Kevin McBrearty
Systems Planning
Project Management
Feasibility Studies
Requirements Analysis
Software Package Selection
Computer Hardware and Software Selection
Electronic Data Interchange
Client Server Architectures
Systems Analysis
Systems Design
Programming
Object-Oriented Analysis, Design and Programming
Windows, Mac OS/X, Linux (Suse)
Delphi, Objective-C, C#, Java, SQL
Pervasive Btrieve, MicroSoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, MS Access, Interbase/Firebird, Paradox
Delphi 1-XE2, XCode 3/4, Visual Studio 2003/2005, Eclipse 3.2
B. Comm. (Computer Systems) McGill University '77
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Sept. '86 - Present ATG AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES GROUP
Vision 200 Travel Group (2007 - present)
Was responsible for the development of several sales analysis and management reporting programs for this company specialising in travel management. Programs were developed in Delphi 7 and Microsoft SQL Server.
SODRAC (November 2005 - present)
Was responsible for the development and maintenance of a number of applications concerned with the management of musical copyright royalties for SODRAC, the Society for Reproduction Rights for Authors, Composers and Publishers of Canada. These systems were developed in Delphi 7 with access to the Pervasive Btrieve database (version 8.6, later upgraded to version 10).
Was also responsible for the development and maintenance of SODRAC's interactive website which provides access to its database of musical works and authors/composers. This was developed in ASP.Net using C#.
Corfi.com Web Project (2001- 2005)
Was responsible for the design and development of the Corfi.com web project. Corfi.com is a website that allows subscribers to search for a restaurant in their area and place orders online for delivery or takeout meals.
As primary developer was responsible for setting up development and testing environments using Tomcat, Velocity, MySQL, Eclipse, as well as development of the Java servlets code. Performed some JavaScript, HTML and CSS development as well.
An additional monitor component was written using Kylix to run on a Linux server.
Alcan – ALPS Project (July 2000 - 2001)
Was involved in the Automated Load Planning System (ALPS) project at Alcan. This project was concerned with providing a production planning system for Alcan's rolling plants. The program downloads actual production information from Alcan's operations systems and allows the user to analyze and forecast future machine loads based on historical and forecasted production levels.
As primary developer was responsible for the detailed design and programming of the system. The system was developed in Delphi 5 and uses an Access database through ADO.
Tardif, Murray & Assoc. Inc. (June '98 - present)
Assisted in the development of a document and litigation management software tool called ISAD (Integrated System for Access to Data). This software was developed in Delphi 3.0, using a Paradox database, and was designed to facilitate the filing, searching and retrieving of documents.
Later enhancements added a complete TWAIN scanning and OCR capability, and the system was converted to Delphi 5.
Continue to be involved in ongoing enhancements.
Grand Toys (July '97 – Present)
As the senior developer, was involved in a project which was concerned with the implementation of the Solomon IV for Windows accounting package, as well as the re-development of all remaining information systems to work in a client-server environment. Was responsible for the design (object-oriented) and development of a series of modules which integrated with the Solomon IV system. These modules were programmed originally in Delphi 1.0 (16-bit) and were later converted to Delphi 3.0 (32-bit), and accessed the Btrieve database upon which Solomon is based.
The modules developed included Order Entry, Order Release, Purchasing, Invoicing, Receiving, Costing, as well as a large number of secondary systems. Reports were created using Crystal Reports 6.0 and Report Builder
The system ran on a Novell Netware 4.11 network.
Continue to be involved in ongoing enhancements.
Alcan – NETTING Project (August '96 - April '97)
Was involved in the Netting project at Alcan. This project was concerned with analysing the movement of aluminum ingots and coils among different Alcan plants in North America. The goal was to improve the overall production process by identifying bottlenecks and delays.
The project involved receiving detailed receiving, production, and shipping data in electronic form from each of several Alcan plants, and loading that data into an Oracle data base where the data could be analysed.
Was responsible for installation and configuration of the Windows/NT server for the project, installation and configuration of Oracle Workgroup Server for Windows/NT, design and implementation of the Oracle data base, and the development of various programs in Delphi 2.0 to validate and load the raw data files into the Oracle data base.
Alcan - HARPS Project (March '96 - August '96)
Was involved in the Heuristic Alcan Rolling Plant Simulator(HARPS) project at Alcan. This project consisted of developing a simulation model of an aluminum rolling plant which could be used by plant managers to optimize the utlization of the plant.
The system was developed using Delphi, as well as some complex simulation models written in C++.
As one of the two developers on the project, was responsible primarily for the database maintenance programs, which allowed the user to build the model of the plant, its machines, crews, etc. The system used Paradox tables.
Bell-SYGMA (Dec. '95 - Feb. '96)
Acted as senior consultant on the Maintenance Spares Optimization (MSO) project Bell Sygma. This project was concerned with the development of a system to manage the distributed inventory of spare telecommunications equipment used to maintain Bell’s network. As senior consultant was responsible for contributing the technical portion of the overall feasibility study.
L. Tardif Construction Consultants Inc. (Dec. '95 - Feb.' 96)
Assisted in the development of a software questionnaire developed as part of a study carried out by L. Tardif in conjunction with Human Resources Development Canada, the Canadian Construction Association, the Canadian Home Builders Association, and the Canadian Office of the Building Trades. The software was developed using Borland Delphi for Windows and was distributed to various individuals and groups in the construction industry.
Bell-SYGMA (Sept. '95 - Nov.' 95)
Acted as project coordinator for the Port Management Process Improvement (PMPI) project at Bell Sygma. This project was concerned with the development of a system to manage the inventory and assignment of internal telecommunications resources within Bell. A prototype of the final application was developed using Borland Delphi.
DBM Reflex Enterprises Inc. (May '95 - August '95)
Acted as senior consultant performing a systems integration study and needs analysis.
DBM Reflex is one of the world's leading manufacturers of custom injection moulds for reflective plastic covers, in particular as used in the automobile industry.
The study involved an overall study of the existing computer and manual systems, and recommendations for specific automation and integration initiatives.
The study covered all areas of the company including Sales, Accounting, Purchasing, Engineering, Production, Human Resources, and Quality Assurance.
Detailed data and process models were produced as part of the final deliverables.
CCTC Canada (ADT) Inc. (July '93 - Jan. '95)
Acted as project manager for the Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) project.
The project was concerned with the development of real time software to control the operation of AEI equipment used to identify rail cars. The AEI systems identify rail cars passing by an AEI station using a combination of video and electronic tagging technology.
The system uses EDI technology to transfer data from reading stations at trackside to central computers.
As project manager was responsible for all planning, project control, and project management activities, as well as the high level systems architecture. Was responsible for a team of 10 developers, made up of consultants and CCTC employees.
The system was developed in C and C++.
Métro-Richelieu (May - July '93)
Acted as project manager of the data architecture group for the Virage project.
The Virage project is concerned with the re-design and re-development of all operational systems for Métro-Richelieu, including customer management, supplier management, product and pricing management, purchasing, etc.
The data architecture group was responsible for the definition of the physical data base structure and the data base maintenance transactions.
As manager of the data architecture group was responsible for a team of 4 Métro-Richelieu data architects as well as other consultants.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (Feb. '93)
Performed the preliminary analysis for the Continuing Medical Education (CME) Reporting System for the BMS pharmaceutical group.
The CME system is concerned with the budget, control, and tracking of continuing medical education activities organized by BMS representatives, such as physicians conferences, seminars, speaking tours, etc.
The system tracks planned and completed expenditures vs. the budget by product line, and also is used to track specific expense items for CME events.
VIA Rail Canada Inc. (Aug. '91 - Oct. '92)
As advisor to the project manager was responsible for all project planning, control, and preliminary analysis for a major client-server development project.
The project was concerned with the development of an integrated revenue accounting system for VIA Rail. The selected platform consisted of a Novell local area network, using MicroSoft SQL data base server running under OS/2 and Paradox development software with SQL Link.
Was responsible not only for the planning of the project but was also called upon to provide advice and counseling on various issues related to the development of PC based applications in general, in particular in an environment of such technical complexity.
Transportation Development Centre (Dec. '89 - Aug. '91)
Was Project Manager for a feasibility study conducted on behalf of Transport Canada, and under the direction of the Transportation Development Centre.
This feasibility study examined the possibility of establishing an electronic waybill through Electronic Data Interchange to provide emergency response information in cases of rail accidents involving dangerous goods.
A PC-based prototype was developed as part of the study.
As project manager was responsible for preparing the detailed project plan, overseeing the project team, as well as performing some of the actual study work.
Was specifically responsible for examining EDI-related issues and mapping emergency response information requirements onto existing EDI standards.
The study involved working with various groups including Transport Canada, rail carriers, dangerous goods producers, fire departments and emergency response personnel, U.S. Department of Transport, etc.
Canadian National Railways (Feb. '89 - Dec. '89)
Was engaged by CN to develop and deliver a customized course for the EXCELERATOR product.
EXCELERATOR is a Computer Assisted Software Engineering product running on an IBM PC, which supports various modeling and analysis functions associated with systems analysis and design.
The course was designed to provide an introduction to the product, how it fit into the systems development life cycle, and how it could be used in a systems development environment.
The course included hands-on workshops, and was given to 40 members of CN's systems development staff.
Financial Collection Agencies (Dec. '89)
Performed preliminary analysis on a project to implement a cooperative processing application at FCA.
The application in question was the Collector System, which is the primary operations system at FCA. The project was concerned with moving the applications logic from a Tandem platform to a PC platform, with data base access routines to access the Tandem central data base.
The analysis involved examination of the functional enhancements which could be implemented on the PC platform, as well as the technical aspects of having the PC programs access a Tandem data base.
International Tunisian Fair (May '88 - May '89)
Was senior consultant on a CIDA feasibility study for the International Tunisian Fair.
The feasibility study was concerned with examining the establishment of a computerized trade data bank for the International Tunisia Fair, an organization partly owned by the Tunisian government whose mandate is to promote trade among various Arab, African, and Islamic countries.
The data bank in question will contain various trade data at the national level as well as for individual import/export firms.
As part of the feasibility study team was responsible for collecting field data, involving trips to Europe and the Middle East, as well as contributing to the preliminary data analysis and the writing of the final report.
Canada Post Corporation (Feb. '88 - Sept. '89)
Was senior technical resource on a project to evaluate and select modeling tools for Canada Post's Information Resource Management group.
The Information Resource Management group (IRM) is responsible for the high level corporate data and business modeling aspects of Canada Post's information architecture approach, and as such were searching for computer based modeling tools to assist in these high level modeling and strategic systems planning activities.
Was responsible for planning the evaluation process and coordinating the work of several Canada Post employees.
As senior technical resource was also responsible for installing the software to be evaluated, setting up the necessary hardware configurations, and troubleshooting any problems.
Specific packages which were evaluated were Information Engineering Facility (I.E.F.) from Texas Instruments, Information Engineering Workbench (I.E.W.) from Knowledgeware, and Super-Mate from L.B.M.S.
After selection of the IEW product, set up and conducted training sessions for pilot project team, customized the Canada Post methodology to coincide with the use of the tool, and developed and published usage guidelines.
As technical consultant participated in the evaluation of a number of Cullinet software products for application prototyping and code generation, specifically IDMS/Architect and the Enterprise family of products.
Canadian National Railways (Dec. '88 - Feb. '89)
Was senior consultant on a project to implement Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capabilities at CN.
The project was concerned with setting up EDI transactions for CN` s Revenue Systems department.
Was involved in performing the detailed design of the processing of incoming EDI transactions, updating CN's in-house systems, creating outgoing transactions, and logging them to an audit facility.
The transactions involved were concerned with accepting advance consist notification from the Railink system operated by AAR (Association of American Railroads).
Was also responsible for supervising ATG's development team which developed and implemented this facility. This facility was created in a CICS, COBOL, IDMS environment.
Canada Post Corporation (June '87 - Nov. '87)
Acted as project manager for the Development Support Centre project within Canada Post.
This project was concerned with the establishment of a permanent support function within the Systems Development group, to be responsible for such functions as productivity measurement, evaluation of productivity improvement tools and techniques, and methodologies.
As project manager, was responsible for a staff of four Canada Post employees and one consultant.
This project was also responsible for recommending CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) tools to be used at Canada Post as part of the productivity improvement effort.
As one step of the project over 60 CASE software products were identified, covering such areas as diagramming, prototyping, and code-generation.
A number of CASE software tools were brought in-house as part of the project and detailed evaluations and testing done on them to determine the best ones for Canada Post.
Another mandate of this project was to modify Canada Post's current systems development methodology (STRADIS) to incorporate information architecture concepts as well as the use of new tools and techniques such as prototyping. This new methodology was developed and documented by members of the project team.
The Development Support project made specific published recommendations to Canada Post management covering a wide range of productivity oriented issues for Systems Development.
These recommendations addressed the use of CASE tools in general, the recommended tools, their use and implementation, the ongoing mandate and organization of a permanent development support function, and the use of specific productivity measurement techniques within Canada Post.
Merck Frosst Canada Inc. (Dec. '86)
Performed an initiation study for the acquisition of a Purchasing software system for implementation at Merck Frosst.
Wrote the initiation study report which documented the options available to Merck Frosst and recommended a course of action.
The primary recommendation of the Initiation study report was to purchase and install the Purchasing software package from American Software. This recommendation was accepted and acted upon by Merck Frosst.
Oct. '83 - Aug. '86 MERCK FROSST CANADA INC.
Manager, Systems Development
Was responsible for all activities of the systems development group at Merck Frosst.
The responsibilities of the systems development group ranged from feasibility studies through analysis, design, development, implementation, training, and maintenance.
Was responsible for application development and maintenance on equipment including IBM System/3, System/34, and System/38.
Oversaw corporate data base installation project, including enterprise modeling, data analysis, and data base design.
Oversaw evaluation, selection, and installation of General Ledger and Accounts Payable software packages from McCormack & Dodge.
Oversaw major applications development projects in the areas of Sales, Marketing, Purchasing, Distribution, and Finance.
Conducted initiation study and oversaw preliminary analysis for an order entry system development project.
Performed evaluation, selection, and installation of methodologies, productivity improvement tools and techniques, and computer aided software engineering tools (EXCELERATOR) within the Systems Development group.
Was responsible for a staff of 11 resources: 3 systems analysts, 4 programmer/analysts, and 4 programmers.
Was responsible for administrative, planning, personnel, and budgetary matters associated with the Systems Development group.
Oct. '82 - Oct. '83 IMPERIAL TOBACCO LTD.
Systems Analyst
Performed evaluation of 4th generation language products and made recommendations regarding purchase.
Was involved in pilot projects of INFO 4th generation language product on DEC VAX.
Was senior systems analyst on project to develop an online distributed order entry system for Imperial Tobacco's regional distribution centre's.
Personally conducted the feasibility study for this project, as well as overseeing the functional and detailed systems analysis, detailed systems design, programming, and testing.
Directly supervised a development team of 4 analyst/programmers and programmers.
The system was developed on a DEC VAX 750 and was implemented on a network of distributed VAX 730 processors, located in Imperial Tobacco's various regional distribution centres.
This system addressed the functions of order entry, inventory management, production of shipping documents, and management of various accounts for sales representatives and marketing functions performed by the regional offices.
Sales data was transmitted daily from the various VAX 730 units in the regional offices to the central VAX 750 in Montreal, where it was consolidated and then transferred to a NAS mainframe processor for invoicing and sales reporting.
'77 - '82 CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS
Systems Analyst
Was involved in the REPAIRS project, a major computerization effort at Canadian National.
Conducted the feasibility study for the project, which was concerned with providing automated support to many of the functions performed in CN's line point locomotive shops.
These functions included the scheduling and shop floor control for locomotive repairs, maintenance, and inspection. Additional areas of automation included processing of engine oil sample analysis, maintenance of locomotive repair history, management of work in progress, and time keeping.
An additional function of the system was to communicate with CN's traffic control system, TRACS, to maintain up to date status information on locomotives heading for the shop or locomotives currently in the shop.
As systems analyst, performed the functional and requirements analysis, cost/benefit analysis, and the operating hardware/software environment evaluation.
Also supervised the startup project team.
Was involved in the detailed system and data base design, done for the HP-3000 environment, using COBOL, TRANSACT, and IMAGE data base.
Programmer/Analyst
Participated in the internal design and programming of an online fixed plant inventory data base maintenance facility.
The system was developed for the Engineering department of CN, and was used to maintain an online inventory of the various fixed plant facilities which the department was responsible for.
These facilities included bridges, tunnels, culverts, and public and private railway crossings.
The system was an online application programmed in COBOL using CICS/BMS. The data base was designed and implemented in IDMS.
Performed additional programming in OLQ and CULPRIT, and used the CICS test and debug facilities.
Programmer
Participated in the design and programming of a system to produce schematic diagrams of railroad track layouts from track information files.
The system was used to produce the diagrams of the track layouts, showing the location of facilities such as bridges and crossings, for the use of maintenance crews.
The schematics allowed the crews to more accurately determine the location of where work was to be done, as well as to assign the correct identity numbers to the facilities being worked on when preparing their work reports.
The system read files containing data on the various tracks, their inter-connections, and the location and type of the various facilities, and converted the data into X and Y coordinates suitable for plotting on an electro-static plotter.
The system was programmed in COBOL and FORTRAN.