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Thomas McLaren's Resume

Work Synopsis

Over eleven years experience in design, development, implementation, and maintenance of a variety of business information systems. Very experienced in requirements gathering and  business process analysis, modeling business processes to comprehensive IT solutions utilizing software and hardware, development team management, clear written and oral communication to and from technical and non-technical staff, programming, hardware integration, testing, documentation, scheduling, change management, budgeting, implementation, and the training of users and IT staff. Highly adaptable and has worked closely creating solutions with clients in the fields of:  Manufacturing, Retail, Insurance, Medical, Accounting, Banking, Human Resources, and Education.

Technical background includes many successful projects using products from Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and IBM. Possesses working knowledge of the Windows and Macintosh operating systems and the network operating systems from Microsoft and Novell. Experienced in the installation, operation, and maintenance of Intel-based desktop and server systems. Functional lead roles include: Project Manager, Business Process Analyst, Software Architect, Lead Programmer, Quality Assurance Lead, Technical Lead, and Trainer. Team roles have included the same and Programmer / Analyst, Technical Writer, and Network Administrator / Technician. Has worked equally well as a self-starting independent and as a team player throughout IT career.

Professional Experience

Computer Skills

Education

Organizations

Certifications

Work History

In the over the seven years he has been with S & P Solutions, has researched and written many of the proposals for projects for S & P Solutions undertakes as off-site development work by working closely with the client's content experts, modeling their business processes, and researching the subject area to become comfortable in presenting the concepts to the client and the programming staff. For the projects completed at S & P Solutions, has created coding standards, error tracking systems, documentation, management reports, implementation strategies, schedules, budgets, and has run code review meetings as well as managed and trained teams of programmers.

Lead the Discovery and Design phases of project to implement the Balanced Scorecard Management System for a manufacturer. Created the documentation to solidify the requirements, vision, and scope. Prototyped the solution using Visual Basic and ADO .NET tools. Wrote first draft of user manual.

Using Visual Basic .NET, designed, programmed, and tested software that gathered information from SQL Server and Access databases using ADO .NET connections to create web pages for publication on the Internet. Wrote the user manual and trained the users.

Worked closely with content experts and thoroughly researched competing products to create the functional specifications for a task based scheduling system. The system is able to schedule any kind of appointment with intelligent, automatic resource management. The system enforces user defined business rules, yet allows for most of them to be broken to easily accommodate the extreme, outlying situations that are bound to occur in any setting. This program will be built in Visual Basic .NET with a Windows or Internet delivered user interface with a database component that can be based in either Microsoft's SQL Server, IBM's UDB, or Oracle depending on client specifications.

Functioned as an IT Business Analyst and Software Architect for a large paint manufacturer deploying upgrades and enhancements to an existing Visual Basic project. Interviewed the staff and created documentation on where their current system fell short of their current business practices. Developed a project plan to implement the changes. Worked with management at the IT and Customer level to develop specifications and approval sign off documentation. Worked with end users to formulate testing procedures.

Assigned as a Project Manager / Software Architect to create a program for a leasing company located outside of Detroit, Michigan that allowed their clients to keep track of their own leases. This multi-user program employed Visual Basic, 6.0 Enterprise, Access, and ADO. A design emphasis was placed on giving the user creative flexibility to create and control a custom environment that suited the way they wished to track their leases; yet, the underpinnings of this environment remained constant for all implementations. Worked closely with the company's IT and Customer Relations department to create a program modeled after the way the company did business and the expectations of the users to manage their leases. Managed a two-programmer team. Wrote the functional specifications and coding standards. Performed system tests. Troubleshot errors coming back from the client's test site. Implemented change control. Worked with 3rd party vendors to fix controls that were malfunctioning. Communicated the wishes of the end users, clients, management, and programming staff in written communications and orally at many face-to-face meetings and teleconferences. Issued weekly progress reports.

Worked as an Assistant Project Manager for a major oil company. Coordinated and managed the efforts and results of a data warehousing and archiving project using Oracle technology. The project identified data in the massive, company-wide accounting, processing, tracking, sales, and tax system that was no longer being used for day to day operations and moved it to an online data storage facility. Eventually when the call for that data was deemed at a minimum, the data was moved to a preparation area, compressed, and stored offline, long-term able to be brought back online with only a few days wait. Wrote user guides, technical specifications, project plan, test plan, statement of work, managed schedules, estimated costs, management reports, and so on. Interacted with programmers, oil company director level and higher management, end users, peer project managers and leads, 3rd party vendors, and systems personnel. Signoff was only achieved after extremely careful attention to detail and accuracy of such sensitive data as accounting, sales, and taxes paid was proven in written documentation.

Functioned as a Assistant Project Manager / Technical Team Lead, Software Architect for a major oil company to create a program that facilitated the sale of petroleum byproducts from the company to its clients. The clients original system of unlinked Excel spreadsheets and unwritten business practices were documented and signed off on. Wrote the functional specifications and created a prototype that gained the client's approval. Then selected the team from many possible applicants. Coordinated the efforts the resulting five member programming team and delivered the program to the satisfaction of the user. The program was written in Visual Basic 5.0 with an Access 97 database in a Windows 95 / 98 environment. The design was very object oriented with an eye to allowing maintenance programmers the ability to add additional reports, made with Crystal Reports, without recompiling the program.

Functioned as a Assistant Project Manager / Software Architect / Business Process Analyst for a major medical and life insurance company. Assisted in developing the functional specifications and business rules from an old program and existing business rules into a new program that quoted medical and life insurance to clients from an agent's desktop computer with updates to information being delivered by the Internet. The estimated target audience for this program was approximately 5000 users across the country. The program was written in Visual Basic 6.0 with an Access 97 database in a Windows 95 / 98 or Windows NT 4.0 Workstation environment. The design was very object oriented, employed the latest ADO technologies, and supported up to twelve users at a single site.

At various times over a three-year period, was heavily involved with the creation, design, implementation, testing, and maintaining an application for a major health insurance that managed the budgets of cost centers for the entire company. Initially assigned to the first maintenance release as a Associate Programmer, worked his way up to Project Manager for the completely redesigned release and all future maintenance releases until the system was taken over by the company's internal IT department. Involved in all aspects of the project and its maintenance releases from design through implementation for all implementations. Additionally, wrote all functional design specifications, project plans, forecasts, installation manuals, work schedules, and management reports. Trained key users in new functions and assisted in writing the training and user manuals. Assisted in troubleshooting deployment problems post implementation. The budget program was a multi-user, Client / Server Architecture created using Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0, Oracle, OLE Server technologies, Crystal Reports Professional 6.0 under Windows 95 and Windows NT Server 4.0.

Functioned as Project Manager and Software Architect for a major medical insurance company's Dental Claims Review Department to produce a program that tracked anomalous dental claims. Worked closely with the department to identify and quantify the current business process. Created a prototype of the system and received user acceptance. Worked with the department's content expert to create a testing plan. Managed errors and testing releases. Implemented the system to the customer's satisfaction. Managed four Visual Basic programmers to create a client / server application using Visual Basic 6.0 and Access with OLE technology to meet the expectations of the department.

Worked as a Lead Programmer for a major banking institution. Assisted in the development, testing, deployment, and training several Visual Basic / Access applications. One took mortgage data from an existing nightly download, modified the data, and posted it to a database the users could access. Responsible for the development, testing, maintenance, and enhancements system that tracked the flow of loan documents to and from various departments. Developed and tested a Visual Basic application that documented and placed revision control upon Access databases. Assisted in the creation of Excel Workbooks that tracked financial data and printed reports based on Excel macros. Directed the workflow of three other programmers. Wrote and / or assisted in the writing and research of a number of reports for management on implementation strategies for hardware, software, training, and coding standards. Responsible for approximately 60 users in the Cleveland, Ohio and South Bend, Indiana sites. Secondary responsibilities entailed development, testing, deployment, training, maintenance, and enhancements to approximately seven other minor Visual Basic / Access applications that were used to analyze data and create reports from other applications' data. Wrote reports on testing and post implementation for any programs that required his support. 

Functioned as a Computer Operations Supervisor and PC Technician for a small health and rehabilitation services company. Evaluated, purchased, installed, implemented, and supported Windows and MS-DOS based computer hardware, software, and peripherals. Brought Windows 95 up on the Novell NetWare for all PC users. Ran hardware and software tests to verify optimization. Extensive support and troubleshooting of Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and Novell issues. Researched and implemented a broad range of general support issues: user authentication and rights, virus prevention, LAN / Mainframe connections, WAN printing, PC memory, resource allocation, DOS batch file editing, hardware conflicts, and other general issues. Designed and implemented a Billing Analysis System, Inventory Control System, and Human Resource Tracking System in Access. Maintained the Novell Netware network of approximately 25 users. The network included approximately 25 users. Trained the staff in the use of Microsoft Office as well as other programs pertinent to the department.

Functioned as a General Manager for a small computer store. Installed, supported, and purchased all types of computer systems, software and supplies to companies and individuals. Sold hardware, software, and trained the clients using Microsoft Products and Lotus Notes. A good relationship with Microsoft allowed the shop to become part of the Windows 95 Beta Testers program. Ran hardware and software testing, checked video and memory board requirements, and memory optimization. Prepared computers for Windows 95 sales. Built computers from individual components to customer specifications. Installed and deployed Windows for Workgroups at customer sites. Assisted in the setup and administration of Novell Netware networks sold to clients. Researched and sold a temperature probe that gathered data and sent information back to the host computer. Responsible for evaluation of client needs and purchasing to supply them with scanners, plotters, printers, CD-ROM towers for CAD, fiber optics, and other hard to find hardware and software items.

Employed by Bowling Green State University as an Instructor. Taught applied computer skills classes in MS-DOS.

References

Personal and professional references are available upon request.

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