CURRICULUM VITAE

PERSONAL

SKILLS PROFILE

Roles

The above management roles comprised the following activities:

Industry Sectors

Technical

Databases

Methodologies & Tools

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Gained as an IT Manager, programme, project manager and test manager in several European countries (France, Germany & Belgium), Hong Kong, Australia, Dubai, India, Africa and Singapore.

CAREER HISTORY

Responsible for managing the testing of a system to detect fraud, terrorist and anti money laudering (AML) activities for all of the bank’s 31m customers and payments to payees. Role covered liaising with 3^rd party supplier, Norkom, business teams, writing test strategy, planning and documenting all test phases, scheduling all testing activities and working with 3^rd party software supplier. Also hired configuration manager and testing staff, and worked closely with technical infrastructure and business teams. Technical environment is Sun Solaris, Oracle 10, Websphere5.1 and AIX.

Responsible for the testing, compliance and implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley system for all of Barclays using OpenPages SOX Express software. Defined testing, migration and implementation strategy for all areas of Barclays moving from ICW to SOX Express. Liaised with software supplier, OpenPages, and all business groups planning the testing and implementation to 1250 users throughout all of Barclays. Testing was completed successfully on time and within budget.

Project Manager responsible for development, testing and implementation of a new £9m market real time data feeds system consoldating data from London, Paris and Amsterdam some based on 3^rd party software. Role includes managing all technical resources, teams in 3 countries and relationships with 3^rd party provider in Hong Kong. Also responsible for overseeing the testing of all data feeds in 3 countries covering both functional and non functional tests. Environment mainly Sun Solaris and Oracle.

Managed the MIS data warehouse for all Chubb’s European offices. Responsible for the decommissioning of some existing MIS systems and is involved in the transition and some testing of the existing MIS data warehouse to a new one based on Cognos Powerplay. The systems cover all insurance applications for all classes of business in Europe.

With one other colleague ran two Project Management courses in Dubai for Etisalat, the main telecommunications company in the United Arab Emirates. Each course ran for 5 days and 21 project/programme managers attended each course. The course covered all aspects of managing a project successfully.

Managed six IT technical infrastructure projects simultaneously for the investment bank. These projects covered the technical rationalisation of IT systems for JPMorgan, Chase Manhattan and Flemings in UK, France and the US, and testing of the infrastructure before implementation. Hardware and operating system software covered mainframe, client/server and UNIX. Each of the projects at JPMorgan Chase comprised managing the budget, costs and technical resources from the various technical groups (networks, LAN/WAN, security, systems administrators, databases,middleware (MQ SEries), computer room logistics and installation, operations, system monitoring (Tivoli), operational support, quality and risk etc). Kept in close liaison with customers and applications managers. For some projects procured the hardware and software, and arranged licence agreements. At any time during the 9 month assignment, was in regular contact with approximately 40 different technical resources.

Managed a test team of 6 and co-ordinated the IT and business user test teams for all testing phases from unit to dress rehearsal and operational readiness of a major new, Web-based, corporate, insurance broking product for one of the largest broking corporations in the world. Worked closely with two major third party software development teams, one in UK, the other in Bangalore, plus an inhouse IT team. Developed the Test Strategy, defined all test phases and plans and maintained project schedules. The technical environment was Oracle, SQL Server, Websphere, MQ Series, XML, XML SPY4 and Test Director.

Responsible for setting up the Programme Office and managing the development, testing and implementation of a major upgrade of the finance and banking systems for 12 African countries. These systems cover Corporate & Consumer banking. Based in London with the development team of 14 in India with business users and hardware in 12 African countries. The technical environment was SQL Server, C++, VB, SUN Accounting package & Bankmaster 7. The co-ordination and logistical demands were significant.

Produced Test Strategy and specified test plans for each of 5 test phases to implementation including full dress rehearsal. Also responsible for hiring and managing a team of 13 test team leaders and test analysts working on major upgrades (25 man year development) to a Pan European telecoms Sybase, customer care, CRM and billing system developed in VB, C++, Sybase and RUP. Played a major part in specifying & producing the IT Programme Office SDLC methodology, procedures and processes, especially in the testing and development areas, for the European operation a major, global telecom company.

Managed some development and most testing of the £30m programme to rollout Digital TV to various regions throughout UK and converge all the subsidiary IT systems of ntl into one system. This covered Fault Management, Customer Care, CRM, Billing, Faults and Despatch applications, data migration, technical infrastructure and business processes of this major cable and telecommunications company. Closely involved with business users in ensuring the delivered system met business requirements and was responsible applying risk management techniques. Wrote the test strategy and standards for test phases from link to dress rehearsal and operational readiness. Managed test teams of 4 test managers, and 35 testers and Config Management specialists in business regions throughout UK.

Completed a short ERP assignment to get an IT logistics and delivery project back on track. This involved getting clear business specifications, project structure and plans in place. The IT environment was IBM mainframe, VAX and PC’s.

Test consultant with the US consultancy, Culpeper Consulting. In the first half of 1999 with Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) mainly in Hong Kong with short spells in London. Co-ordinated the Y2K modifications and testing, including full weekend dress rehearsals, of the bank’s external interfaces with 3^rd party entities for the Asia/Pacific region. This comprised liaising with counterparties for all the data interfaces between CSFB’s Asia/Pacific companies and external organisations. These were mainly financial such as stock exchanges, futures and commodity exchanges, market data suppliers, other financial institutions and regulatory authorities in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Bombay, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei etc.

The data interfaces covered mainly all CSFB’s range of financial and other systems – front, middle and back office for all their range of products (foreign exchange, equities, derivatives, fixed income). Co-ordinated development and planning with senior business users, senior IT personnel and external organisations mentioned above.

From June to December 1998 managed the Year 2000 testing for Citibank’s major European Foreign Exchange, Money Market and other financial systems. This role comprised

·           Test planning and scheduling, understanding business processes

·           Regression system testing using baseline production runs and test scripts on remediated code

·           Preparation and running of test scripts to verify that date paths have been processed and that there had been “no negative impact” on the applications’ features and functionality

·           Coverage analysis of logic paths and date processing

·           20xx and 21xx testing, i.e. dress rehearsal, for prescribed dates using aged production data and test scripts

All systems were IBM mainframe-based, both on-line and batch, with some PC on-line front ends. In late 1999 returned to Citibank for 3 months to test a new, corporate, web based, e-commerce banking product for Citibank Europe.

Member of IBM’s City of London Business Group providing testing consulting services and running workhops for a major European investment bank. Also involved in

·         providing consulting services to client investment banks on testing

·         preparing testing strategies and methodologies for investment banks for

Ø       EMU including Le Weekend and Street Testing

Ø       Year 2000 programmes & Systems Integration projects involving 20xx & 21xx “dress rehearsal” testing

·         writing tender proposals for investment bank development projects.

Consultant, project and test manager covering all areas of testing, as well as EMU and Year 2000, with a major City based testing consultancy. Presented papers at conferences on Year 2000 with particular emphasis on testing and  provided Year 2000 consulting services and test strategies to several major international enterprises. These included Tesco, Credit Agricole in their headquarters near Paris, the investment bank, MeesPierson, British Petroleum and Cap Gemini.

At Tesco managed a team of 80 working on the large Y2K programme covering the all systems running on mainframe, midrange and PC systems. Responsibilties included:

·         giving presentations to senior management

·         defining job specifications and hiring resources

·         costing and scoping the Year 2000 programme for both hardware and software

·        test programme scheduling (20xx & 21xx “dress rehearsal” testing) and planning, producing a systems inventory

·        choosing and overseeing performance of conversion suppliers, agreeing conversion methods and selecting tools

·         setting up and managing Quality and Configuration Management teams

·         obtaining business user involvement and commitment, planning testing and implementation.

Managed the testing of Life & Pensions systems for Legal & General. Planned the system testing, full UAT & dress rehearsal of new releases of software of life & pensions products including front and back office systems. Managed a team of up to 8 testers testing Compulsory Purchase Annuities, Term Life and Healthcare products sold direct through Call Centres to Independent Financial Advisers and the public. Technical environment was IBM, DB2, IMS, PC systems, Oracle and Unix.

Managed a large (27 man year) redevelopment and data migration by a major outsourcer of all ICI Paints’  business ERP systems for UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy from SAP on a mainframe to BPCS on AS/400’s with major modifications using the Catalyst methodology. These systems included manufacturing,  operations, distribution/supply chain, sales & marketing, and finance. Responsible for

     hiring, budgeting, planning (using PMW and MS-Project) and managing a team of 27 business analysts, developers and operational support staff located in UK, Germany and France

·         data migration from SAP to BPCS

      managing the requirements for the business application areas and ensuring they were met

      client liaison at a senior level, production of standards and procedures based on CSC’s Catalyst in which I was trained.

    This was a very demanding role as there were tight  development deadlines which incurred substantial penalty costs if not met.

Managed the Business Area Analysis and matched the requirements for a Payroll & Personnel system against those in a software package. Technical environment was Client Server, PRINCE, MS-Project and INGRES.

Managed the development of a Document Management (Image Processing and Workflow) system. Technical environment was IEF, Client Server, PRINCE, MS-Project. Achievements included

·         managing the project, producing a Cost Benefits Analysis, project schedules, defining the requirements for and evaluating Document Management software and hardware, giving presentations on Document Management

·         producing a detailed Business Area Analysis (BAA) using IEF v5.3 for the generic document management requirements of the Department. This involved defining the process and data models, and the Process Action Diagrams (PAD's), and ensuring the data model agreed with the corporate data model.

Business analyst and test manager role for Thomas Cook. Technical environment was SYBASE, Powerbuilder, Client Server, UNIX and Windows. Responsibilities included

·       analysing the business requirements for a new GUI Point of Sale (POS) system for all airline, foreign exchange and travel applications for Thomas Cook

·       setting up and managing the testing strategy and testing environment

·       working with the Sybase DBA's in the database design and the various access methods.

Solely responsible for establishing and improving the IT infrastructure for a large IT department of over 300 staff and developing business applications for a major, expanding (8000 employees) company, Emirates Airlines & Travel, Dubai, which was forecast to double in size in 3 years. The company ran the world’s best and now the most profitable international airline, and the largest airport and travel company in the Middle East. Declined a permanent, senior management position with the company for personal reasons. The technical environment was ORACLE V7/6 & CASE, Client Server, UNIX (Sun Sparc), MS Project, MS Office, MS-DOS, DOS/VSE. Achievements included:

·         overseeing all programmes & projects and Projects Managers; defining and implementing all the elements which formed part of the total Development and Project Management process

·         managing the transition from a hybrid of desktop hardware and software to a corporate desktop standard covering purchasing, installation, training and software conversion for 2,800 desktops in 32 different countries

·         implementing SDLC methods, quality management systems and technical standards throughout the IT Department

·         strategic planning and reviewing with the IT Director all strategic plans for the next five years

·         enterprise/business process re-engineering based on the James Martin approach

·         evaluating and advising on future IT products and architecture & interviewing and hiring of IT consultants and staff

Quality Project Manager managing all quality aspects for a large bespoke communications project for Cellnet with a team of over 140 developers in a PMW, Client Server, MS-DOS, VAX VMS, UNIX, ORACLE, IEF, Catalyst environment. Had a pro-active role in ensuring the accuracy and the quality of the systems being developed. Achievements included:

·         gaining accreditation under ISO9001/BS5750 in September 1993

·         managing the quality inspections of all system deliverables and auditing development work products

·         managing the creation, maintenance and reviews of all standards and procedures

·         ensuring adherence to CSC’s SSADM like methodology (Catalyst)

·         monitoring and checking project plans.

Carried out two assignments for a James Martin subsidiary. The first was with the Business Systems Unit of Telecom Australia in Melbourne where he  built up a good understanding of the functions and processes of some of the major systems in Telecom at both an IT and business level. Systems were Client Server, MS-DOS, UNIX and DB2 based; role involved:

·          determining the user requirements for tracking, delivery of  sales orders for the Enhanced Distribution Channels group

·          investigating current sales entry, marketing, accounting and  IT systems.

Second position was with the Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA), Sydney managing a project to investigate and define the business and functional requirements for a new traffic facilities package. The package was based on client server technology for the RTA using Client Server, MS-DOS, UNIX, ORACLE. Function and data modelling techniques were used and there was a significant amount of user liaison at all levels.

Worked in an MVS, Tandem, OS/2, MS-DOS. DB2, CICS, COBOL, ADW, P Plus environment; role involved:

·         developing the procedures for all aspects of quality management togain accreditation under AS3901 (ISO9001)

·         tailoring the technical development and project management methodology, P Plus, to the Caltex environment; this included the production of data structure and data flow models using ADW CASE tool

·         specifying procedures for and giving presentations on all aspects of MIS and User testing.

Marketed the APT Quality Management System (ISO9001/AS3563) and Development Methodology, the most widely used methodology in Australia. Placed IT staff, marketed software development teams and prepared tender responses.

Completed 13 assignments in Australia and in UK on mainframe, distributed & PC systems.

Worked in commercial organisations and also in naval logistics for the Navy Department in the British MOD where he was positively vetted and received high security clearance.