Reading University
British Film Institute
Sovereign Housing Association
Round 2 Financial Ltd
Barclays Bank
Transmission Clothing Ltd

The challenge
The CCMS needed to manage information relating to online materials that they were producing.  Of particular importance was managing the intellectual property rights of contributions.

The approach
The client's data is stored in a hierarchical form, but not a strict hierarchy.  Simple screen forms would not show the true picture in a convenient manner.  I therefore opted to present the structure in a tree format.  The latest version of Visual Basic (VB 2005) handles this sort of tree extremely well, so that greatly influenced the choice of user interface technology.  The application was to be used by a handful of people in adjoining rooms, so a simple, low cost database could be used, and JET, more usually known as Microsoft Access was chosen.

My role
It was important to develop this in a short time, and to deliver what would be really useful to the users. 
My role encompassed structuring the project, analysing the requirements and ensuring that the design was fully understood by the client, in addition to building and delivering the completed software.  The product was delivered in14 days from receiving the go-ahead.
Excellent two way communication was maintained throughout the design stage.  This centred on good mock-ups and on the clarity, coherence and traceability of the requirements process.

The outcome
I am told that the system is performing better than they had ever envisaged.  I am happy to report that I was able to deliver the project at the price I had estimated at our first meeting.

A view from the client

The challenge
The BFI had a need to supplement their main supporter database with a simpler system to be used by non specialists when inviting a small number of people to an event. The solution would have to suit the personal styles of some senior users.

The approach
The limited agreement on requirements meant that a solution should be prepared which was as simple as possible yet flexible, and amenable to growth yet robust so that the users have enough confidence to use it.  It was also to developed on a small budget.
The technical tools chosen were Access and Excel.   Many inputs are in the form of Excel files so that users are free to use any tool or skill to prepare them.   Nearly all outputs are also Excel files, so that users can manipulate the resulting data as they see fit.  Intermediate stages in the life cycle of an event can also be manipulated by means of exporting to and re-importing from an Excel file.

My role
I provided all the project management services which helped the project team identify as early as possible who was responsible for which task.  I also undertook all the requirements analysis, design and development.  I worked with the IT team in making best use of the Citrix environment, and finally I conducted the training sessions which provided very useful feedback on the technical aspects of the product and on the business environment.

The outcome
The solution was produced to budget and is suited to its task. The various perspectives on requirements now have a focus and, following some live use, some small updates have provided the client with a solution that meets practically everyone's need and style.

The challenge
The Association needed to impose more control on its property maintenance budget.  To do this it needed to know quickly where it had high spending areas that could be trimmed, so it had to work with unstructured data from previous years.  It also needed as soon as possible a monitoring process to see whether new strategies were having the right affect.

The approach
We needed to gather information from a variety of databases and create reports that could be manipulated with the skills available at the time.  Full data warehousing was ruled out due to time and cost constraints. SQL Server reporting would have needed new skills, so Sovereign opted for a simple Access database as the core.  The outputs were a fixed set of Excel files each with a variety of pivot tables.  The inputs were the existing live systems "Academy Housing" and "TASK".   Document control and traceability of source data was given a high priority.

My role
I suggested the framework for the solution and then remained responsive to requests for new reports while balancing the need for a firm line on traceability of data.

The outcome
The Association was able to make very significant savings and the tool was gracefully retired as longer term solutions were put in place.

A view from the client

The challenge
This small company needed to show compliance with tough new regulations.  It needed to do this with a very limited budget.

The approach
I needed to keep overheads to a minimum so worked to a brief on a "take it or leave it" basis - if the solution satisfied the client they would pay for it, otherwise there was no obligation.  Thankfully the brief was well written, so I perceived little risk in this approach.  The total time for this development was two days.

My role
Design and development.  The client was helpful and constructive in keeping the costs as low as possible.

The outcome
The client is completely satisfied that he has a workable solution which allows him to satisfy the regulations.

The challenge
The Bank has 18 sales centres selling a number of high value products and wanted a tool to track performance against targets and to rank the centres.  The centres were already receiving targets in the form of spreadsheets and sending in sales data also as spreadsheets.  Barclays wanted the flexibility at least to be able to vary the targets, the means of ranking them and to vary the total number of sales centres.

The approach
Since the main data was being provided as spreadsheets, I allowed the parameters to also be provided as spreadsheets.  This meant that all the inputs could be filed in one folder on the computer.  The outputs were in the form of a multi-page Excel workbook which allowed a number of graphical representations of the data to be shown.  The formats of the outputs were driven by settings in the parameters sheets.
The engine for this was written as an Access application.

My role
Since the inputs and outputs were quite well defined, I did not have to perform a project management role and could focus on just supplying the program.

The outcome
The tool considerably reduced the time taken to feed the information back to the sales centres and allowed the central office staff to respond to requests to present the data in ways more helpful to the sales staff.

The challenge
Due to reorganisation the company found itself owning a software suite which was useful in their production but for which they had no source code.  They needed to ensure it worked with new workstations and for new users.  They also wanted to investigate their options relating to the software.

The approach
Methodical!

My role
I performed analysis and research one day at a time supplying full management reports, both oral and written, after each day allowing the company's management to choose their optimum path.  Between each visit several months elapsed while the new practices were tested and proved.

The outcome
The software now runs on old and new workstations alike and the client is able to add users securely.  We found out what flexibility the client has and they are able to run the software with much reduced risk whilst they find a longer term solution.