Engaged as the Program Manager to deliver PCI DSS 3.2.1 compliance within a challenging Post Office environment. This involved overseeing the development of an ultra-secure CardHolder Data Environment in AWS, enhancing the Cyber Security Target Operating Model to ensure compliance was maintained, and a variety of data centre transition projects. All of this has been delivered against a difficult background resulting from the ongoing Horizon Inquiry process.

Engaged as the Program Test Manager to deliver the full test wrap from data centre build for a Software Defined Data Centre (SDDC), to the implementation of data centre application migration for the 10th biggest corporate lawyer in the world. This involved the management of many 3rd parties but also the over vision and strategy for the complete test wrap. The overall Test Strategy allowed the successful migration of approx. 30 applications every 2 weeks.

The Post office is the largest retail outlet in Europe. I am employed as the Programme Manager running a series of high-profile projects (see below) Project 1 Working with the Supply Chain Director to define the Strategy for the delivery of Stock to 11.5K retail outlets and approximately 10K other customers. I was responsible for delivering a robust Business Case outlining the various options. And running pre market Engagement process to engage potential suppliers under public procurement (PCR 2015) guidelines. Project 2Programme Manager delivering change across the Post office Service Centres. This involved the introduction of a new Call Centre Telephony system across the centre sites and the rollout of an Azure based MS Dynamics platform across 4 sites. This involved delivering a Case Management (MS Dynamics 365) system across 20 diverse teams within the Post Office. The system is an MS Azure based solution with a total budget of £2.8M. The assignment involved recruiting a Test function, and leading a team of developers (on and offshore), Business Analysts and trainers. The Project was run using an agile methodology.The Case Management system is a key enabler for the PO to allow a single view of the retail branches and the associated Management Information is being used to drive down the costs of supporting the Business. One of the key drivers was to have a working system in and running in short timescales.This also involved data migration from different on-premise Dynamics 2013 systems to the MS Azure cloud. Project 3Program Manager on a new telephony contact centre solution (Puzzel) across the core support functions supporting the largest retail outlet in Europe. This was a high-pressure assignment as the whole solution needed to be delivered to support the exit from the current BT telephony system. Failure to complete before exit would have incurred heavy financial penalties.

Senior Project Manager on a critical and extremely challenging (timescales and technologies) migration of the Royal Mail’s Business Integration Gateway (BIG) from a incumbent suppliers data centre to the that if the new supplier. BIG controls all of the internal and external interfaces for every Royal Mail application and hence this was extremely business critical. An agile approach was employed as the migration design necessitated multiple deployments. This involved managing teams from multiple suppliers (on and off shore).

SAP Programme Test Manager - Programme Test Manager for the migration and transformation of the Royal Mail SAP based “Orders To Cash” systems which is the Royal Mail internet facing portal and delivers a £12M revenue per day. The transformation involved upgrading 9 years of SAP upgrades, moving data centres (and to different suppliers), and moving the application support between suppliers. This involved a considerable amount of data centre infrastructure testing and commissioning including the SAN storage, networks and virtualisation technologies (VMware and IBM PowerVM), LDAP, DNS etcIn detail, the project delivered:- Build (AIX and RHEL) of 250 new database and application servers in Birmingham, Longbridge and Andover. Migration from Oracle to DB2. Upgrade of SAP CRM 5 to CRM 7Upgrade of SAP R/3 to ECC 6Installation of Tivoli Workload SchedulerRe-pointed over 300 interfaces for the systemsMoved users from Citrix to SAP GUI DesktopNew Data centre build

CSCO Programme Test Manager - Royal Mail embarked on a “Get Safe, Get Well” program the intention of which was to move their entire IT estate onto supported platforms and embrace the new technology after years of neglect. This was a pre-cursor to changing their IT suppliers across the whole of the IT spectrum. I was responsible for setting the Test strategy and all aspects of the Test Management across a number of different projects: - Migrating and transforming the top 45 Business critical applications into mainstream support and onto more robust and supported hardware and software platforms. Commissioning of new infrastructure in existing data centres. Virtualization of W2000 platforms onto Hyper-VIntroduction of an new Service Management (SIAM model) toolsetVarious documentation initiatives. This was a £29M programme which included the building of a Royal Mail test team for the programme , as well as the management of the incumbent suppliers test teams.

Key Technologies: Web Development (AJAX) , Actionscript (Flash) , SEO, Hotel booking systems, SQL Server. Initially employed in the BA to research and select a suitable product to allow Red Dot Tours (www.reddottours.com) to provide an Instant Booking solution. Once I had selected a suitable product I specified and managed the delivery of the required changes from the 3rd party supplier. After performing the Business Analyst role I then tested the product, and travelled to Sri Lanka to present the solution to the various large hotel chains and boutique hotels which were to use the system. Following a review of the internal structure and practices of the IT department, I was engaged to change the working Business practices throughout the whole of the Company and create a working environment when Business focused change and coupled with thorough testing were the norm. This involved introducing a completely new testing and release methodology into the company, and the recruitment of a test team. Along with the new methods, I delivered a series of important business changes, including an online payment system within the Red Dot Tours website to facilitate the Instant booking solution. The worked was based in the UK and Sri Lanka.

Key technologies: - Microsoft infrastructure. Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Quest Active Roles, Quest Intrust, Quest Change Auditor, Quest RMAD, SCCM, SCOM, PKI, MS Exchange, SQL cluster. Delivering an Infrastructure project to support the build and go-live of a new Rolls-Royce manufacturing plant in Singapore. The project is to deliver a Global Infrastructure (mainly Active Directory on W2008 servers) which will eventually support all of the Rolls-Royce sites worldwide. As Test Manager I was responsible for the recruitment and management of the Test team, and was responsible for all aspects of the testing, including reporting to the stake holders. As part of the delivery two new separate test environments were created. Firstly a VMWare (virtual) environment where development, testing and initial integration testing could be performed. Secondly a separate Pre-Production physical environment, which was used for full system testing, performance and resilience testing, but which was also designed to allow deployment of OU changes prior to risky changes being made into the Production environment to mitigate against AD domain wide corruption. AD integrity was further ensured by deployment of the Quest tool RMAD, (Recovery Manager AD) and by deployment of a replication strategy which allowed one AD server to be at least 24 hours behind the rest of the Infrastructure. Although a Greenfield deployment, the design and test strategy had to allow for the migration of the existing AD estate into the new Global AD. The legacy estate had older AD servers (Windows NT 4.0 upwards) and the infrastructure had W2003 (R2) servers running to support the Trust relationships required to integrate these systems into the new infrastructure prior to replacement with new technology. The bulk of the servers deployed across Derby and Singapore were W2008 (R1). The key deliverables were a working active Directory Infrastructure that would operate both in the UK and in Singapore.

Key technologies: Windows 2003 Server, Oracle, Linux, SQL server, GPS, Road tolling. Initially employed to provide a test strategy and testing plan for the initial stage of the DfT’s TDP (Time Distance Place) road tolling project, and then retained to run the operational side and to manage the testing for the various changes that were introduced throughout the lifetime of the trial. The main duties involved managing the testing effort in Munich, where the bulk of the development was performed, and managing the system testing performed in the UK. I was also responsible for reviewing and contributing to the design of the solution and ensuring that it could be deployed safely and that the system worked as it should. The main challenges are the judgement of what areas (other than functional which is a given) need to be thoroughly tested and which can be given only minor consideration. This sort of analysis is vital when working to tight budgets with limited resources and strict deadlines. During peak times I was able to recruit and employ suitable students to assist with the bulk of the testing. The solution involves installing a device in every car in the trail, which then transmits position information, over GPRS to a backend which determines where and when the vehicle was travelling, and produces billing information which is available to view via a WEB portal. The architecture involves SQL server, Oracle, along with a .net application to provide the logic behind the Web portal. There is also a Microsoft CRM element to cover off the customer elements which need to be separate from the other parts of the solution.

Key technologies: Agile, Windows 2003 Server SP1, HP tooling suite, Oracle, LinuxTest Manager for the deployment and rollout of the HP Tolling suite which provides proactive monitoring on network devices and Servers over the whole of the BT NHS infrastructure, which includes the BT SPINE (connects all of the different LSP’s (Local Service Providers) and the regional management of the London Health Service Trusts. This role involved not only the usual Test Strategy, planning, defect management, release and environment management, but also the added complexity of managing large test teams who were resident both in Leeds and in India. The whole project was run under the Agile methodology. It the later stages of the Project I performed the Scrum Master role and this ensured that we finally delivered a working monitoring solution to the Customer. The HP tolling suite comprised of HP PM (Performance Manager), HP PI (Performance Insight), and HP NNM (network Node Manager), all in a hierarchical redundant pairs, as resiliency under failure was a key component of the design. The main challenge within this program was to get sufficient focus within the already stretched Spine and London LSP teams to allow their resources to deploy the agents and extra infrastructure required. The main technical challenge was to convince the existing performance test teams that the deployment of the required agents onto the existing infrastructure would not have an adverse affect on the performance and stability of the servers, and also that there were no security issues with respect to the deployed agents being compromised. HP Quality Centre was the main tool used to manages the test cycles test scripts and defect management.

Key technologies: Windows 2003 Server Active DirectoryEmployed as a Project Manager to oversee the design, implementation and deployment of a new Active Directory infrastructure. In addition to the normal project manager duties I had a special responsibility to understand as much as possible about the Testing planned with a view to ensuring that this was complete and fit for purpose. This was a deployment of a complete new Infrastructure, initially at the core data centres, but with the rollout of new servers to all Post Office main sites, and the decommissioning of the existing legacy systems. Key within this was the introduction of a solid and robust replication strategy to mitigate against the issues which had caused Production issues. The deployment was of W2003 servers running with a Forest Functional Level of W2000 AD. My main responsibility was to review the design for robustness and to ensure that the external suppliers Test Strategy and Test Plans would verify that the solution worked and would work under failure conditions. This was seen as a key role within the Post office as there had been severe failures with the existing Active Directory infrastructure in the preceding year. The main technical challenge within this role was to design and implement a test environment that could simulate the logins/updates across a widely geographically dispersed environment. This proved to be unrealistic, and a strategy of gradual introduction with a solid back-out policy was successfully deployed.

Key technologies: Windows 2003 Server SP1 running Citrix, SQL 2005 , VB6, VB .NET, Infinium (HR database)Test Manager and Application Manager, on a project with extremely tight Development and Test deadlines, due to acquisition of Stanley Bet by William Hill. The key driver was having an integrated HR and Payroll system that needed to be in place by April 2006. I was retained to implement Phase 2 of the System, which completed the integration of other financial systems. I managed a team of 5 testers, and 5 developers who were distributed across 3 separate locations. I also managed the Customer UAT team to validate the system through the final phases of testing. All of the usual Test manager activities, such as progress reporting, maintaining test environments, Test strategy, Test Plan, Test Schedules, Risk Logs, Issue Logs, Defect Management. Due to the immovable deadline, and sensitivity of Payroll, this was an extremely challenging project, which required that all of the teams from Leeds, Liverpool and London were co-located in London for the last 2 months of the Project.

Key technologies: Windows 2000 Server, Progess, SAP, Siebel, Remedy, Quality Centre , XMLEmployed as a Senior Test Manager, I managed a team of Test Analysts who supported the projects for which I was responsible. As a Senior Test manager was responsible for ensuring that the ITIL model used by CSC is followed and that all of the support teams are fully briefed and able to support the applications following go-live. This required a large amount of hand-on activities such as creating a specifying and maintaining test environments, Test strategy, Test Plan, Test Schedules, Risk Logs, Issue Logs, Defect Management, ensuring that the test data was representative of the real world, and ensuring that strict configuration control is applied to all Test Environments.I also had the responsibility of auditing the build release and test strategies of third party suppliers to ensure that the software delivered was fully ready to proceed to System Test. This often meant traveling to the suppliers’ site and witnessing the release/test procedures on their premises. This is an important quality gate that I have introduced to the overall Test process, which has paid big dividends in ensuring that the software deployed into the test Environment does not have immediate major issues. One major Project involved developing, testing and deploying a Track and Trace system for the Post office cash handling operations. The development was performed by a Dutch company called Transtrack, who specialize in Cash Handling. As part of that project it became necessary to manage the Customers UAT team. The main system was a W2K system, running a Progress application and database, with XML feeds from a SAP system and a Siebel system. Once the Product had been deployed to the initial Pilot sites, I worked closely with the Post office, to identify and specify system changes and managed the production and delivery of these with the third party supplier.

Key technologies: Broadband, Windows 2000, Oracle, Siebel, Unix, IBM Mainframe, TOAD,Test Manager working at BT’s research centre at Martlesham in Suffolk, working on improving BTs order handling and provision system for ADSL (Broadband). My team were responsible for the end-to-end testing of the complete system which was the last stage testing prior to deployment to Production. The BT Broadband system uses a very wide range of technologies all of which need to be linked and updated as part of the Broadband order handling system. I was responsible for ensuring that testing was completed to schedule, and that all of the requirements were met, and required to give final sign-off from testing, As a hands on Test Manager, I was responsible for the technical analysis of the errors reported and the subsequent liaison with the development teams.

Key technologies: Windows 2000, SQL Server 2000, IIS 5, Business Objects 5.1, COM+I was employed as a Test Manager on a project to provide an integrated work management system for the Post Office Security Information Service, who manage and investigate crime perpetrated against the Post Office both from internal and external sources. Due to problems with resource this was very much a hands on role where much of the more difficult testing (performance and security) were performed by myself. The project employed the de facto 3 tier architecture of a IIS 5.0 WEB Server, an Application Server and a SQL Server 2000 database. This project was the first project within the Post Office to utilize the Windows 2000 Platform and SQL Server 2000. As Test Manager, I was responsible for all of the testing aspects of the project. This included the Test Strategy, and master test plans. I worked closely with the Development team (largely made up of contractors from approved third party suppliers).I produced a daily report on the state of the testing and was responsible for dealing with all of the issues that might adversely affect the quality of the product or delay the implementation date. I also controlled the Build Release and Configuration environment. The development was Vbscript on the Sever Side, and Javascript on the Client Side, with COM+ for the application, and SQL 2000 stored procedures for the database backend. The testing was organized with real users performing the tests at the end of the System test Cycle, with LoadRunner used to simulate a heavy load on the system. I was responsible for coordinating the facilities and resources required to train the user base in the product. (450 users who because of the nature of the job and naturally geographically dispersed.)

I returned (from the Technical Solutions area – July – October 2000) to the Production Support area as a Senior Systems Integrator to deliver two high profile and Urgent projects. The first was a project in which Business Objects was utilized to provide a reporting front end for a SQL server database holding information on Royal Mail Delivery Offices. This involved using Business Objects Web Intelligence and Business Objects Full Client applications. When I arrived on the project the delivery date was already three weeks late and there was no support capability for the Business Objects and there had been no Operational Acceptance Testing. I arranged both of these, including specifying the testing and reworking the High Level Technical Design where the Business Objects WEB Intelligence product did not perform as expected. The second was a new release of the PODIUM (see below for my first involvement) project. There had been many field problems once the PODIUM devices had become operational. A new release of the software had to be developed, tested and deployed to 120 ParcelForce depots in very short timescales. This was particularly Urgent as the run-up to Christmas is a particularly busy time for the Post Office. I lead a System Test team, which performed a complete System test cycle over a 2 week period. This was particularly difficult and stressful, as the new release of the software had to be deployed before the Christmas busy period had build up.

Employed as a technical solutions architect working on a variety of small projects for Royal Mail. This role involved specifying a High Level Technical Design to provide a solution for Customers requirements, using tools approved for use within the Post Office. Most of the solutions I designed were based on a 3-tier application model, utilizing a WEB Server, application Server, and database Server.

I joined the Post Office as a contract Systems Integrator, over seeing the final testing stage of products (Operational Acceptance Testing), before they were accepted as a supported product within the Post office production Support area. During my time as an SI I have worked on a variety of ParcelForce projects. This involves managing the project into support within Business Systems (PO IT group) and dealing with all technical and Infrastructure issues that arise within Production Support, and matrix managing a Test team for the duration of the project. A key aspect of the role is the specification of the technical and Operational testing that needs to be performed on a given system before it will be accepted by the support teams. The SI also verifies and contributes to the proposed technical design. This post demands not only project management, and team leader skills but also strong technical and test management skills. The projects are often Customer facing and I have to manage third party suppliers up the point that new products are accepted into production support. Part of my role involves providing input into Service Level Agreements, to ensure that the targets specified within the SLA is achievable. The main projects I have been involved in are PFHR Wakefield. Key technologies: NT, SQL Server, Citrix Metaframe (Windows Terminal Server).BBMS. (Barclays Bank Management System)Key technologies: NT, SQL Server, Citrix Metaframe, VB5 application. Morupic (Mail Order Returns Unique Parcel Identifier Code)Key technologies: NT, SQL Server, FTP, VB5 application. PODIUM (Proof of Delivery)Key technologies: NT, SQL Server, MQ, VB5 application/C++ application, Client/Server, Web server.

Key technologies - C, VMS, telemetryI joined ESIS (Electricity Settlements Information Services – part of the National Grid Company) to work on their Y2K project. I worked as an Analyst Consultant, leading a team upgrading and testing a telemetry system for Y2K compliance. The system known as FMS (Final Metering System) is written in ‘C’ and needed to be upgraded to VMS 6.2 from 5.5-2 as part of the project. The project has been particularly critical, as it interrogates remote Outstations to collect meter readings that change over time. The day is split up into 48, 30-minute periods and the meter readings are collected for each. The whole system is extremely date sensitive. These meter readings are the basis of financial calculations for the ‘Electricity Pool’ of England and Wales. I represented ESIS at this third parties site and led their team and another contractor from the ESIS Systems Acceptance team. After the initial changes the bulk of the effort was in the writing and running of the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT). I was responsible for reviewing the high-level test specification, and ensuring that system was Y2K compliant before it was delivered to ESIS for Customer Acceptance Testing (CAT). Most of my effort was in investigating and fixing problems that arose during the Pre-FAT testing, and directing the testing into the critical areas of the system. During my time at the third party supplier’s premises I introduced more stringent controls on the source code modifications, E.G Problem Report and code review to accompany each change. I also introduced build controls so that each version of the system that was used at any stage of the FAT was in a master area and could be reproduced. On my advice ESIS have taken control of the source code from the Third Party Supplier.I was responsible for supervising the testing of the system during the CAT and managed the introduction of the new version in the current production environment.

I returned to work on the BT Network Manager (now known as Switch manager – SM) for their public switches (System-X and AXE-10) in Leicester. I joined the testing department and worked on the development of automated test scripts. These scripts are written in a script language called VTEST (also known as Cyrano) that ran under VMS. The test scripts formed the basis of the SM regression suite of tests that needed to be run prior to the rollout of new features. (There are four rollouts of SM per year). The VTEST automated scripts were also used to test the new functionality in the build. I was responsible for the team writing scripts testing the new ISDN and Home Highway functionality that has been introduced into the public network. The scripts written had to generate the transactions required to run the SM job, check that the response from the SM software was complete and correct, interrogate the System-X or AXE-10 exchanges and interrogate an Oracle database to ensure the correct records and fields had been updated.Within the VTEST development system I controlled an Access database to define and control the different types of transactions to the SM that could be tested via the automated scripts. I was also responsible for writing some test definition (High Level) documents and test specifications for some of the more complex areas of change E.G Number Portability, where a subscriber can move from BT to another operator or vice-versa.

I was employed as the Integration Manager in a small mobile Telecommunications Company, called MOBICOM, in Derby. I was responsible for the integration and Build Control of Mobicom's latest Private Mobile Radio switch, which used the MPT1327 signaling system. My main efforts were concentrated introducing higher levels of robustness, fault tolerance and fault reporting within the switch. I also instigated a program to increase the coverage and hence effectiveness of the suite of regression tests that are run as part of the integration process. I introduced a quality gate for code delivery from the development team to the Integration team, in which all code changes must be justified by an approved problem report and all modifications must be clearly documented and auditable through the code. As Integration Manager I had a major role in the introduction and design of new features in the switch software. The switch ran on a Motorola 68020, software development is in Borland Turbo C running under windows 3.11.

I was employed as a Senior Software Consultant for B.T at the Ipswich Software Engineering Centre, on a project to provide enhanced network facilities. The project that I am involved in known within B.T as FeatureLine, configures Centrex (Virtual PABX) facilities for small and medium size business customers. I led a team developing software to communicate with the System-X and AXE-10 digital exchanges, and a B.T network support system known as the Operations and Maintenance centre (OMC). The OMC uses an Oracle relational database management system to provide faster access to the customer data held on the exchanges. This database is read/updated while configuring the exchanges. As team leader I am responsible for the co-ordination of the design, implementation and testing of the project. I employed a hands-on approach during software design cycle. I was also a point of contact for in-service problems. The development is in 'C' and 'Pro *C', under VMS, with SQL scripts for database schema upgrades. The project uses a Client/Server architecture with an Oracle database. The Yourdon design methodology is used in the design process.

I joined a small real-time Software House (Venturon) specializing in SCADA and DAS systems. The SCADA packages that were developed and maintained in house were known as Dexterity with a Dual Hot-Standby version known as Integrity. My responsibilities included developing new features, fixing bug reports, visiting customers sites to determine problems and if necessary developing fixes at these sites. I also helped in the preparation of tenders and introduced a new fault reporting mechanism, for tracking customer’s problems through from being reported, to propagation to other necessary platforms. The development was in 'C' with assembler inserts for the most time critical sections. The system ran under VAX VMS and under a special real-time version of Unix known as Interactive-Unix. After six months I was promoted to Software Manager. As software manager I introduced a control system so that the software components could be unified over the different platforms, and control over the many different versions of the products could be established.

key technologies :- System-X (Digital telephone Exchange) and ISDX PBX systems, using assembler, C, and BT Coral. I worked on the development, integration, and proving of a new Operating System, and Intelligent Network features. This mainly involved the debugging (and fixing) of large Software Modules that come together for the first time on the departments’ System-X models. The main criteria for the job were strong software development skills, and strong problem solving abilities. Once the system was of sufficient integrity, it was released to the System-X proving sites where more rigorous testing of specific areas was performed. The Integration and testing of the software modules (delivered from approximately twenty development teams) required the design and development of online test processes (written in coral) to simulate a heavy load on the operating system. The debugging of the more complex and obscure problems requires the development of off-line tools (written in 'C' or Unix Shell). My success in integrating the Software Builds led to me being responsible for the integration of the newest (and hence the most error prone) System-X features.