Personal Details
Name Mr. Christopher Paul
Gardner
Address
Date of Birth
Nationality Australian
Marital Status Single
Phone
Home (03) 9481 2710
Other Passport Holder
Member
of Australian Computer Society
Member
of Australian Mensa
Member of Oxfam Skill Sharing Scheme.
Email christophergardner@bigpond.com.au
Education
University
Bachelor of Applied Science
(Computing)
High School Higher School Certificate -
Marcellin College
Executive Summary
I am a information technology (I.T) Business Analyst with a
proven expertise in Business Process analysis, Systems & Data Integration, Data
migration, Data Warehouse analysis and design, ERP implementation, technical
solution design, technology implementation, project management and business
alliance creation.
I believe that my proven
communication skills have enabled me to both be able to gain information from
business stakeholders as well as to communicate my ideas to ensure that the end
product satisfied all business requirements.
I have spent the
last two years on process and data integration projects, enabling a full data
integration suite of EDI messages between National Foods and its two largest
customers (Woolworths and Coles). These integrations use EDI & XML as
message formats between the incoming EDI using webMethods as its Data
Integration Tool and loading the messages through into two versions of the
destination ERP (MFG Pro). On these projects I had a mix of roles from senior
business analyst to ERP technical lead as well as Testing Manager. All projects
were required within strict customer dictated timescales. Within both of these
projects I sat on the working group as technical liaison for the project.
Prior to these
data integration projects I was involved in an MFG Pro ERP roll out where I
designed and implemented an interface between National Foods and its 3PL
logistics supplier (P&O) using the webMethods as the data integration tool
and implementing an EDI messaging and a custom built XML transactional interface.
Previously, I
spent two years as senior business analyst and technical team lead on a number
of projects as well as providing a support role for the National Foods Financial
Data Warehouse. During this time I worked in a troubleshooting role for any
problems that may come up either in design or the day to day working of the
implementations, as well as full responsibility for the design of data models
in order to provide a cohesive and integrated end product. These designs
included the use of data dictionaries (in order to aid in the overall cohesion
of the product) and meta data (to aid in the
flexibility of the end product).
For the previous
nine years I was an ERP implementation consultant for a large
These
implementations included performing risk and gap analysis to determine where
the product did not fully meet their requirements as well as championing the
new product and creating clear and effective communication channels between the
IT project team and business stakeholders. I implemented most modules of ERP
from procurement through to inventory and shop floor control, costing, MRP,
planning, logistics and supply chain management.
I participated
in the analysis and documentation of current business processes and new system
design, highlighting local variations, inefficiencies or issues as well as
positive features of the current activities or processes which were to be
retained in the new redesigned business processes.
I have
had full responsibility for the production of the full suite of mission
critical documents in order to present coherent advice to the steering
committee and working group.
I have
designed data migration strategies with emphasis on data cleansing in order to
ensure data integrity, in order to integrate legacy data into the new
implementation.
I actively
worked with other project team members to transfer knowledge via a team
mentoring process.
General Summary
My Main Strengths are
Business Analysis, Design, Migration,
Testing & Documentation
·
Liaison with major stakeholders and key users to
determine user requirements and overall project scope.
·
Analysis of business processes, documentation of
those processes, determining user/ system requirements and issues and
translating them into functional specifications.
·
Analysis of requirements and production of
alternatives with business issues in mind.
·
Liaison between the technical teams and the business
end users in order to bring both sides together to fully determine user
requirements and the system's technical capabilities and limitations.
·
Many years experience in various industries including
finance, defense, manufacturing, aerospace and brewing/ distilling. Giving a
broad experience base to bring to any opportunity.
·
Systems analysis and design with regards to the implementation
of the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process.
·
Data analysis in order to understand the full
migration requirements of data from legacy to new systems.
·
Implementation of testing strategies in order to
determine the functional integrity of the system.
·
Documentation of all procedures, data models and
data flow at both a user and technical level.
·
All levels of documentation especially to the
standards of ISO9000
Data Migration and Cleansing
·
Data and system Migration and integration of
existing legacy system data from the old systems through to the new system
including data cleansing.
·
Data conversions/ Data mapping and system
implementations (especially in the ERP & Financial arenas)
Data Warehouse
·
Data Warehouse/ Business Intelligence analysis and
design. Business analysis/ team leading & implementation of new financial
data warehouses. These designs included the use of meta
data and full reference capabilities.
·
Design/ development using the Informatica ETL tool
in order to extract data from a source system and import it into the data
warehouse.
·
Analysis, design and implementation of OLAP cubes
out of the financial data warehouse using SQL Server database.
·
Analysis/ design & implementation of interface
between the financial and sales data warehouses ensuring accurate data mapping
between both systems.
Data Modeling
·
Use of the Oracle Designer 2000 Case tool in order
to aid in the design of the warehouse architecture.
·
Use of recognised data warehouse data modeling
concepts (i.e. using Star and snowflake schemas).
·
Use of complex data modeling designs for dimension
and fact data structures.
·
Data analysis and modeling of relational databases
(namely Oracle, Supra, DB2)
Project Management
·
Management of small teams (up to 5 people).
·
Experience of reporting to management at all levels
from line managers to working groups, steering committees and the board of
directors.
ERP
·
Setup of EDI customers and maintenance of the EDI
setup within the ERP system.
·
Knowledge of the full range of ERP modules and broad
experience of ERP implementation for a range of industries in a range of
countries.
·
Conducting education courses in ERP for users as
well as technical staff on an international level (i.e. conducted classes in
Support
·
Support of existing ERP, Financials & Data
integration packages and supporting them through the supplier’s helpdesk and
applying any patches/ releases that may be necessary.
·
Troubleshooting role as first call support person at
various ERP implementations including telecommunications (Ericsson Ltd),
Distilling (Guinness PLC) & Aerospace (Lucas Aerospace) involving on call
support role where quick solutions were required in order to ensure that
productions lines were not affected (in some cases potentially resulting in
hundreds of thousands of pounds lost should the system be unavailable).
·
Support role for the various data warehouses that I
have implemented ensuring the integrity of the information in the data
warehouse(s) agrees with the data in the source systems (MFG Pro).
Programming
·
Implementation, design & analysis of both data
extraction and back end update procedures in PL/SQL using an Oracle 9i
relational database.
·
Development of Web based customisations using ASP
& JavaScript
·
Development of modifications using Cobol &
Mantis
General
·
Good communication skills and am very confident in
proposing and discussing ideas with key stakeholders or the rest of the project
team
·
Very much goal oriented and see myself as a
facilitator toward getting the project completed on time and hopefully in
budget
·
Very much quality focused in the creation of the
finished product and ensure through testing
methodologies that the finished product is defect free.
IT Employment History
Company : National Foods Contract (July 2001 - present)
Environment : Operating Systems Unix
Languages PL/SQL
Databases Oracle
9i database, Progress
Packages Oracle Designer 2000,
TOAD, Visio,
Microsoft Office,
Microsoft Project,
Reflections,
Microsoft Access,
MFG Pro ERP
System
MiddleWare webMethods
Reporting
Skills Utilised
·
Analysis/ design of the business rules for projects
in consultation with key business users.
·
Business analyst, data analyst, technical lead and
test manager roles in all projects.
·
Using the message implementation guides provided by
the customers design an integration solution using B2B internet AS2
connectivity for delivery and transmission and receipt of EDI messaging using
webMethods as an integration layer.
·
Design, implement and test a logistics interface
between NFL and its logistics partner P&O to provide details of shipping
and stock transactions using webMethods in order to facilitate the shipment of
goods from the external warehouses.
·
Review of process models and evaluation of inputs,
outputs and data stores
·
Development of a high level logical data model and
the description of primary entities and relationships, moving from the Logical
to Physical data models.
·
Implementation of complex data modeling designs for
dimension and fact data structures.
·
Migration of existing legacy system data from the
existing systems through to the new data warehouse.
·
Use of the Oracle Designer 2000 Case tool in
implementation of the warehouse data and process modeling and design.
·
Implementation of data warehouse data modeling
concepts (i.e. using Star and snowflake schema).
·
Designing Interfaces from the business ERP systems
(MFG Pro) in order to source financial data for the Data Warehouse.
·
Translation of Business rules into design of ETL
tools for implementation of the Data warehouse using a variety of data sources.
·
Implementation & design of ETL procedures in
PL/SQL using an Oracle 9i relational database.
·
Implementation of OLAP cubes out of the financial
data warehouse from Oracle based data structures into a SQL Server database.
·
Documentation of all procedures, data models, data
sources and data flow at both a functional, user and technical level.
·
Implementation of the full ETL process for the date
warehouse
·
Day to day support of existing production data
warehouse environment.
Company : Cincom Systems
Environment :
Operating Systems Unix , DEC
Vax/VMS, Vax Alpha, IBM 3090
TSO/ ISPF, CICS
Languages Microfocus Cobol,
Vax Cobol, COBOL II, JCL
Web Experience ASP,
HTML, Javascript
Databases Oracle 7 database, Supra database,
VSAM
Packages Oracle
Designer 2000, TOAD, Visio,
Microsoft Office,
Microsoft Project,
Reflections,
Microsoft Access
Skills Utilised
·
Project leading in various customer sites for
implementation and user customisation of the Cincom ERP system
·
Broad experience in various industries including
defense, manufacturing (support of ERP systems for 10 years)
, aerospace and brewing/ distilling. Giving a broad experience base to
bring to any opportunity.
·
Support of existing ERP & Financials packages and supporting them through
the Cincom helpdesk and applying any patches/ releases that may be required.
·
Setup of EDI customers and maintenance of the EDI
setup within the Control ERP system.
·
Business Analysis/ determining user requirements of
Customisations anywhere in the ERP process. For a variety of industries (ie. Brewing, aerospace, distilling, defense) in a variety
of countries (ie.
·
Interfacing the ERP system into the Coda financials
system.
·
Liaising with key business users in order to
determine project requirements and overall project scope.
·
Use of SSADM and Thomsett structured
analysis techniques
·
Production of documentation to ISO9000 standards.
·
Development of feasibility/ proof of concept reports
for the key stakeholders/ steering committee
·
Gap analysis between standard system and user
requirements
·
Translating of business requirements into functional
specifications
·
Interfacing the ERP system into External or legacy
systems
·
Extensive knowledge of financials systems and their
relationships to the ERP process
·
Regression testing of modifications in regard to
system integrity
·
Full testing of all Enhancements as well as testing
of the integrity of the full ERP process
·
Training of users in ERP modules
·
Troubleshooting role for any queries involved with
the system
·
Team leader of project teams of up to 5 people
·
Liaison with management about customisation progress
·
Database design and analysis for new data structures
·
Documentation of all new enhancements
·
Involvement in whole development SDLC
·
Development of Web based customisations using ASP
& Javascript
·
Development of modifications using Cobol &
Mantis
·
Migration of existing legacy ERP systems through to
the new system through a process of data mapping and data conversion.
Summary of Involvement in
User Customisations for Cincom Systems
Duration (Feb 2000 – March 2001) Location: Maidenhead (
Customer: Lucas
Aerospace Position
: ERP Support Consultant
Analysis, design and implementation of
customisations to the ERP system in order to interface with the Coda financials
system.
Design of customisations of the ERP system in order
to cope with lot traceability requirements inherent within the aerospace
industry.
Working proactively within the project team framework (as Business
Analyst) in order to head off any potential problems that the system may
encounter.
Overall troubleshooting role for any problems coming out of the day to
day
running of the system which were
too difficult for customer support staff to
handle.
Duration (Dec 1998 – Dec
1999) Location:
Customer: United Distillers Position : ERP
Support Consultant
Setup of EDI transactional interface between United
Distillers and its suppliers for procurement of raw materials.
Designed/ Developed a new manufacturing system
for Malt production for United
Distillers. The system was based on the
Cincom ERP system "Control" version 1.4 implemented using the
manufacturing/ lot traceability and planning modules
General troubleshooting role for any problems encountered in the
implementation.
Duration (May 1998 – Dec
1998) Location:
Customer – Heiwa
Group Position : ERP
Support Consultant
Assisted in implementation of Cincom’s Control:Manufacturing
ERP system
into new customer (Heiwa) as well as performed
education courses for Cincom
employees in all modules of the
Control ERP system.
Produced as well as vetted business requirements in order to determine
implementation strategy as well as implementation of "best-fit"
customisations.
Duration (May 1995 – May
1998) Location: Melbourne (AUS)
Customer – Ericsson
Implemented the Control OMS (Logistics System), CMS
(Cost Management System) & MRP packages and user customisation as per
Business requirements.
On call support for the full period of the contract and general
troubleshooting role for any problems that came up in the day to day running of
the system.
Team leading role in the facilitation of the new
system.
Duration (May 1992 – May
1995) Location :
Customer – United
Distillers Position :
Support Consultant
Project leader in the implementation of the Cincom manufacturing
package in
United Distillers with design and analysis work on customisations to
allow for
Customs and Excise requirements in the
Duration (Dec 1991 – May 1992) Location:
Customer – Guinness
Brewing Position: Support Analyst/ Programmer
Implementation of Cincom’s Logistics and supply chain systems as well
as producing
interfaces to other Guinness feeder systems
and development work required for
customisation of the system to meet user
requirements.
Duration (Aug 1992 – Dec 1992) Location:
Customer - Thorn EMI Position: Analyst/ Programmer
Analysis/ design/ Implementation of Cincom’s MRP manufacturing package
and customisation as per customer requirements.
Duration (Jan 1992 – Aug
1992) Location:
Customer –
Implementation of new Order Management System and modifications to existing
ERP system in order to cater to needs of client. Development of data take-on
programs in
order to more easily effect
implementation. VAX/VMS environment.
Other Contracts Prior to
Cincom Involvement
Duration (July 1990 – Dec 1990) Location : SevenOaks (
Company : Marley Roof
Tiles Position : Contract Analyst/ Programmer
Modifications to the Cincom Logistics system in order to cater for new
user requirements.
Duration (Dec
1989 – Jun 1990) Location :
Company : Morgan Grenfell Position : Contract Support Analyst
Support of the MSA financials package being implemented for this
merchant
bank. General troubleshooting role for any
problems encountered with the
implementation. IBM
environment.
Design of new cheque printing facility
Duration (Dec 1988 – May 1989) Location :
Company : Unipart PLC Position : Contract Support Analyst
Support of the MSA financials package. General
troubleshooting role for any
problems and liaison with MSA for
fixing any problems. IBM environment Design
of migration software to implement new QSP
financials systems as well as
producing interfaces for legacy DB2
systems.
Duration (Aug 1988 – Dec 1988) Location :
Company : Reuters PLC Position : Contract Analyst/ Programmer
Programming and testing role for in house developments of a workshop
repair
system designed especially for
Reuters using a VSAM database. IBM environment.
Duration (May 1988 – July
1988) Location :
Company : Argos PLC Position : Contract Programmer
Programming and testing role for in house developments using Easytrieve, Cobol
and the Cincom Total database. IBM environment.
Duration (Jan 1985 – Mar
1988) Location :
Company : Barclays Bank Position : Programmer
Online/ batch programming using Cobol and
Mantis (4GL) as well as chief
support for the MSA financials
package.