O'Reilly Auto Parts owns & operates dozens of distribution centers across the US. Each DC is essentially a hub that supplies products and equipment to nearby retail outlets. All O'Reilly distribution hubs are managed by an in-house WMS - essentially green-screens built in RPG. Each DC periodically sends updates back to a centralized mainframe at corporate HQ – i.e. a custom ERP-like data warehouse on the AS400/iSeries. At present, O'Reilly is modernizing its WMS platform and automating several high-volume DCs with vertical-space-efficiency robots. I was hired to lead a team of software engineers to prototype an ETL integration platform that would ultimately be used to move data between the iSeries and AutoStore robot control instrumentation.

Modernized ERP integrations with corporate-owed warehouses and 3PLs. JuicePlus continues to rely on a product called Universe, a repository of data and custom business logic which serves as their official ERP. All data connected to order processing and inventory management is maintained within this central hub - incl. SKU profiles, inventory adjustments, POs, receipts, returns, invoices, packslips, shipping and tracking. As such, transactions related to orders must be routed to warehouses across the world based on shipping destination. Some warehouses operated on the Köerber, HighJump (formerly Accellos) WMS platform. However, several international markets ship out of warehouses run by 3PLs - e.g. DHL (European Union), Flying Cargo (Israel), Canada Cartage (Canada), Prostock (New Zealand) to name a few. Consequently, each warehouse operation runs on different WMS platforms and each WMS requires 2-way communication with Universe to process orders and manage inventory. Some 3PL operations utilize off-the-shelf solutions - e.g. HighJump, XCarrier, Sage or SAP. Some build their WMS from scratch. Of course, each vendor offers a unique order-processing API designed to move warehouse information between a corporate ERP and their specialized WMS (usually via two-way JSON, XML, CSV, or FWT transactions). When I started, most of these integrations were a mishmash of very old ETL technologies built by contractors who were no longer employed by JuicePlus. All were rapidly aging and many were beginning to fail. My role was to consolidate all these integrations and run them on a unified platform. This was accomplished by migrating domestic & international integrations to the Pentaho Data Integrator platform. Additionally, to eliminate redundant moving parts in the integration architecture, it was necessary to build custom step-plugins in Java to enable direct communication between Universe and PDI. This also helped make the integrations more adaptable to architectural changes.

Overhauled the DCC/WoodWare Systems website. The primary objectives were: to modernize the site with a responsive, lightweight design adapting it to arbitrary device resolutions; to integrate with an analytics platform to accurately track keyword, visitation and utilization metrics; to empower non-technical employees by giving them secure control over its content, its information and its presentation; and, finally, to supply the tools needed to improve search engine rankings and maintain them by conforming to modern SEO standards. The website itself represented the organization's operative Internet presence and was implemented on the Joomla platform. Implemented NFormIt. The predecessor to this product was obsolete and needed to be rebuilt from scratch. The fundamental purpose the product was to periodically generate, catalog and deliver a bundle of related electronic documents. At the time, the only available alternative to DCC customers was on-demand generation, which required end-users to manual open & save one document at a time. The product was mostly used each month to generate customer invoices, bills of sale, checks and other custom e-docs by feeding into it historical accounting information. Implemented AnalyticsXT. This product was a BI solution offered to DCC customers seeking greater visibility over their operation. It was implemented on the InterSystems (IRIS/Caché) platform and was designed to leverage a number of integrated business intelligence features; including multi-dimensional cubes, pivot tables, dashboards, ObjectScript and MDX.

Implemented the Online Loan Payment Bridge and Online Skip Payment Bridge for Independent Bank. This product was a complex integration between i-Bank's internal mainframe and a third-party online payment service developed & hosted by Fidelity Information Services. Its purpose was to seamlessly web-enable access to auto loans & customer accounts through an secure Internet portal. Implemented the ARC of TN Resource Center - a one-stop mobile solution used to track case notes documented out in the field by support brokers in accordance with regulations defined by the Tennessee grant for community funding. The product was used by support brokers & case managers to log support tickets and administer case referrals via smart phone and/or tablet. It was also used to generate & supply regulatory information needed to gain access to the funds supplied by the grant and to bill the state monthly. Overhauled the Valenti Management Analytics Center. Valenti was a national conglomeration managing several restaurant franchises, including KFC, Wendy's and Chili's. Prior to the overhaul Valenti relied on a legacy product, written in the late-90s - based on ASP & VB6. In addition to migrating the legacy solution to the .NET platform, the organization needed a reliable & automated way to consume POS metrics & inventory data from store locations distributed across its South East, Mid-South, and Mid-Atlantic regions. Additionally, executives needed real-time visibility & central control over the information by way of a secure intranet portal. The entire product was delivered over several phases, whereby each completed phase was successfully deployed without interruption to existing, mission-critical systems. This also made it necessary to administer, maintain and repair the legacy system while simultaneously phasing-in each new component part of the overall deliverable.

This role necessitated a rapid & thorough understanding of the bank's organizational structure, its operational architecture, its upcoming initiatives and the systems that would ultimately support those initiatives. I worked closely with senior IT leadership to define policies that standardized & justified the bank's use of open-source technology, while objectively measuring risk of use. I worked with graphic designers, solution architects, and software engineers to define best practices, especially with regard to the software development cycle and internal compliance with federal regulations imposed on the financial industry. I partnered with IT managers to help shape the policies that governed the procurement of new technology, while helping them quantify the benefits of their capital expenditures. The bank also had huge capital investments with IBM that included hardware, software and contracted personnel. Teaming up with IBM professional services, I helped to standardize training and make it more accessible to full-time employees.While at FTB, I implemented a central Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution which was used by vendors & customers to integrate with corporate bank accounts. I teamed up with Kofax professional services to construct a working prototype to demonstrate the benefits of an all-in-one document capture & imaging solution. Additional responsibilities at FTB included maintaining the company's Configuration Management Database and supporting the Change Management & Quality Assurance teams.

Managed a team of software engineers and full-time contractors. Between 2005 and 2010, my team implemented the web presence for a number of fundraising programs that included Thanks 'n Giving 2005 - 2009, the St. Jude Gift Catalog, Mathathon Wired, the Partner In Hope Network, Generation Hope, and the St. Jude Volunteer Portal. Prior to my arrival, the Internet channel served approximately 800K visitors per month while less than $1M flowed annually through a single, monolithic donation form. By 2009 my team supported over a dozen fundraising applications; visitor traffic had increased to approximately 1.5M visitors per day; and the fundraising arm was processing online approximately $40M in annual donations.

Overhauled www.stjude.org, the primary Internet presence for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Responsibilities included software development, resource planning, code review, application installation, system administration, technical writing, deployment and testing. Solutions implemented included the St. Jude Content Management System, the Online Mail Campaign and the Internet Analytics System. This role also required me to be on-call to troubleshoot mission-critical, production issues which often involved working with the infrastructure team to properly configure inter-operating software and tune existing hardware.

Designed and implemented the St. Jude Heroes and Up 'til Dawn fundraising portals. Migrated www.stjude.org from the hospital to the ALSAC data center. Implemented the V6 content-management & content-delivery system used for several years by ALSAC and the hospital to publish approved content to www.stjude.org and deliver public information in a consistent & stylized format. Additional responsibilities included software development, production maintenance, system administration, tuning, and diagnostics.

Developed & maintained the organization's flagship product - Optiship. Based out of Nashville, NTransit had a number of Memphis clients. As such, I represented the organization as the liaison to its Memphis clients. Responsibilities included gathering requirements, writing functional specifications, building mock-ups and programming. Additional duties included tracking time and progress, resource allocation, and securing customer sign-off. Implemented the Concord EFS Inventory Management System. Responsibilities included designing, implementing, and deploying the product to multiple physical warehouses, while leveraging existing equipment and minimizing the learning curve as employees trained to transition to the new system. Each physical warehouse connected to and integrated with a central Oracle data warehouse at headquarters, which itself fed into an custom analytics solution.

Worked with business analysts to design, implement and launch the FedEx Resource Center - a extranet portal for FedEx International Service Providers. Responsibilities included requirements gathering, software development, product deployment and continuous maintenance. Additional responsibilities included coordinating with project managers & business analysts to plan solutions, delegate work to full-time resources and task contracted employees effectively.