Consumer analyst for Information Technology systems, services, and processing.

UNi4 is a global EdTech disruptor rooted in Africa. My mission is to manage the resources that directly produce the ability of UNi4 to defeat the barriers, to realise real intentions into delivery as a habit, by creating the tools and methods when taking the people with me. How we do it today won’t be sufficient tomorrow. Today the requirement to be good is not enough, one has to be excellent. My philosophy is to constantly stop doing the old and to find how to do it better. I approach and run a business operationally as this action is the key to all success. Operational adaptation is a survival right when bringing ordinary people together to do extraordinary things. Setting goals without a plan remains a wish.I start with the end in mind through motivating people, measuring tasks, and optimising what leads to better results.

Technology and Operations Delivery of innovative products and the integration of these with merchant topology backed systems with the appropriate operational support and management of Scrum/ Agile development delivery teams. I head up the company architecture capability and created an enterprise architecture practice. This is modelled according to TOGAF with semantic ArchiMate. The SDLC is based on SAFe Agile with elements of the Spotify model, viz. Chapters and Guilds.Technology delivery for point-of-sale (POS) integration spanning product management, road-map planning, work break-down to the task level and project management and aligning that with product priorities and schedules.Team management comprises the alignment to Zapper objectives, by creating comprehensive product road maps, technical manuals (public and internal) describing Zapper integrations, team strategy for implementation taking it to task level for Agile features development and the associated project management.As a manager, I am responsible for quarterly performance management, goal setting, and career development of my team members.From an operations perspective, I manage the Technical Support Desk (tier one and two) as well as change and release management, database administration, infrastructure management, and third problem resolution. The service desk has been transformed into an ITIL compliant utility with problem management consistent with the Kepner Tregoe problem solving and decision making. Operational controls, for all transactional systems, with appropriate KPIs are developed on business intelligence systems using tools such as PowerBI, Kibana with Elastic Search, and in-house statistical process control analysis dashboard.Presently, I report to the CEO and am part of the management team, specifically for the technology and SDLC requirements of the company.

Enterprise architect, specifically Application Architecture, within the Enterprise Architecture (EA) department of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.Business and technology alignment on strategy and long term visionStrategic technology positioningApplication integration strategyApplication architecture modelling of reference, transition and ideal architecturesProof of concept technology illustrative solutionsIntegration with other EA domains, viz. business, data, and technology architecturesTOGAF framework adherence and iteration for architectures in unison with other methodologiesSolutions Architecture guidance and monitoringThis role requires a high degree of stakeholder and technology team interaction to provide a holistic representation of the enterprise strategy that holds a long term alignment view. The day-to-day work involves updating the EA repository with reference architectures, the development of business and technology road-maps to align the business and information technology strategies.Permeating the strategy encapsulated in the enterprise architecture into the solutions architectures took significant negotiation, coordination, and buy-in with functional stakeholders in the organisation. As an enterprise architect, this included presentations at the executive committee level, intimate engagements with work-groups, and one-on-one negotiations with department owners.During the initial phases of the ITAC program (clearing), I was involved in the strategic positioning of the JSE matching the trading engine with a clearing system and a data integration platform. I made a few visits to MIT in Sri-Lanka and the London Stock Exchange for the trade engine integration and relevant user-group sessions.

Recruited to be the specialist on application and database integration.This portfolio operates on an Application Programme Manager (APM) level, to ensure database and application implementation harmony in enterprise solutions.The role requires involvement with database architecture, solution design architecture, technical architecture and design, as well as post implementation optimisation and the optimisation of existing database structures.Interaction with other roles such as Enterprise Architecture, Solutions Architecture, Database Administration, and Infrastructure Management is required to create the full complement of the position.Creation and maintenance of Database Development Standards and Best Practices Guidelines, as well as enforcing compliance through audits.Participation and co-design of aspects such as Master Data Management, Data Governance, Solution Architecture, Federated Data Sourcing, Data Masking, data Caching etc.Participation in weekly management meetings and planning sessions.

My tenure with Accenture spans two distinct projects and sections within the company.May 2007 – March 2009: Accenture Services (grade C)Managed the technical team of the Department of National Treasury. Responsible for technical team of eight people, covering application up-time, infrastructure, database administration (Adabas and SQL Server) and SDLC change and release.My responsibilities were daily status meeting, unit management, and a steering committee meeting with the client. Problem management (weekly and monthly) reports, performance statistics (monthly) and service level attainment status reports(monthly). Environment capacity plans for hardware and software requirements tendered on an annual basis. Oversee and maintain configuration management of all file structures, documentation and software source control for LOGIS project. Resource recruitment for technical positions on the project, ensuring the candidate’s technical abilities.Accomplishments, analyse, design and implement virtual server architecture for both application and database servers for high availability and redundancy within a domain regulated security environment. Optimisation of SQL Server 2000 databases as well as an upgrade to SQL Server 2005 and reducing the application latency for the database.May 2006 – April 2007: Senior systems analyst (SSA3)On a project with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for the stock statistics application, leading the team of developers, as well as the surveillance system. I created the solutions architecture of the statistics processing solution and the surveillance processing system and lead the programmers for the development of these solutions.Management representation on unit and steering meetings, as well as period reporting on problem resolution and performance attainment against SLA-agreements were incumbent.

Recruited as application developer to work on the development of the stock exchange's equity trade statistic calculation batch application.This engagement was part of the collaboration between Accenture and the JSE. The design and development effort spanned a two year period. I was the team leader for the statistics, and the follow-on surveillance implementation. My role was chief developer and team leader.The technologies involved were, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Clear Case and Clear Quest. I was responsible for the technical design and implementation of these systems, guided by the Accenture Development Methodology (ADM). I reported to the project lead of the entire initiative of the JSE implementation.This engagement lead to my permanent employment with Accenture.

Recruited to develop complex SQL queries for the configuration of the SAP R/3 implementation of the billing system for the city council.This project was managed by Accenture.

Cubic Consulting resulted from the conclusion of DA Consulting Group's international head-office in the United States, which changed the corporate structure of the business in Australia. A restructure took place during the first two quarters of 2004.I was re-appointed in my previous capacity with DA Consulting Group, as Technical Solutions Consultant. My endeavours over this period, is in continuation of my previous vocation. I supported the web-application augmenting end user support and training on ERP systems, in the same capacity.

Recruited from the Johannesburg (South Africa) office, as end user support technical writer.My role started out as a SAP R/3 end user support consultant, writing training materials for the Department of Defence (DoD) in Canberra, Australia. I delivered training instruction manuals and delivered instructor lead training for Dod in Adelaide and Brisbane.Due to DoD security clearance requirements, requiring to be an Australian citizen, I was transferred to the Sydney branch. In Sydney I was requested to develop a web application, capable of delivering end user support documentation, training materials, and end user support for ERP systems SAP R/3, PeopleSoft and Siebel. This application connected to these ERP systems through their F1 help APIs.The technology of this application was Microsoft Visual Interdev 6.0, using VBScripting for Active Server Pages, JavaScript for the client-side and SQL Server 7.0 and Oracle 8i for data. My role in this effort encompassed obtaining client requirements, writing the functional and technical specifications, as well as technical product and help documentation. I was the lead developer and support consultant. I partook in all pre-sales efforts, demonstrating the product and addressing the technical abilities.This solution was implemented at various prestigious clients, not limited to: Newmont Mining, Australia Gas and Light, Air Services Australia, Centrelink, and China Light and Power.

Recruited as SAP R/3 end user support consultant for training and technical documentation.This role required that SAP R/3 modules be documented, from an end-user perspective, suited for performance support and training purposes. My responsibility was to provide on-line technical documents and write training manuals for the SAP modules MM, FI/CO, Warehouse and Procurement.During my vocation, I also had to opportunity to deliver instructor-led training, to a group of twelve, on SAP R/3 project management.I have been on project with a number of clients, such as South African Breweries (SAB), MWEB, and Limon Financial Systems.

Execute administration systems for an engineering contractor working on remote sites. Design and implemented Microsoft for Workgroups local area network with a modem connection to remote (construction) site mainly to connect time recording of personnel to payroll application (VIP Payroll Systems) for the remote site. Integrate and computerize company administration processes for Financial Accounting / Human Resources Goods orders and financial system integration. Facilitated adaptation of company administration systems to keep in pace with company growth. Created a standard chart of accounts (SCoA) on accounting software (Pastel) for the company. Create monthly reports on debt and credit management for CEO.