Head of software testing consultancy services in the UK. Our talented international team of consultants have many years of experience, in functional and non functional testing; manual and automation, as well as integration, acceptance, performance, security and test management. We deliver added-value, managed testing services for our customers, both on and offsite, supported by 500+ offshore QA specialists, based in Hyderabad, India. This additional capability allows us to deliver testing services on demand, using hybrid models and accelerators to achieve significant cost savings and efficiencies, particularly in test automation and performance. I have overall responsibility for delivery and management of the consultancy team in the UK, including account management for a number of blue chip clients, project management, strategic and sales support. Prolifics has deep skills, certifications and an International advisory capability in IBM's enterprise software, backed-up by a global delivery model that is to second to none. Unrivalled skills in the UK, global delivery and managed services enable Prolifics to provide technical excellence in a cost-effective manner for our customers.

e-testing was founded to provide targeted, specialist expertise in software testing, including functional, automation, performance and test strategy / process improvement. e-testing provided testing services on demand, either fully managed or as an integral part of client teams, providing specialist expertise on projects where needed. The company reached 30 people at its peak and established lasting partnerships with a number of leading blue-chip organisations, generating significant repeat business.As co-founder of the company, I was involved in all aspects of building and running the business, especially identifying new opportunities, winning business and delivering projects. A key part of my role was to undertake strategic testing reviews for 25+ companies in a range of verticals including Finance, Telecoms, Pharma, Legal, Insurance, Technology, Professional Services, Media, Charity and Retail. I managed the consulting and training elements of the business, with all members of the technical team reporting to me. Performance testing is a key area of my expertise – including specification, estimating and management of performance testing projects using LoadRunner and JMeter for a wide range of customers.I was responsible for quality while at e-testing and managed the company's ISO9001 accreditation and developed procedures and controls for the ISO27001 Information Security Standard. This tied in with managing the company's IT infrastructure, including firewall, networks, domain controller, software, VPNs and security. While at e-testing, I started the training wing of the company, developing from scratch our ISTQB Foundation Certificate course, as well as providing delivery oversight on other courses, including the Intermediate and Advanced Certificates in Software Testing. I remain an accredited British Computer Society trainer for these courses.

Started the role as a solution test manager to put in place a test strategy and project and phase test plans for the system and integration testing of a large solution involving a number of different elements of the company, on the CCOS system (Common CustomerOffering Server). This involved putting the plans in place and organising to have elements of the plan completed by different teams within the company. Once the plans were in place, I continued in a technical role to carry out the system and integration testing on the project on a Service Oriented Architecture. This involved becoming familiar with the system and testing using web services over a test telecommunications network. This involved simulating calls into the customer service network using the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system using the Genesys set of tools: Outbound Contact Manager and Interactive Routing Designer. It also involved testing using Putty sessions to UNIX, Toad to amend and query test data and a great deal of use of the Amdocs billing system. The testing was completed successfully on time and to budget. I then stayed on to assist with the user acceptance testing phase of the project.

I was brought in to initially define a test strategy for a large Data Warehouse implementation to consolidate information across multiple companies within the group. Once this was completed, I was then engaged to implement the strategy and manage the existing team, which included a mix of permanent, contract and e-testing staff. Technical System Testing was successfully carried out, working closely with the development team - to agreed timescales. The testing involved the construction of test data in order to prove specific functional scenarios within the system - individually and then end to end, as the functionality became available.

I was responsible for designing and executing a series of performance tests on a Global Fund Management system. The system, provided by a third party, was a business critical implementation, consisting of a core set of remote applications, interfacing with a local implementation of a Windows based workflowmanagement system for different areas of the business. Performance testing was focussed on a local server specific to the project, incorporating 7 different sub systems. In addition to workflow, these applications also incorporated document scanning,customer relationship management, marketing, printing and overall reporting using Business Objects.

I was responsible for defining and implementing a test strategy into an internet start-up company involved with LAN security. The strategic work consisted initially of a health check on the current testing practices. Once this exercise was completed, workwas done to implement the recommendations from the health check. Responsibilities included the following:• Production of test plan and test scripts• Managing a small team of testers during the test execution phase• Co-ordinating defects and reporting to management• Definition of a Unit Testing strategy for use by the developers – to support the Xtreme Programming development methodology

I was the acting test manager and automated test consultant for the Digital Media Distribution System (DMDS) development. This was a new development for a start-up company and involved setting up a test team and implementing a tailored testing methodology, including templates and defect tracking system for the team to follow.Responsibilities included the following:• Team setup and definition of strategic direction for testing• Production of high level test plan, by phase and module• Definition of test scripts• Test execution and mentoring of staff• General team management• Attending daily progress meetings and reporting to senior management• Conducted feasibility study on configuration management tools and automated testing tools• Evaluated and selected a suitable performance testing tool, LoadRunner• Implemented LoadRunner, recorded scripts and developed testing scenarios to prove the performance of the DMDS system• Executed the performance tests and made recommendations on improvements to stored procedures and database indexes.

I was one of the team leaders of the Operation Readiness Testing team. The project was based in the Hague, Netherlands for a start-up arm of the telecommunications giant and involved working closely with other consultancies on a multi platform, multi system implementation of IP services throughout Europe. My responsibilities included the following:• Co-ordination of testing effort of an independent testing team• Strategic planning for Unified Messaging Project• Development and roll out of a defect tracking and time logging system and testing methodology• System testing of integrated solution, including provisioning, mediation, CRM and billing systems : Arbor BP/OM, Smallworld, SAP and Siebel.• Reporting to management / other consultancies on progress• Deputising for the Test Manager

Test team leader for an internal software testing team, hired initially as a test analyst during a Year 2000 testing programme and after 3 months was made team leader. On completion of the Y2k elements, I was then involved in the set-up and running of a general testing team. This included definition of a testing strategy, document templates and procedures to make up a structured testingmethodology. Responsibilities included: • Day to day management of staff, team meetings, regular liaison and progress meetings with project / programme managers to understand testing requirements and advise on the best approach / test schedule.• Resource planning, test scheduling and matching staff skill sets to requirements.• Instruction and guidance in testing principles.• Management, resolution and escalation of issues.• Meeting users and business managers to analyse testing requirements.• Liaison with suppliers of software solutions / consultancies.• Management of third party consultancies, in particular for automated testing.• Definition and production of document templates and quality management procedures.• Lead involvement in quality circle process to improve best practices and procedures.• Interviewing and recruitment of new contract staff.