Name:

MIKE G. PORRITT

Web Site

http://mikeporritt.com

Contact:

47 Bertram St, 

Gardenvale,  3185

Victoria, Australia

Email:

Mobile/SMS:

mike@mikeporritt.com

0411-495-413

Education:

B.Sc.

Major Subjects:

Latrobe University Melbourne

Computer Science & Physics

 

Personal Profile:

 

  • A strong, client focused, work ethic.
  • Married, with kids.

·        Personal Interests Include:

Ø      Bicycle riding (recreational)

Ø      Digital Imaging and Photography

Ø      Travel, Domestic and International

Ø      Home and Family

Ø      Computing and the Net.

 

 

ROLE DETAILS

 

Currently working on some minor web site development but available for new permanent or contract roles as at March 04, 2004

 

Most Recent:

 

NAB, National Australia Bank  (Contracting through Global Consulting Services ).

October 2002 è October 2003

 

Technical Specialist PPTE Stress Lab.

 

NAB’s PPTE facility is an environment that mirrors the NAB’s production environment including a 4 system IBM mainframe PLEX, associated midrange systems and front end (client) systems.

 

The PPTE environment allows NAB applications to be realistically “stress” tested before additions and changes are deployed in production.   In this environment issues such as sociability and scalability of applications is tested under realistic production conditions. 

 

My main activities in this environment were to provide mainframe technical skills for the ongoing operation of the PPTE environment.   My role was as a member of a team of technical specialists which comprised 4 to 5 people working a shift roster from 8am till 10pm.   

 

The duties of the team comprised:

 

·         very routine tasks that were well documented in a (large) procedures manual, 

·         ad-hoc demands for support covering all aspects of the complex environment.

 

All members of the team needed  to be able to complete any of the routine tasks,  while the ad-hoc requests occasionally required collaboration or perhaps co-ordinated with application specialists,  systems programmers and automation specialists from outside of the team.

 

More specifically the tasks for this role included:

 

·         Regular rebuilds of the MVS environments to keep them in technical alignment with production.  Each rebuild was referred to as a “Snapshot”

·         Weekly re-establishment of the “snapshot” to provide a recurring point in time so that tests could be repeated or re-run realistically.

·         Operator support for the MVS PLEX and for major subsystems such as DB2, IMS, CICS, MQ, VTAM, RACF, JES2, OPC etc etc

·         Simulated online transaction replay runs using TPNS.

·         First level mainframe technical support for both application and environmental issues during the weekly testing cycle.

·         Interaction with the wider support infrastructure at NAB to resolve problems in the PPTE/Stress environments.

·         Environmental tech support for the EFUNDS CONNEX transaction “switch” used by NAB

·         Environmental tech support for the EFUNDS CrossCheck testing tool used  by NAB

·         Environmental technical support for midrange (and beyond) systems where they interact with  the mainframe transaction and database servers.

·         Development and maintenance of support and tailoring facilities needed to manage the PPTE/STRESS environment.

·         Contribution to the procedures manual used within PPTE.

 

 

 

2002 Rest, Research and Travel Year

Although 2002 was mostly a year off from contracting, away from the IBM mainframe world,  the following activities were significant.  In this period areas of interest were pursued  including, several business “concepts”,  development of new skills in areas of personal interest and recreational travel.

 

 

August 2002

Developed web presence for:            starlightangels.com

No longer trading L

 

 

April 2002 è May 2002 

Developed web presence for:            netcardbuilder.com

 

 

March 2002 è April 2002

Developed web presence for:            Snapshot-Archive.com

Technologies utilized for this task include HTML, DHTML using JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), CGI script development (Perl), Server Side Includes (SSI) plus Apache web server installation and configuration.

 

 

July 2001 è November 2001

Long overdue holiday in Europe with my patient wife J

 

 

TELSTRA  (Contracting through CPT Global ).

July 1997 è July 2001

 

MVS(OS/390) Technical Specialist

 

This was the main role at Telstra and spanned the 4 years of the Telstra Assignment.

 


.Customer DBoR was/is a major Telstra mainframe application conforming to Telstra’s FLEXCAB architecture.   The development and testing environments for C-DBoR were provided and built by a dedicated environment support group for all FLEXCAB projects providing  MVS (mainframe) systems, appropriate MVS subsystems, loaded testing databases etc.

 

My role at Telstra was to provide Technical Support for the multiple Customer DBoR development and testing environments.  Some of the support demands were:

 

·         General MVS issues (DASD, system level utilities etc)

·         First level DB2/DBA support

·         General JCL Support

·         General IMS Support

·         General MQ Support

·         General COBOL Support

·         Development and Testing Tools Support (ISPF, REXX,ADB2, BMC, FileAid)

·         FLEXCAB Batch Scheduling(Control-M, Flexcab Specific JCL)

·         FLEXCAB  Onlines Application Level Support (eg FABRIC)

 

Other responsibilities in this role included:

·         Developing custom tools to enhance the development and testing environments.

·         Involvement with special projects such as Y2K, RESVOL issues, and new software releases.

·         Mentoring Telstra employees to raise local skill levels.

 

 

Secondment to the CCH (Customer Contact History) Project

 

This was a secondary role that arose during the last year of the Telstra assignment and lasted for approximately one year with about six months of that period where this role was about 50% of my activity.

 

CCH is a data collection system with clients including web based user applications, back end business systems running on NT servers and mainframe applications.  Cross platform communications were handled by MQ-Series. My contributions to the project included:

    • Technical design consulting
    • Contributed to CCH Database design
    • Mainframe component development (specifying and writing the COBOL/MQ code).
    • Technical input, based on prototyping, for cross platform communications issues.   Resulting in the development team’s technical solution (MQ-Series) being accepted as more appropriate than SOE (CICS,COM/TI) for the throughput requirements of CCH.

 

 

CPT

1998-1999

WWW Webmaster

·         Support and maintenance of CPT's three web sites.

·         Design and development of an Internet based intranet to provide value added services to CPT consultants.

·         Researching the use of value added web services such as email lists, internal mail management software, online training services etc. and the promotion of viable options.

 

NSW Police  February 1997 – April 1997

MEMO Implementation Consultant

·         Consulting on issues relating to MEMO and its implementation within the organisation.

·         Diverse activities ranging from consultation on “usage policies” through to customising the product through the coding of Assembler exits.

 

National Mutual  
February 1995 – August 1996
Office Products Support Manager

The Office Products Support Group was responsible for the technical support, development and administration of NM office products such as Email, Voice Mail, Fax-Gateways, Word Processing, Spreadsheeting, presentation aids etc.  Technical support included programming and API support where applicable.

The Manager of the Office Products Support Group:

 

·         Planned and managed of a budget between $700,000 and $800,000.

·         Maintained relationships with client areas, regularly reviewing client requirements.

·         Project Managed developments project through all stages of project life cycle.

·         Project Managed evaluations of both new products and new versions of products.

·         Managed staff including recruitment, training, appraisals, HR liaison.

·         Negotiated service levels with clients and successfully managed compliance with them.

·         Coordinated Office Products support activities with other IT departments

             Development projects included:

·         A PC software registry (Visual Basic and Access)

·         A contact management system (MS Access)

·         A multi-platform personnel central registry (TSO, CICS, DB2, COBOL etc.)

·         An email broadcast application (email API, PLI, REXX, ISPF))

·         An E-mail(mainframe) to fax (client server) application(PLI, MEMO/API, JCL).

·         Performance monitor and billing system for FAXGate (REXX,FOCUS,PLI).

·         Email gateway “health” monitor (NCL, PLI)

·         Workbench to provide user-friendly access to Preference utilities. (TSO,REXX,ISPF)

·         Preference change management system (TSO,REXX,ISPF).

·         A task scheduling system (client server, NCL, TSO, clist)

 

1993 - 1995

Senior Consultant, Office Products Support

·         Technical backup to the group’s Product Consultants, transferring skills where appropriate.

·         Provided technical consulting services to clients and to the NM IT community in general.

·         Participated in evaluation projects with NM’s strategy and planning areas

·         Designed and implemented “value added” user front ends. Eg.  migration workbench

·         Was instrumental in the development of  “in house” office systems.

 

1992 - 1993

Senior Technical Consultant, Client Services

·         The group had the responsibility of ensuring that the client areas received the best possible service levels from the central IT department.  This was done through the establishment and management of formal service level agreements with the business units.

·         This position was responsible for technical support and consultation to both the Client Representatives and their clients.  Sound technical insight was essential to allow realistic service levels to be achieved. 

·         This was a period when new technologies were being introduced and interfacing between old and new systems was a regular challenge and the development of innovative solutions to problems was often required. (For example: Interfacing PLI routines to C routines for both SAS/C and C/370).

1990 - 1992

Senior Consultant, Development Support Centre

·         The DSC consultant must be a versatile IT professional who is able to quickly evaluate new technologies and, where appropriate, support their distribution into the development areas.

·         The position reported to the DSC manager.

·         Major contributions in this position related to the introduction of “new” technologies such as relational databases (DB2), code generators (DELTA), new programming languages, interactive debugging facilities and development workbenches.  This included integration between new and existing systems.

 

1987 - 1989

Network Systems Programmer (SNA/VTAM)

·         Development and automation of the Net/Master environment.

·         Evaluation and implementation of the FTS file transfer system.

·         Evaluation and implementation of the VPS local printing system.

·         Configuration of Network Software

·         Network automation and problem resolution.

 

1976 - 1986

             Analyst/Programmer

·         Development of the first IMS on-line application at NM.  This was a generalised development utility for displaying data from virtually any IMS database.  The system was also used for many years to provide displays in business situations were development specialist applications could not be justified.

·         Development work on the OPUS on-line programs including significant input to the technical design and construction of these systems.  These programs are still running more than 15 years later.

·         Team leader and architect of on-line transactions for the Agency Accounting system and the integration of these transactions with the OPUS system.

·         Design of a system designed to improve client service through the consolidation of client data across all business lines.

 

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

 

Rating Definitions

 

Beginner

Aware of the product and its general functionality.  Have had some limited exposure to it in a working environment.  Easily able to achieve proficiency given appropriate documentation.

 

Proficient

Hands on experience/training in a work situation.  Understands the product and can work effectively with it.  Availability of appropriate documentation for backup reference is desirable.

 

Advanced

Knows the product well and can work with it effectively, helping others to understand and use it if necessary. 

 

Expert

Has a thorough understanding of the product and can be used as a reference point by other users.  Can be expected to get the best value from the product.

 

Skill

Rating

Last Used

Experience

ACF2

Proficient

5+ years ago

4 years

ADB2

Advanced

3+ years ago

4 years

APPC

Proficient

3+ years ago

4 years

BMC DB2 Tools

Proficient

Currently Used

4 years

BTS

Expert

5+ years ago

6 years

C++

Beginner

4+ years ago

5 years

CICS

Proficient

Currently Used

6 years

Cobol

Proficient

Currently Used

8 years

CONNEX

Proficient

Currentl Used

1 year

Control M

Proficient

3+ years ago

3 years

CrossCheck

Proficient

Currentl Used

1 year

DB2

Advanced

Currently Used

12 years

DELTA

Proficient

7+ years ago

4 years

Digital Imaging

Advanced

Currently Used

6 years

Endevor

Proficient

1 years ago

5 years

FOCUS

Proficient

5+ years ago

10 years

FTP

Advanced

Currently Used

7 years

HTML

Advanced

Currently Used

6 years

Hyperchannel

Advanced

2 years ago

4 years

IBM Assembler

Beginner

5+ years ago

10 years

IBM Visual Age IDE (Java)

Beginner

Currently Used

3 years

IMS/DB

Proficient

7+ years ago

19 years

IMS/DC

Proficient

Currently Used

26 years

Internet Facilities/Software

Advanced

Currently Used

8 years

ISPF/PDF

Expert