Learning to walk and live again.One step at a time.

Since the 8th April we have been through what I can only describe as horrific. Most will know I became seriously ill with Guillain-Barré Syndrome. For the first few weeks I remember little, but I know my wife recalls it all. I know our son was scared to see me in Intensive Care but he visited anyway.I know our friends and family rallied round with help, prayers and messages. For that I am eternally grateful.I know the intensive care staff and physios did their very best to get me through to the rehab stage.I am very grateful to a charity called "Special Effect" for allowing me to communicate to the medical professionals and my family.My thanks to all who helped us throughout

Following a successful Buyout of Aligned Assets, Dinesh Thanigasalam and myself became co-owners of Aligned Assets.

Responsible for delivering the Business Plan, meeting key objectives and ensuring the company meets and exceeds our customers expectations. I had a direct hands on approach to all areas of the business from support, sales, consultancy, research & development. I worked with all members of our team in delivering the solutions that customers need and want.

In charge of 12 staff, across 4 business areas - Software Developers, Professional Service Consultants, support personnel and IT infrastructure staff.Responsible for Budgets, staff mentoring and Scrum Master for development Projects.Designed and developed the Intranet and implemented issue tracker systems for staff use. Ensured the streamlining of internal business processes to make the business more efficient, whilst continuing to be the lead consultant for high value projects.

Responsible for heading up the Professional Services arm of the company. Having built the processes and team to cover Consultancy, Training & Support.A leading consultant on BS7666 (British standard for the representation of address information). General consultancy and training provided to multiple Councils.Responsible for project & task prioritisation, departmental budgets, deadlines, management reports, productivity & efficiency of team.Coordinate and prioritise multiple project implementations.Experienced with working with fragmented teams and bring them together to deliver success.

Once the Systems within the Planning department had reached maturity, and the processes refined to a high level of efficiency, it was time for a new challenge, and again an opportunity arose. This time within Central IT, undertaking Project Management and Consultancy for the entire Council.Responsible for the management of multiple projects, conforming to PRINCE2 Project management methodology. Provided extensive input/control in several data capture/document management systems.Assisted in the creation and development of the Council’s intranet and extranet, in particular, time spent on creating database backend and creation of ASP code.

Once the GIS setup had reached maturity at the Council, an exciting opportunity arose in managing the entire departments Planning & Building Control Systems. Responsible for the system maintenance for 50 users.Assisted IT department in rollout of Windows & Office 2000. Direct management experience, being in charge of a small team. Implemented a number of new processes and systems to help improve departmental efficiency and meet E Government Targets.Created and developed a Planning System web site which enabled access to planning and building control data.

Following agreement for GIS roles to be formalised at the Council, once again I took up the direction of GIS, but with a much better understanding of the Planning processes & systems.Primarily responsible for Implementing MapInfo and GIS Web Mapping throughout the Council, this role was intensely hands on. Key responsibilities included:Validating and developing GIS data for the benefit of the Council and public. Providing technical support & user training Initiation of an Intranet Service for GIS Users containing procedure notes, How To scenarios and general GIS news and information. Presentations (internal & external) on GIS at Guildford Borough Council and User Groups.

As the Data Capture project reached its conclusion and GIS roles had not been formalised at the Council as yet, I utilised knowledge learnt from my Degree in achieving the role of Planning Technician.Responsible for my own caseload, dealing with Planning and Tree applications, whilst providing technical support for the GIS and other IT issues. Assisted in the organising, management and deployment of an office move and support to over 30 users of the planning computer systems.

After University I started out on a temporary contract inputting planning applications from 1948 to 1998 into the Councils GIS. Essentially a data capture project, it was necessary to carry out extensive data manipulation. The data was checked and edited to very high quality control standards. A secondary function of this role was to provide GIS support throughout the Council.