PRP Solutions supplies Time and Attendance devices to clients. HR and payroll rules are applied to the clocking information received from the devices and stored in the PRP database. Interfaces are provided to various HR and payroll systems, making PRP the hub of the client's resource management system.As Solutions Architect I analyse the client’s HR and payroll rules and devise the appropriate solution within PRP to maximise savings in terms of the client’s human resource expenditure. This requires detailed knowledge of employment legislation, which varies depending on the country where the client is located. In South Africa this includes the:• Basic Conditions of Employment Act• Bargaining Council rules• Sectoral Determinations I have dealt with clients in the manufacturing, retail, cleaning, catering, security, health, agricultural, mining and road freight industries. I write the business requirements specification that is signed off by the client and used by the PRP team to configure the PRP system for the client. While I analyse the business requirements, I identify any new features that might be required in the PRP system. I then act as the Product Owner of this feature by creating the epic and user stories, as well as the functional and test specifications. I interact with the development and testing teams to ensure that the feature is delivered correctly and within the required time frame. I currently also have a Product Owner role with regards to some of the features of the new generation PRP products.Clients often have existing HR and payroll systems that need to be integrated with PRP and it is my responsibility to write the detailed interface specifications for the integration. This requires a thorough understanding of the clients’ systems, as well as of the technical aspects of the integration. I also facilitate the mapping of the client's operational and business structures onto the PRP framework.

I was responsible for the user interface specification of a new Configuration and Management module for the Integrat aggregate mobile server. Integrat allowed clients to register their services (e.g. an SMS competition or charity fundraiser) with the aggregate mobile server. The server aggregated the mobile services provided by the three major mobile service providers in South Africa.I was also involved in the requirements specification and functional specification of a Business Intelligence dashboard to assist the Gauteng Transport Management Authority (GTMA) in measuring the cost effectiveness and performance of the transport operators in the province.I was responsible for reverse engineering and documenting the software systems at the Kelly Group. I also contributed to the software requirements specifications for the new Web-based Recruitment Management System developed for the Kelly Group.I was also responsible for the specification, development and testing of new features on the Kelly Time Management System.I continued to provide software development and testing support on the Mitel SIP phone project during the hand-over phase after the closing down of the South African branch of Flextronics.

I assisted with new business proposals, wrote project requirements specifications (including the description of all features of the products) and wrote user interface specifications. I also wrote software design specifications and was involved in quality assurance (including document and code reviews as well as test specifications). One of the projects was a SIP (VoIP) phone for Mitel, where I was involved in all the above aspects of the project (the relevant network protocols were the SIP stack protocols, RTP, and the protocols in all the related RFCs).

I managed an EPI-USE project at Investec. Some enhancements were required on the Investec HR recruitment software system.At the same time, I also managed an EPI-USE team of 15 programmers (on average) at PPS. The team maintained and enhanced the PPS software system that supported their insurance business. PPS required the day-to-day maintenance of their existing system, but also an upgrade of their software system to newer technology. For both project management tasks it was imperative to have a very thorough understanding of the clients’ business rules and the various software systems that supported their business, so that tasks could be prioritised and assigned efficiently to the developers.I had to interact extensively with the clients and the development teams, so people skills as well as written and verbal communication skills were of paramount importance.

I wrote Design and Test Specifications for Glenayre routers. I collaborated on the design specifications for Trillium portable network protocol implementations (H.323 Annex G, SIP, SCTP, ELCP). Trillium Digital Systems was a US-based company that developed protocol stacks and licensed the source code to clients for integration into their products.I wrote Test Specifications for Trillium (SS7 and ISDN stacks and the ELCP protocol implementation).

I was responsible for the overall software design of the new X.25 over frame relay packet switches. This included portation and enhancement of the Trillium X.25 portable stack to the embedded environment used for the switches. It also included integrating it with the frame relay stacks and the network management system. My tasks also included Quality Assurance (document and code reviews as well as test specifications).

I ported and customised the Retix X.400 and X.500 portable software (Unix, C).

My research project was to evaluate various formal approaches towards specifying Distributed Directory Systems.

I was responsible for maintaining the software that supported the Telkom X.25 network (the code was in assembler). I worked as software designer on the Telkom Beltel and Telkom EASY ACCESS systems (Unix, C). I also wrote the code for parts of these systems