lastly I provided 2^nd line support for the billing departments Microsoft based applications on an as and when required basis. The technologies in use were Visual Basic, MS Access, SQL, MS Excel, MS Word, VBA, MS Outlook, Prince 2, SSADM, HTML, ODBC, MS Project, Prince 2,and DAO.

January 2001 – March 2001

[snip], Peterborough

Access, Excel, Prince2, SSADM, VBA, T-SQL

Consultant

Working on a customised system for tracking time, budget and people across multiple simultaneous projects, using MS Access for data tables, Excel for Financial Reporting and MS Project for project plan reporting and user level tracking and manipulation. SSADM was used for Systems Design and Prince2 for project management. The project involved a large degree of user liaison and advice and problem solving.

November 2000 – December 2000

[snip], Dublin

VBA/Excel/Access/PRINCE/SSADM

Consultant/Project Manager

Working on the completion of an integration project for the HR and Finance functions. The system was based in Access and Excel with extensive use of VBA. SSADM was used for data table design and PRINCE for project management

August 2000 – November 2000

[snip], Brighton

Access, VBA, VB, SQL

Consultant/Team Leader /Developer

Working on a variety of systems for the HR department, the role encompassed the entire project lifecycle from User Liaison and requirements definition, analysis and design right up to post implementation and support. The skills in use were Access, Excel, MS Project, VB5, VBA, and SSADM, SQL Server, ODBC

August 2000

[snip], London

Access, VBA, SQL, SSADM

Developer/Analyst

Working on a Merchant Bank site for a short contract the role was to enhance a demonstration system for the Product Control department using Microsoft Access 97 VBA, SQL and SSADM protocol. The scope involved making detailed changes at all levels of the system to provide a useable demonstration package for use by senior management.

June - July 2000

[snip], London

Access, VB5, VBA, Sybase, SQL, SSADM

Developer/Analyst

Working on a Merchant Bank site for a short contract the role was to set up a data migration system with a front end using Access, linking via ODBC to a Sybase Backend. The role also involved use of SSADM protocols, SQL and VBA.

June 2000

[snip], Luton

Access, Excel, VB, SQL

Consultant

April 2000 - June 2000

[snip] London

Access, Visual Basic

Developer

February 2000 - April 2000,

[snip], London

VB, Access, SQL,

Designer/Developer

November 1999 January 2000

[snip], London

VBA/VB

Developer

September 1999 - October 1999

[snip], London City

MS Access, Excel, VBA, Visual Basic

Access Developer

June 1999 - July 1999

[snip], Oxford

Access, VBA, HTML

Systems Developer

June 1998 -May 1999

[snip], Farnborough,

Access, Excel, VBA, HTML

Systems Developer

Education

SEPTEMBER 1995 - JUNE 1998

Sheffield Hallam University

Completed HND in Computing and Software Engineering with passes in all modules.

SEPTEMBER 1992 - JULY 1994

St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College, London

A level Business Studies            Grade C.                       RSA level 2 French.

SEPTEMBER 1987 - JULY 1992

The London Oratory School, London SW6

GCSE Results: French German and Economics   Grade B, Maths English and English Lit Grade C

Profile

In all of the above posts I have either been working on my own or as part of a small team encompassing all levels of management up to boardroom. I speak French and German. I possess a full British passport and I am willing and happy to work anywhere within the European Community at very short notice. On previous projects I have been security cleared to SC level. I have gained excellent customer facing skills through my work and have on many occasions had to deal with difficult situations on a face-to-face basis. I have also been involved with handling large amounts of money in terms of budgets and also being aware of financial implications on projects I have worked on. In addition to this I have become acquainted with presenting complex information in clear and concise formats. I am a lively outgoing person; I can work both on my own initiative without supervision and as part of a team and to tight deadlines. I enjoy taking part in a challenge and seeing it through from start to finish. I can grasp information quickly and am able to “hit the ground running” in order to ensure a high quality result within a short timescale

I have used all of the systems listed in my skill set very extensively especially MS-Access, VBA, T-SQL, SQL Server and Microsoft Office up to Version XP and I am conversant with the entire MS Office family of products down to macro and VBA level. My experience covers many different types of system in many differing environments and configurations. I am used to interfacing with users and delivering projects on time and to budget.

My business and technical analysis skills have developed immensely over the years, I am confident in these tasks and am able to extract and analyse complex business requirements, distilling these into functional technical requirements, data flow diagrams and entity relationship models, I enjoy working on business facing projects and am able to build up a good rapport and working relationship with stakeholders. I am able to produce quality documentation that can be understood by all parties involved. At a technical level I have used SSADM heavily and have many years experience in this.

My knowledge of project management especially the Prince 2 Methodology is immense and very detailed, I am comfortable with managing risks issues and handling change control, I keep close control over slippage and timescales and document project plans to the correct standards.

Since moving into the operations monitoring and management area, my skills in this area have developed immensely from systems architecture, development, testing and implementation. My skills have been furthered immensely in the areas of procedure design and implementation, skills transfer and change facilitation. My MOM, SMS, ISA, MOF and System Center and associated product knowledge has improved immensely. I am able to provide design, architecture, mentoring and support expertise with these products.

I am a Microsoft Beta Programme Partner and Registered Partner and have tested Microsoft Products including MOM, SMS, ISA, System Center and System Center Essentials up to and including the latest and forthcoming versions, feeding back information on issues to Microsoft where necessary.

In my spare time I enjoy sailing in coastal waters and playing golf and football.