Dr Foster brought me in to help out in the development of a new product toolset. This new product was a ‘Patient Health Monitoring’ tool which provided a web based interface to GP’s and hospitals allowing them to lookup certain health statistics and analyse trends in health data, this allows them to predict patient trends and direct appropriate resources to the relevant trusts and health care providers. This product was an ASP.Net web application with a SQL Server 2005 back end database. We employed the MVP pattern using Microsoft’s Web Client Software Factory and Enterprise Library application blocks mainly the caching and validations blocks. I helped deliver this application to the business and was involved in all aspects of the development from XHTML mark-up and CSS styling to building back end business objects with .Net and C#. I also created a generic table rendering control that we used throughout the site to present data to the user and help with data drill downs and analysis.

After delivering version one of the application I moved onto adding version two features which included developing a tool to allow end users to upload their own data in the form of CSV files then analyse that data against Dr Foster’s own in house data. This involved allowing the end user to parse the CSV, choose which columns they wanted to include, which column was the unique key and how they wanted the data to be stored in the database then submitting this configuration to a WCF WebService. I choose to implement a WebService because one requirement was to allow other tools within the organisation to submit CSV files to the database also.

I championed the use of Scrum techniques for this project as it allowed us to deliver each bit of functionality to the business in two week increments and also allowed the business to see how the application was developing over the entire project lifecycle.

I was involved in a couple of projects with NHS Direct, the first was a knowledge management system based on SharePoint Server 2007 in which I was required to work on a three week proof of concept with Microsoft at their Technology Centre in Reading. This was to prove that SharePoint 2007 could fulfil all the requirements for the project and stand up to the demands of NHS Direct. During this PoC I acted as main developer and was involved in all aspects of development and configuration of the Server. My main achievement was to get Forms Based Authentication and Windows Authentication working side by side on the same SharePoint Portal site and also tie in FBA users with the built in SharePoint profile database which I achieved within the three week timescale. I also developed a few custom WebParts for editing custom profile properties and capturing NHS specific information about registered users. Another WebPart I developed was to allow users to view Primary Care Trust Boundaries and Nearby NHS organisations based on their specified post code, this was done using Microsoft's Virtual Earth API which I tied into a NHS SQL Server 2005 database and also called an NHS WebService to obtain information about certain organisations. The second project I delivered was a performance reporting intranet site that delivered graphs, charts and reports of all call centre workers based in any one of twenty call centre sites around the UK. This intranet site was based on ASP.Net 2.0 and involved heavy use of the ASP.Net AJAX framework, it also used Forms Based Authentication for authorising users.

cScape had implemented a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 intranet portal for the RNIB. Due to the nature of the RNIB their site had to be fully accessible to visually impaired users and subsequently had to conform to the latest WCAG specifications. My job therefore was to adapt the front end web pages and admin pages of the site to be fully compliant with these specifications. This included creating CSS friendly control adapters using C# to make the built in SharePoint and ASP.Net controls render valid XHTML mark-up. I also helped out creating and deploying new SharePoint features to the site in the form of WebParts.

At Ford I was contracted to assist with the development and maintenance of their 'Web based European Product Toolset' which is essentially an intranet site to allow business analysts to view data from various sources such as Ford's mainframe system which stores a wide range of product information for each of Ford's vehicles. The business analysts can then modify this data to be sent to downstream customers such as franchise dealers, and Ford's own online car configuration which allows customers to price up their chosen car and any combination of optional extras. The whole application is n-tier system comprising of an ASP front end, VB6 DLL components hosted in COM+ and a SQL server 2000 database. I assisted Ford in reducing their change request backlog and implementing new features requested by the business analysts. Ford has a very strict software development methology which is based on the Rational Unified Process model of software development; I had to draw up various software documents for each change request and software improvement.

My main task at Opta was to develop a Windows based ‘Post Match Analysis’ tool for use in analysing real time football statistics. I created a user control in .Net 1.1 that first records a live football game to hard disk in MPEG4 format, and then allows the user to play the video back controlled by a Shuttle Xpress device to emulate ‘TIVO’ style rewinding and forwarding functionality. To do this I had to call low-level Windows API functions via Pinvoke to access the USB device and control the video. I then created a Winform to host the user control; this form accessed a Unix box via network sockets and connected to a MySQL database where the football stats were stored. The user could then play the video back and make sure the statistics matched up to the actual video events. I had to employ heavy use of multithreading in this app to make sure the UI was responsive and allowed the user to react to events without any delay. This application allowed Opta to ensure their live data feeds to clients had 100% accurate statistics, it also allowed them quick access to any event they wanted to look up for a particular game which helped them provide ad hoc statistics to clients.

Development of C# ASP.Net webforms for maintenance of exchange trading data feeds using SQL Server 2000 for back end automation and data processing. This also involved moving existing business applications from MS Access to SQL Server 2000 with heavy use of DTS for importing and exporting exchange trade data from exchange feeds such as Reuters and Bloomberg.

I was the main developer looking after a very large SQL Server database and VB6 client server application that runs Oxfam’s donations system. I was involved in the day to day fault fixes and change request’s as well as carrying out a migration project from SQL Server 6.5 to 2000 which involved heavy T-SQL and VB6 development. I was also Configuration Manager on this project so have good experience in implementing working change control procedures as well as having very good knowledge of the full development lifecycle and being involved in all testing stages.

As software developer here I was involved in many projects which covered a lot of technology areas from database design and development to network design and maintenance. My main project was an n-tier management system written in Visual Basic 6 with SQL Server 2000. This project was a typical n-tier system with middle tier VB6 components hosted in COM+ and a windows VB6 front end along with an ASP web front end. I was main developer in every aspect of this project from setting up and configuring the servers with COM+, SQL Server and IIS to writing the middle tier business objects and developing the front end GUI’s. This project also included creating in depth reports with Crystal Reports 8.5 and integrating them with our VB6 application. I also developed an ASP intranet web site that made various businesses critical reports available online, this also used a SQL Server 2000 database. I did a lot of VBA development with Microsoft Access providing stocktaking solutions that integrate with external barcode scanners. I then later upgraded these apps to .Net applications using VB.net/C#. I also gained a lot of networking experience which included setting up the companies Active Directory domain upgrading from NT 4.0, as well as setting up and maintaining their Exchange 5.5 server and supporting 100+ network users.