Here's my story!

     I have a job at a large corporation with a long history of success. The opportunities here should be fantastic. My first position here is in the Order Services department as a reporting and/or data analyst.
     My previous experience with an adhoc reporting tool called FOCUS has gotten me a job here. The mission is to improve on the existing reports and help bring value and measurement from the large quantity of product and ordering data. My work in that department soon brings me an offer in another area of the company.
     My next position fits exactly with my FOCUS experience and is a challenge worthy of my experience. The systems integration group has built a project management and bill of material system using a stand alone FOCUS database application. Originally built by a single programmer, it has grown into a very large custom application and the keeper of the code is ready to retire. Here's my mission: take over complete ownership of the programming, keep it running and maybe even implement a few new features while the organization comes up with a plan to replace the custom application (in the next 12-18 months).
Five years later, here is what has happened:

• The VAX computer has been upgraded to handle the growth of the data (20 min runtimes are now down to 2 minutes)
• The varied reporting functions have been cleaned up to show consistent totals.
• A web reporting tool has been installed to allow graphical analysis and drill-down functionality
• MRP style consolidation of project requirements to improve quantity discounts and time phased buying

     Finally, we are ready to get off the legacy system. I get to be on the project implementation team as core team member and responsible for the area of the business that tracks progress billing and project completion. The reporting required to track pct of completion is very tricky and is critical to billing government projects. My role as keeper of the legacy system during the transition keeps me very busy. The project is completed around January of 2005 and I can see that my position will not be located at the Cleveland facility. With that in mind, I look for another challenging position to fill my need for a challenging position.
During my time here, I have learned a lot of new tools:

• Using Oracle database for creating data views and reporting objects
• Complex Crystal report development for getting the data into a useful output for project managers and management
• Developing applications in Visual Basic and Microsoft Access
• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer - understanding how to deploy and manage desktop computers in a large corporation (works most of the time)

     I have been lucky to get a great job at a smaller company. Their business is MRO supplies and my mission is to help bring newer technology and automation to a business that started out as a group of sales people writing orders by hand and mailing them to the warehouse for filling. That was 1948.
     With the help of a forward thinking IT Manager, we were able to integrate many technologies into the sales force and improve the speed at which orders are filled and received by the customer. With barcode scanning, cell phone technology and a hand-held computer, we were able to get orders that were sent at 2pm on a Monday filled and the product received by the customer by Tuesday afternoon.

The technology included:

• MC70 hand held scanner with cell phone internet connection
• SOTI remote control software to help users and deploy software updates
• NetMotion automatic VPN software for hand held and laptop computers
• VB.Net for developing the sales application and MSDE for storing the data
• Dexterra data synchronization for getting the orders from the salespeople
• Opticon thumb size scanner to allow the customers to scan their own product orders
• Zebra barcode printers to allow automatic creation of new labels for the bins and drawers