Project #1

Jan 2002 - Aug 2002 - The Gillette Company - Order Status Definition Harmonization

• Project phases through requirements, analysis, and design were extremely complex.

• The scope was broadened considerably to design a more comprehensive and standardized database structure - with only a two man-month increase in resources. 
• Orchestration of numerous other technical groups. 
• Project was brought in on time and has since produced flawless results.

• Creative Technical design resulted in more efficient use of computing resources. 

• Project Team Lead for the Global Data Warehouse Orders Team

• Lead Systems Architect

• Systems Test Coordinator

• Status of Open Orders was inconsistently reported across the four SAP landscapes. 

• Gillette Management worldwide could not accurately assess the status of order lines.  What was on Backorder, Credit Hold, confirmed, etc.? 
• How to identify the proper status of open order lines consistently across all four SAP landscapes?
• Interface The selected order lines down to three web-based reporting and analysis datamarts.

• Cannot increase batch processing runtimes.

• Worked with the primary Business Community User to define the various statuses into which a line could be classified.

• Identified the SAP conditions which would be used to determine each status. 
• Worked with the Data Architecture Group to develop Gillette's view of the "Order Lifecycle".
• Used the "Order Lifecycle" as the requirements definition for the analysis and design of the new Oracle tables. 
• Re-architected the processing to break each process down into logical components. 
• Produced Design Flows, Program Specifications and Test Plans. 
• Worked with the Oracle Developers (some off-shore) to complete the development on time. 
• Worked with the DBA Team to ensure that the process was as efficient as possible. 
• Coordinated the testing efforts of the Global Data Warehouse group and three other development teams for the downstream datamarts to ensure the Interfaces were properly integrated. 
• Worked with the Application Data Quality Team to ensure data quality and adequate controls were implemented. 

• Worked with the Systems Administrators to set up a "BCV" test environment and run the User Acceptance Test phase for 4 weeks.

• The implementation was a success - met all user and technical requirements. 

• Gillette management (approximately 1200 users) now has consistent "harmonized" order status reporting across the global organization. 
• The system implementation was flawless - not one job failed in the first Production run.
• Reduced the overall run-time of the Open Order process even though the new process was more complex and required more storage. 

• Provided the extra benefit to IT management to improve overall Service Level Commitments to downstream processes.

May 1999 - Feb 2000 - Johnson & Johnson - Codman - Cognos PowerPlay & PowerCubes

• This Project required working with the IT, Sales and Marketing groups to bring this powerful sales analysis tool into the IT Infrastructure

• The tool would be used by the internal Marketing department and 100 Field Sales reps. 
• Short implementation timeline

• Led vendor (Cognos) negotiations, contracting resource negotiations, project management including budget, technical application requirements and design, content production and delivery via an Intranet web page.

• Project Manager and Lead Technical Architect

• The Marketing and Sales departments did not have adequate tools to analyze sales at this growing company.

• They had few reports that originated from legacy applications which were neither timely nor gave them the information they needed. 
• The field sales reps were required to "download" useless sales information each time they connected to the CRM application server - which took precious time. 

• The Marketing Director saw a demonstration of Cognos PowerPlay and wanted it as a tool even though the IT organization had no experience with it.

• Successfully negotiated the purchase of 100+ Cognos PowerPlay licenses.

• Retained the contract resources to develop the required final reports
• Developed the prototype application and underlying Oracle datamart structure. 
• Once the application requirements were finalized, the application developers were provided with specs and a PowerCube model. 
• From the model, we delivered three types of Cubes -
• one for internal Marketing resources which showed all sales information with cost,
• one for internal Sales Management and Administration which showed all sales information (Product Hierarchy, Sales Organization, Time, Customer, Geography, and Product)
• one for each Sales Rep which included only information for that Sales Rep's territory. 
• VBScript modules were developed to produce "one-click" Business Reviews and other reports from the Cube.
• The in-house developed CRM application was modified to no longer require "pushing" the legacy sales data down to the rep's laptop. 
• A Microsoft NT Intranet Web server was utilized for distributing the PowerCubes to the Field Sales reps which allowed the entire user community to "pull" the cube data from the server when it was convenient for them. 
• Each user's Cube was secured (using NT user authorization) to ensure that each user only saw their cube for download. 

• Each user completed an in-house developed training course on how to use PowerPlay and how to manipulate the Sales and Marketing Cubes.

• The Sales and Marketing departments received timely pertinent information which could be analyzed by "slicing and dicing" and "drilling down" into the Cube.

• Results could be presented in various different chart types and report formats. 
• The Field Sales Reps were no longer forced to download useless data - which improved their productivity. 
• Elimination of a large portion of the middle-ware processing for the Field Sales reps Sales analysis.
• Improvements in the overall reliability of their CRM application.

• The application was delivered on time and was successfully rolled out to the Internal and Field users.

May 1995 - Apr 1997 - Boston Brace, International - Complete IT Infrastructure Architecture

• This multi-phased project utilized my executive presentation, sales, technical architecture, knowledge of networks and applications architecture, overall data security and data control skills. 

• Each phase of the project progressed the IT Infrastructure to a more reliable, useful and trouble-free level with no disruption of the on-going business. 

• This was an entire upgrade of their networks, mission-critical applications and included the deployment of corporate-wide email, file sharing and Intranet and Internet web sites. 

• Sales Lead

• Technical Architect
• Hardware and Software provider

• Project Manager

• The infrastructure of this client was insufficient to satisfy the needs of this fast-growing business. 

• The President and Executive management were frustrated with the frequent technical problems leading to considerable "downtime" - even after allocating a considerable amount from the annual budget to address the issues.

• I was able to meet with the Executive Management Team after conducting an IT Infrastructure Audit and convince them that a complete overhaul of their existing infrastructure was required.

• We installed a new Novell Server and implemented appropriate directory sharing and security. 
• MS Windows was implemented Corporate-wide and the users were trained on Windows. 
• Replaced a patchwork procedure of transferring application data files via PCAnywhere with a UNIX-based version of their Accounting application (Open Systems - OSAS).
• Tied nine regional offices together with a Frame Relay Wide Area network (WAN). 
• Norton Anti-Virus software was implemented throughout the network to eliminate on-going virus problems. 

• The infrastructure overhaul was completed with the rollout of Corporate-wide email, an Intranet site, and the implementation of an in-house hosted Corporate Web site.

• The Executive Management Team was consistently able to complete their monthly closing process for all nine remote offices and the Corporation on the last day of the month. 

• Management had access to timely, reliable financial reporting. 
• Annual hard cost savings were realized by outsourcing the entire IT function to Bradford Business Systems, Inc. 
• Office productivity skyrocketed as a result of the reliability of the network and ease-of-use of the new Windows applications.
• Management was able to implement staffing reductions and greater overall profitability. 

• There was greater job satisfaction experienced by users at all levels.

• A high-visibility, high-risk project in which I had committed to the Director of IT to deliver an entirely new architecture for their remote Field Sales reps.

• Needed to produce Price Quotations with accurate customer pricing on their laptop. 
• As a result of my ability to deliver a prototype of the Price Quotation architecture in a short amount of time, the project scope was extended to include the rollout of the new architecture at the National Sales Meeting. 

• The entire project was a success.

• Project Manager

• Technical Architect
• PowerBuilder developer

• Process Design and Control Manager

• The Field Sales reps were not able to provide accurate Price Quotations to their customers in a timely manner. 

• Price Quotation requests were communicated to an internal Customer Service team to process the quotes and they were then manually faxed to the salesrep or directly to the customer. 
• The rollout of software and hardware upgrades at previous National Sales meetings did not have a high success rate.
• The IT organization was under pressure from Sales Management to deliver a better "product" at the National Sales Meeting. 

• The salesreps experienced numerous connectivity problems when connecting to the Corporate network via a dialup connection to retrieve their CRM file updates.

• Replaced the manual Price Quotation process with an automated Price Quote Report integrated into their in-house developed CRM application. 

• Integrated a TCPIP protocol stack via dialup from within the CRM application which then provided the connectivity that was necessary to connect directly to an Oracle database. 
• An existing Oracle Pricing Module stored procedure was utilized to perform the requested pricing within Oracle and the resulting Price Quotation data was transferred back down to the CRM database on the Sales Rep's laptop. 
• The salesrep could then either print the quotation or fax it to the customer directly from the laptop - with no Customer Service intervention. 
• A Microsoft NT Server running the Internet Information Server service was installed which acted both as an Intranet Web server to notify the sales organization of important announcements as well as a Gateway to their Novell Server which stored the CRM application update files. 
• The NT server provided the FTP services required to perform the actual file transfer of the CRM update files. 
• WinInstall software was used at the National Sales Meeting to standardize the process of software distribution across the Field Sales organization laptops. 

• No salesrep data files were lost in the upgrade process.

• The field sales reps were able to produce accurate, timely Price Quotations for their customers without the Customer Service organization being involved in the process. 

• Sales Reps could produce a custom price quote while at the customer site - which resulted in an increase in customer satisfaction and additional sales opportunities. 
• The connectivity problems were eliminated through the use of the integrated TCPIP stack
• The file transfer problems were eliminated by the FTP protocol. 
• The integration of the dialing process from within the CRM application led to greater acceptance by the field sales reps who dialed in more often for their data updates - resulting in shorter download times and greater salesrep productivity. 
• The use of the Oracle Price Quote stored procedure eliminated redundant code which made upgrades easier and more cost-efficient. 
• The National Sales Meeting hardware and software upgrades were completed two days ahead of schedule (instead of working 24 hours/day and still not making the deadline) so that salesrep training could be completed on schedule. 

• The Intranet site provided a vehicle for the Sales Administration and Field Help Desk Support personnel to communicate important information to the field salesreps in a more cost-efficient and timely manner.

Mar 1992 - Apr 1992 - Kidde, PLC. - United States Cash Management System (USCMS)

• This project was an exceptionally challenging one from an application design, development and delivery standpoint. 

• This mission-critical Treasury application required numerous internal controls

• The interface file which the Consolidating Bank provided was extremely difficult to parse.

• Application Architect

• dBASE developer

• The Treasury organization in this global holding company was using their Consolidating Bank to perform all of the required reporting for the Cash Management functions of the holding company and it's 35 affiliates. 

• This was a very expensive service and the organization wanted to eliminate the large monthly service charges.

• I designed, developed and implemented the USCMS application.

• Implemented automatic download of the Consolidating Bank transaction summary file (in BAI format) and processed the daily affiliate and Master account cash movements including zero-balancing transactions and daily debits/credits to the Master account. 
• The daily posting process incorporated the necessary controls to ensure the integrity of the transaction file and associated processing. 

• Warning thresholds were set and implemented to produce Management Warning reports so that only "problem" affiliates or "out of the ordinary" transactions were required to be reviewed.

• The Treasury organization was able to eliminate all of the outside vendor costs associated with their Cash management process in the United States. 

• The organization also saw increased productivity due to the elimination of a manual daily review process which was replaced by "exception" reporting. 
• The internal controls were implemented so that the system would signal an out-of-balance condition automatically - which eliminated the manual daily balancing. 

• The Treasury department could easily produce monthly statements to each affiliate showing a summary of each day's transactions for that month.