Curriculum Vitae

Summary of Experience

I graduated from Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1965, and then joined the computer department of Noranda Mines Limited. I worked for Noranda in a variety of computer related positions for 12 years, being manager of the 10 person Engineering and Planning Systems group when I left. In 1977, I formed my own systems consulting and development company, and have offered computer related services to a variety of industries and clients since that time. In 1995, I moved with my family from Canada to Australia, where I have continued offering systems services, as shown below.

Progress Experience

Since 1987, I have been developing systems using the Progress DBMS in the UNIX, DOS, and Windows environments. The following examples of Progress systems developed will give an indication of the scope of work that I have handled.

• Production Scheduling for a Laminated Beam Manufacturing Company
  This system imported sales order data from an older 3GL system, and by comparing sales orders to inventory, calculated the required production of "long" standard beams. After entry of specials, the Production report was printed. Each day the Cutting List calculated the optimal way to cut the "long" beams to meet the customer orders for the day. Finished goods inventory was also maintained. (Tasbeam Pty Ltd, Brisbane 2005)
  
  

• Purchasing and Supply Chain Management with EDI
  A purchasing system was written for ordering timber packs from several suppliers. Pack inventory is maintained by entering the packs delivered and used. The two largest suppliers communicate via EDI, with purchase orders and controls sent and order responses, dispatch advises and controls received. Orders are generated by the system daily based on usage and required minimum levels. (Australian Timber & Trusses Ltd, Nerang, Gold Coast)
  
  

• Call Tracking and Customer Relations Management
  All phone calls from customers that cannot be answered immediately are entered in the system, identifying the customer contact, person called, related job, and message. This uses a quick entry screen and is entered on the fly. The calls will show on the recipient's screen, and if not answered within 30 minutes, highlights in red and notifies reception and the supervisor. All complaint calls are logged and tracked through to resolution. (Australian Timber & Trusses Ltd)
  
  

• Distribution System for Manufactured Trusses
  Based on the jobs to be delivered for the day, and the available trucks, the system calculates which trucks will take which jobs, which jobs are to be loaded together. All suburbs in the delivery area have been entered into the map database with times and distances along routes. Based on this, the system schedules the truck runs for the day, including instructions on the route to take. This system has resulted in more doubled up runs and lower delivery costs. (Australian Timber & Trusses Ltd)
  
  

• Production Scheduling for a Timber Truss Manufacturer
  I designed and wrote a production scheduling system for their roof, wall, and floor truss manufacturing facility. The system interfaces to a Progress based order processing and accounting system, and to the Computer Aided Design (CAD) program. All trusses are then filtered to one ore more jigs capable of pressing them, and then a load balanced schedule is calculated subject to resource constraints. (Australian Timber & Trusses Pty Ltd ,1999)
  
  

• Financial Systems for a National White Goods Buying Group
  I have designed and developed a system for calculating turnover based revenue and tracking turnover of the 350 member stores. For more details, see Sample Systems. I have also developed a data warehouse system for storing sales and purchase data reported nightly by the suppliers and member stores. I have extensively modified the Rebate and Pricing system that maintained and distributed the national and state level pricing on all products for all stores. (Betta Stores Ltd, Brisbane 1995-99)
  
  

• Financial Systems for a Large Multi-National
  I developed a salesperson commission system for the multi-divisional sales force with over 75 account executives. The system was designed from the commission description information, and completely implemented. I also developed a complete financial reporting system, extracting data from the ASTEA system, and generating all financials for the business units and company consolidated (60+ reports). This information was then converted to the AT&T world wide accounting system structure, and transmitted to the USA for world-wide consolidation. (AT&T Canada Inc.,1992-95)
  
  

• Project Accounting for a Mining Exploration Company
  A complete project accounting system was written for this multi-office exploration company, with cheque and journal entry, budgets, consolidation of budget and actual, general ledger and general journal, and trial balance. Included were many project accounting reports. (Westminer Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Western Mines)
  
  

• Truck Scaling and Security System
  A UNIX based real time control system for truck scaling and security was extensively modified. The system monitors the incoming and outgoing truck scales, and when trucks scale out compares the actual weight with the theoretical weight of the material loaded, and alerts the operator if over or under. Using position loops and card readers, the system monitors the position of trucks and controls gates and lights for security purposes. (IKO Industries Limited, Toronto, Canada)
  
  

• Distribution System for a Franchisor
  I supplied and installed a 16 port UNIX system and installed and modified the PROSIT accounting and distribution system. This company had over 100 franchised stores, and sold wholesale of foods to the franchisees. I added a module for franchise fee ledger maintenance interfaced to the accounts receivable, and handled all computer support functions. (Baker's Dozen Donuts Inc, Toronto)
  
  

• Point of Sale and Purchasing System for the Rag Trade
  A point-of-sale system for the retail clothing industry was written. In the "rag trade", orders must be placed months ahead for the season, so purchasing is the function than can make or break an operation. A specialized purchase order entry with display of sales analysis was developed to assist in this critical function. (Retail Control Systems, Toronto)
  
  

• Executive Recruiting System
  A system was designed and implemented for this executive recruiting company, with data being held for both the clients and potential candidates. The system included on-line update of data, and matching of candidate qualifications to client needs. The system also had the capability to generate mail merge letters. (Barett, Rose & Lee, Toronto)
  
  

• Account Consolidation and Currency Conversion for a Mining Company
  The Small Business Accounting System (SBAS) from Eclectic Solutions Corp. was purchased and significantly modified to allow multi level consolidations for different divisions. The ability to do currency conversion on P&L and balance sheet accounts was added for the US subsidiaries. (Cliff Resources Corp, Toronto)
  
  

• Project Management and Contact Management for an Exploration Company
  Overall design and guidance was given to their programmer in the development of a general purpose accounting system with a construction project accounting module. This was done in version 2, with conversion to version 3 shortly after. Also, a contact management program with prospect data and a date tickle mechanism was designed. I supplied and supported their 16 port UNIX computer system as well. (Teeshin Resources Limited, Toronto, 1987)

Other Computer Experience

• Open Pit Mine Design system for a Major Mining Company
  After some initial programming work in Autocoder (assembly language) for the IBM 1440, I started
  working on geological and mining engineering applications in FORTRAN. I developed a complete mineralization modeling and mine design system, and published a paper in the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in 1972. This work was done for a multi-hundred million dollar expansion at the Gaspe Copper Mines subsidiary. Later these programs were generalized and used for many exploration prospects and operating mines in the Noranda group. I also developed a financial evaluation program that was used to evaluate projects around the world, including a generalized mining tax routine. When I left Noranda, I was manager of the 10 person Engineering & Planning Systems group. (Noranda Mines Limited, 1965 - 1977)

• Computer Consulting to the Mining Industry
  During the 1977-1987 period, I started a company doing computer consulting primarily in the mining industry. I had 6-10 employees and around 30 clients across Canada. We did mineralization modeling, mine design, ore reserves, acquisition analysis, statistical analysis, accounting and budget systems, and computer support. Most of our work was still done in FORTRAN, but some C and Unify database work was done. In 1985, due to the recession hitting the mining industry in Canada, the office was closed and I continued to work independently in the same areas. I also worked on a six month research project in computer graphics. (1977 - 1995)