CV COMPUTER CV CV

A top quality business computer system designer/ analyst with good programming skills, capable of running large teams to bring projects in - on time, under budget.
  1. Personal Details
  2. Education & Qualifications
  3. Objectives
  4. Career Summary
  5. Key Skills
  6. Achievements
  8. Home Page



Personal Details

J Probst

Education & Qualifications

Objectives

John enjoys working on short to medium term projects with tight time-scales, to difficult specifications. A particular strength is his ability to integrate new code into existing systems with minimum disruption to the user community He gets on easily with end users and project managers. He likes to work in London, but will take out of town contracts. A permanent post would ideally be designing and developing systems in a client/server environment within half-an-hour of home: The City or Central London, M2, M11, M20 corridors.

Career Summary

1969-1976 SIA Ltd.
A Batch Bureau. Consultant Traffic Flow management; Consultant Numerical Control Systems; Branch Manager West End Office; Sales Representative Engineering Applications
1976-1980 Time Sharing Ltd.
A Time sharing Bureau. Customer Sales Support West London Branch; Product Manger Database products
1980-1982 Gsi Ltd.
A Time-sharing Bureau. Product Manager Data Base Products
1982-1995 Self employed
Information systems consultancy. Key achievements listed below for numerous clients over the period
1995-1998 Timeslice
Product Manager for their ACTIONMAN case processing package with responsibility for installations, development, QA, documentation etc.
1998- Self employed
Computer Consultancy, Bridge Professional

Key Skills

Management Consultancy
Development of "Statement of User Requirements", Issuing of "Invitation to Tender", Shortlisting, Final Selection, Project Management
Systems Design
Development of total bespoke systems, from initial "Scope of Project" through to fully documented User Guide, Programming Specification, and complete Data Base Design
Quality Assurance
Testing of programs and systems against design specifications, controlling programming team in production of maintainable error-free software. Testing conformity using ISO 9001 and Tick-It
Analyst/Programming
Fast and accurate program design and production to agreed specifications, with minimum disruption to existing systems
Training
Training of end-users in the use of systems, and of computer staff, with strong emphasis on formal methods. Development of Manuals, Course Notes
Interfaces
Development of systems to interface very large files of data between different manufacturer's systems
Hardware experience
Mainframes, minis, PCs
Operating Systems
PICK and Vmark UniVerse. Familiar with MSDOS and Windows (3.1 & 97), knowledge of UNIX, understands client/server applications and networking

Achievements

PICK to UNIX Conversion
This required the extraction of 2 million records across 100 files for direct input to SEQUEL. The work was undertaken for a major City solicitor. A set of parameters was specified for each file and a general purpose processor was written. An output file containing the command string and field definitions followed by the data in fixed length format for each file was created and this was directly input to SEQUEL. It became a half-hour job to specify and create the routines for the extraction for each file. A further routine to produce the output in a comma delimited format was also produced.
Tour Operating Software
This required the specification and testing of a tour operating package. The tour operator was able to enter details of hotels, flights, transfers, car hire and attractions and the system produced the necessary invoices, foreign exchange surcharges etc and produced a fully personalised itinerary for the party. A full accounts suite was implemented as part of the project.
Additionally, employed by a software house he designed substantial parts of ABTA's computer system.
Work process (Case Management) software
A number of systems were designed but in particular a very powerful debt collection system was written. This totally automated the debt collection process in the solicitor's office and is also in use by major banking and governmental organisations. A particular feature was a set of routines to allow the user to customise his own debt collection procedures into the system. Returning to the software house some years later as Product and Project Manager for this system many further enhancements have been made and the software has been installed at a large number of solicitors and debt collection agencies.
Equipment hire systems
This involved the hiring and de-hiring of Cargo Handling Equipment at multiple depots on the British mainland. The accounts part of this project was complex as the numbers and types of item hired changed on a daily basis.
Membership systems
In this application one of the prime requirements is to be able to access a Member's data quickly and a number of powerful retrieval strategies were employed. There was also a requirement to accept data from other organisations and a generalised OS to PICK conversion routine was written. This is the reverse of the conversion of the system mentioned above.
Warehousing and Wholesaling (Sales Order Entry and Stock)
Major systems were designed for a Paper Stockholder and a Paper Agent to enable them to take orders for paper, determine the stock levels and load the correct van for rapid delivery. This involved the integration of Sales, Purchase and Nominal Ledgers. The suite consisted of over one hundred programs and included automated fax and telex facilities, and the tracking of purchase orders for direct delivery to customers.
Education
John was retained by Bull Computer as their PICK lecturer and lectured on customer's sites and at head office. In general he has written and published his own training materials. He has also lectured widely for the UK Pick Users Assocn.
Management Consulting
John has written a number of "Surveys of User Requirements", issued them as "Invitations to Tender" and analysed the reponses to provide the client with a short list. He has then assisted the client in making the final selection based on the best fit between requirements and the ability of the supplier to meet them.