This role focussed on database administration, including involvement in infrastructural improvements, as well as providing IT liaison, support and training for the international side of the business.Principal Responsibilities:* Provide database administration and related functions for all corporate database systems. Over time this increased focus on working with infrastructure during system installations, migrations and upgrades to ensure capacity was planned and servers were built and configured to required specifications.* Pro-actively advocate for system and infrastructural improvements for international (non-UK) teams.* Ensure a globally consistent performance of software application testing and implementation in such a way to minimise operational disruption.* Ensure helpdesk and international teams provided with training, documentation and support to increase productivity and self-sufficiency.Major Achievements:* Successfully ensured the continual availability and smooth running of corporate database systems.* Pro-actively advocated and implemented configuration improvements to databases and database servers.* Worked with internal and external parties to successfully upgrade several systems to updated versions. Smoothly decommissioned those aspects no longer used or superseded. This was all achieved with minimal operational disruption.* Consolidated the database server environment to maximise server utilisation and significantly reduce estate costs.* Made several highly successful visits to the New York, Hong Kong and Singapore support offices, delivering training and systems installations/upgrades. These were very well received facilitating process improvements and global standardisation.* Planned, created and managed non-production database server environments for application software development, testing, implementation practise and user training.* Ensured documentation was complete and up to date for systems and process.

After successful migration and handover of enhanced corporate financial/transactional reporting systems and processes to the Finance Department, I moved back to the IT department in a new role evolving over time.Principal Responsibilities:* Provide the database administration function for all corporate database systems. Platforms managed were Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise/Adaptive Server Anywhere. The latter was a mission critical bi-directional distributed data replication system used extensively by all stores globally.* Provide second level support and maintenance for the PowerBuilder application front-end to the Sybase database system mentioned above.* Manage/perform the testing and implementation process of larger-scale corporate systems development.* Manage systems development for PowerBuilder applications until that development function was moved in-house.Major Achievements:* Improved and tightened security for all database systems across the company. Implemented policies to ensure any new installations/users adhered to the new standards. This substantially reduced the risk of inappropriate access, while maintaining user requirements.* Added/enhanced database maintenance processes, upgraded SQL Server versions and identified and improved problem areas with database server configuration. These delivered noticeable performance, stability and service availability improvements in various areas across the business.* Successfully tested and implemented all system upgrades within job scope. Created test plans for use going forward to allow a more streamlined approach. This resulted in a significant reduction of bugs discovered in user acceptance testing and pilot phases.* Provision of second level support allowed the IT department to achieve a greater focus on in-house application software development. This enabled a faster delivery of significant process and system improvement to the operation of the business.

Employed initially in the IT and then Business Planning (Finance) departments in the London-based office of a dynamic and rapidly growing high street food retail company.Principal Responsibilities:* Significantly expand and enhance corporate financial and transactional reporting systems and processes. This was performed on an ongoing iterative basis and the role also incorporated several smaller systems dealing with other specific areas of the business.Major Achievements:* Worked extensively with business users to define and specify the new corporate reporting requirements. Liaised with system developers to implement any necessary existing corporate database structural modifications to support those new requirements.* Designed, developed, tested and implemented front-end applications that provided easy facility for a variety of near to real time and historical financial and transactional corporate reporting. * Produced user manuals/system documentation and delivered training for the business users of the new applications, as well as providing an ongoing second-level support function.* Enhanced and provided support for other smaller ad-hoc systems involved in KPI monitoring and Capital Expenditure projects.This role required a significant level of pro-activeness and self-management. The resulting system and process improvements delivered won recognition from senior management and subsequently enabled Pret to mature further in defining its corporate reporting requirements. It also assisted in driving forward operational efficiency and effectiveness, allowing a view of the business far closer to real time than had been previously possible.

Employed in the Security Services section of the Grid Operating Services Group following a corporate re-structure. Principal responsibilities remained similar to the Operations Analyst role outlined below, but expanded to include:* Pro-active purchase of products at least cost from the electricity industry to further grid security. This involved contractual negotiation.* Factor commercial implications into the operational planning of equipment maintenance.* Provide input and involvement into commercial strategic planning such as: economic pricing structures of products/services, re-defining business processes and Key Performance Indicators for potential corporate re-structuring.Left New Zealand in 1999 to gain international experience and further career development. Relocated to London, UK.

Employed in the Grid Security Services section of the Wholesale Market Services Group.Principal Responsibilities:* Define business requirement specifications for all software development relating to the financial clearance and settlement of Grid Security products in the NZ Wholesale Electricity Market.* Design, perform user acceptance testing and manage the successful implementation of software referred to above.* Develop and manage excellent liaison and relationships with all service providers and customers of Grid Security products to ensure information integrity and involvement with system changes at all times.* Support external and internal auditing of Grid Security Services, demonstrating system and process integrity and ensure implementation of any resulting audit requirements.* Provide analysis and forecasting of market situations as they relate to Grid Security Services and contribute to the planning of future commercial and operational requirements. This included simulation of actual conditions via market scheduling software.* Member of the project team dealing with the ‘Year 2000’ issue.

Transpower NZ Ltd is the owner and system operator of the high-voltage electricity transmission grid in New Zealand. Employed in the Grid Information Services section of the Wholesale Energy Services Group.Principal Responsibilities:* Manage the central metering information collection system.* Provide estimation, using a variety of data modelling techniques, enabling adjustment to be made where metering information was invalid or non-existent. This involved facilitating the agreement of all parties involved to allow financial settlement of electricity supply to proceed.* Maintain excellent liaison and relations with all customers of metering information (both internal and external) to ensure the system met requirements, integrity could be demonstrated and any changes to the state of such information was advised at all times.* Maintain system integrity by keeping appropriate records and initiating appropriate maintenance and repair activity in the event of an equipment failure or malfunction.