German P. - Microsoft BI Specialist

Go to Website

Colle Diana, Italy

Experience

Jul 2022 - Present

3 years 6 months

Germany

Microsoft BI Specialist

HELABA

HELABA began developing its credit risk management in the early 2000s as a client-server application with a SQL Server back-end and an MS Access front-end. Over 15 years, it grew into a software giant with more than a million lines of code. German joined the BI team to maintain the existing system and build a new, modern front-end. After modeling the application and adding a debug code trail, he was able to quickly analyze and fix open issues and extend the functionality of the back-end and the various front-ends (MS Access, Excel, Word, each with half a million lines of code in complex object-oriented design patterns...).
He soon became known as an all-round problem solver for MS Office and VBA-related issues. In the meantime, he co-developed the new C#.Net front-end for the credit risk management application, including peripheral tooling in VB.Net. He developed numerous other databases and complete applications, such as an HR reporting database based on SAP data. For detailed statistical analysis of operational risk data, he wrote Python and R scripts.
He is currently developing new requirements for the credit risk and operational risk application systems.
Department: HELABA / BI Team, Developer.
Tools: SQL Server 2008 R2 to 2019, SQL, VBA, .NET Framework, C#, VB, WPF, XAML, MVVM, Infragistics, Entity Framework, Jenkins, Visual Studio, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, Python, R, Tortoise SVN, HP ALM, CA Harvest Software Change Manager, CMM, Redgate SQL Toolbelt, ITSM, Bitbucket, Jenkins.
Skills: Credit / Operational Risk Management, Business Information Analysis, DWH Design / Build, ETL, Object-Oriented Design / Development, Troubleshooting / Debugging, Data Quality, Database Performance Tuning / IT System Management.

May 2022 - Sep 2024

2 years 5 months

Germany

Microsoft BI Specialist

DB Netz AG

Team NeMo designs, builds and manages the Netmonitor data warehouse for Deutsche Bahn. This DWH contains rail network data for planning, usage and monitoring.
The DWH consists of separate data warehouses for staging, core and marts by year and topic. The DWHs are optimized for big data and are connected to about 30 source systems.
For the new "Capacity Management" program, the team was merged into a new organization. Since extra staff was needed to reach its goal, German joined the project.
He has now implemented several agile stories, for example to enrich rail network objects (networks, districts, regions, line sections, operating points) with geographic image data and to build a data mart with many additional interfaces to source systems. Most recently, he refactored and optimized the already started interface to GDF-Z in pair programming.
Department: Capacity Management Program / NeMo Team, Developer.
Tools: SQL Server 2016/2019, SQL, C#, Visual Studio 2019, SSIS, Git, GitLab, ReadyApi, Groovy, Python.
Skills: Rail infrastructure, complex ETL for large data sets, testing.

Mar 2018 - Dec 2021

3 years 10 months

Germany

Microsoft BI Specialist

HELABA

HELABA began developing its credit risk management in the early 2000s as a client-server application with a SQL Server back-end and an MS Access front-end. Over 15 years, it grew into a software giant with more than a million lines of code. German joined the BI team to maintain the existing system and build a new, modern front-end. After modeling the application and adding a debug code trail, he was able to quickly analyze and fix open issues and extend the functionality of the back-end and the various front-ends (MS Access, Excel, Word, each with half a million lines of code in complex object-oriented design patterns...).
He quickly became known as an all-round problem solver for MS Office and VBA-related issues. Meanwhile, he co-developed the new C#.Net front-end for the credit risk management application, including peripheral tooling in VB.Net. He developed numerous other databases and complete applications, such as an HR reporting database based on SAP data. For detailed statistical analysis of operational risk data, he wrote Python and R scripts.
Department: HELABA / BI Team, Developer.
Tools: SQL Server 2008 R2 to 2019, SQL, VBA, .NET Framework, C#, VB, WPF, XAML, MVVM, Infragistics, Entity Framework, Jenkins, Visual Studio, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, Python, R, Tortoise SVN, HP ALM, CA Harvest Software Change Manager, CMM, Redgate SQL Toolbelt, ITSM, Bitbucket, Jenkins.
Skills: Credit / Operational Risk Management, Business Information Analysis, DWH Design / Build, ETL, Object-Oriented Design / Development, Troubleshooting / Debugging, Data Quality, Database Performance Tuning / IT System Management.

Sep 2016 - Feb 2018

1 year 6 months

Business Information Analyst

AEGON

Aegon started the improvement project in early 2016. German joined the initiative in September. After mapping the current situation and preparing the team for agile methods, he led a separate analysis phase to identify the full range of business and data requirements. In this phase, about 4000 data fields and around 10,000 lines of SQL code were documented and analyzed (both technical and business).
Meanwhile, he designed a relational data model, which was soon replaced by a Data Vault model due to discovered data quality issues. The current SQL Server 2008 R2 was replaced by a brand new Microsoft Azure SQL DB instance (OTAP) with a four-level DWH solution (Landing Zone, Control Tables, Data Vault, Data Marts) and an SSRS/Power BI front-end. Using Azure Functions, he developed a front-end that could also be used on iPads. German designed and built the DWH structure, all SQL statements, stored procedures, SSIS packages and SSRS reports. For the detailed analysis of statistical source data, he wrote Python and R scripts.
Other activities included acting as Scrum Master for the project, supervising an intern (scraping PDF data with PowerShell) and serving as technical lead of a four-person team.
Department: Aegon Finance / Master Service.
Tools: SQL Server 2008 R2, Azure SQL DB, Azure SQL DWH, Power BI, Azure Functions, SQL Server 2016, PowerShell, VSTS, Visual Studio, SSIS, SSRS, Python, R.
Skills: Mortgages, Business Information Analysis, DWH Design / Build, ETL, Agile SCRUM.

Dec 2014 - Jun 2016

1 year 7 months

SQL Server Database Administrator

ING

The Master Control Room is ING's command center and ensures and controls all systems and global data processing.
German is responsible for the proper and timely resolution and handling of infrastructure incidents, problems and interactions in the areas of SQL Server, Windows Server and Sybase ASE. In addition, he developed various reports (HPSC DWH source) that provide insight into the performance of the SOS team, and he developed and implemented a time management application in Excel/Access/VBA.
Department: Master Control Room, Lead Operational Support Officer.
Tools: SQL Server 2000 - 2012, Windows Server 2000 - 2012 (Core), PowerShell, TSM, HPSC, Excel, Access, VBA, Sybase ASE, RHEL7, VMWare vSphere, Oracle 11, IIS, Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop, SCOM, SCCM.

Mar 2014 - Jul 2014

5 months

Business Information Analyst/BPM

APG

The BI department had just been formed and reorganized; the management and maintenance processes were unclear.
German analyzed and mapped the business unit's processes. He involved the department's staff and managers intensively through workshops. The processes were divided into technical, functional, and operational management.
Department: BI department.
Tools: BI, ETL, data quality, Cognos, workshops, ITIL, ASL.

Feb 2014 - Jul 2014

6 months

QA Manager / Scrum Master

APG

The BUI program was part of the "Controlled Change" portfolio and still had to be started. The BI department had no experience with project work. The program scope included a completely new architecture with new hardware, a new DWH, a new ETL layer, new reporting tools, new reports, new reporting metrics for the organization, and a new agile methodology.
German wrote the detailed program plan in writing; later he led requirements management. As QA Manager he identified (progress) issues and helped find solutions through workshops or his own technical expertise.
He drafted proposals for the bi-weekly program report, which he aligned with the project managers and the program manager.
In the Scrum Master role, German taught BI staff the principles of agile, the Scrum method, and how to use Scrum tools like daily stand-ups and Scrum boards.
German's work resulted in a smoothly running BI program with a clear, controlled scope and a good working atmosphere.
Department: BI program.
Tools: Prince2, Scrum, brown paper sessions, workshops.

Dec 2013 - Jul 2014

8 months

QA Manager / Technical Specialist (EPM)

APG

The purpose of the "Controlled Change" portfolio was the reorganization of APG. The portfolio included programs for staff reorganization, setting up new financial processes, and a completely redesigned BI architecture. Another component was an ongoing EPM implementation. German handled the quality assurance of this portfolio and was heavily involved in designing the portfolio management. He also took part in the EPM implementation. He provided technical advice on issues that arose and helped design the schedules in EPM and SAP CATS, as well as the reports in SAP BI and SAP FICO. He developed a portfolio KPI dashboard, a portfolio registry tool, and an APG-wide portfolio management annual cycle.
Department: "Controlled Change" portfolio.
Tools: Excel/VBA, VB.Net, SAP CATS, SAP BI, SAP FICO, PL/SQL, interviews, brown paper sessions.

Dec 2011 - Dec 2013

2 years 1 month

Project Manager / Implementation Specialist / Technical Specialist (EPM) / Business Information Analyst-BPM / BI Developer

ABNAMRO

After German completed the situational analysis, he wrote a project proposal with two alternatives: 1) developing an MS Access application; 2) implementing EPM. ABNAMRO chose the second option. German took over the project kickoff and got approvals from the IT Architecture Committee, IT Security, Procurement, and Internal Audit. German wrote the project charter, the PID, and the detailed plans, and led a team of three people. Later German focused more on solving technical issues and took on the role of lead architect. He organized the EPM hosting and handled vendor management with parties like Microsoft, Perrit, various independents, and CGI. German was responsible for requirements management on behalf of the four departments in the model management chain. German configured MS Project, MS Project Server, SharePoint, SQL Server, SSRS, and SharePoint Server. He managed stakeholder relations with the affected departments, internal audit, the DNB (the Dutch equivalent of the German Bundesbank), and other interested parties within the bank like DS&A. German was the visionary of the overall solution, but also handled design details, developing and aligning use cases with users. He proposed integrated data sets and found solutions for data quality issues and for organizing data ownership within the chain. German organized tool management at DTS and trained the functional managers. On the organizational side, German designed new chain processes around the use of the new tool, documented them in ARIS, and implemented them in the business units. German produced many management reports (100+); he developed a custom data warehouse (DWH) including a data synchronization mechanism in SQL Server.
He also developed custom MS Project functions to improve usability. He trained users and administrators on those as well. The initial areas for improvement (raised by Internal Audit and the DNB) were solved with Microsoft's Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution. This was implemented technically and organizationally across the entire model management chain. The full portfolio of 160 simultaneous modeling projects was implemented. Static and dynamic data/information from all financial models was implemented. German made extensive EPM customizations with custom SharePoint sites, custom MS Project functions, and 100+ custom reports, and managed the functional and technical sides. Many EPM issues and bugs were fixed in collaboration with the hosting party and Microsoft MVPs in Portugal. Finally, German produced a series of thirty training videos for end users and administrators.
Department: COO/Functions/Model Management – EPM implementation.
Tools: MS EPM, MS Project Server, MS SharePoint Server, MS SQL Server, MS SQL Server Management Studio, MS SQL Server Reporting Services, PL/SQL, Excel/VBA/ODBC, MS Project/VBA, SharePoint 2010, process analysis, workshops, interviews, Prince2, Scrum, ARIS.

Aug 2011 - Jun 2012

11 months

QA Manager / Business Information Analyst-BPM / Technical Specialist (EPM) / Application Developer (MS Access/VBA)

ABNAMRO

Internal Audit and the DNB had reported on the results of the Model Management (MM) chain. The status of the actions to be taken by management was unclear. German was asked by an ABNAMRO manager (ex-Fortis, who had worked with German before) to analyze the situation in these matters. German began analyzing the results from Internal Audit and the DNB as well as the current situation, and he developed concrete management actions and aligned them with the involved management. He reported to the ABNAMRO Bank board and to the DNB. Then German was asked to take over QA management for the four departments involved in the model management chain. To do this, he developed KPIs and a "Chain QA Tool" in MS Access and VBA. At first he reported on these KPIs every two weeks, then monthly. After one of the department heads left, German analyzed the tooling (MS Access) that he had been using for department control. He then wrote a project proposal for a final QA solution (MS Enterprise Project Management Solution) and presented it to senior management. His proposal was accepted, and German could start his next task: implementing EPM.
Department: risk model governance.
Tools: Business Objects, Access, Excel, VBA, workshops, interviews, EPM.

Jan 2011 - Jun 2011

6 months

QA Manager / Configuration Manager

ABNAMRO

The data migration project for TIGA: MISTRAL (carried out by CGI) was at the same location as the TIGA program. The project had control issues regarding requirements and deliverables. German was asked by the prime minister to help.
German implemented and managed issue, change, QA and configuration management. To do this, he developed an application (MS Access). He also created an MS Access time tracking application. German helped keep the scope of MISTRAL's requirements and deliverables under control and allowed hours to be assigned per deliverable.
Department: TIGA/MISTRAL.
Tools: HP Quality Center (QC), MS Access/VBA, workshops, interviews.

Sep 2010 - Jan 2011

5 months

Technical Specialist (MS Project), Application Developer (MS Project / Excel / SharePoint), Requirements Manager

ABN AMRO

The goal was to create the schedules for the dry runs and the final run for ABN AMRO's TIGA migration. This was a large MS Project plan with about 50 parties and 5,000 records. The team ran into some technical and content issues with this MS Project schedule. There was a weekly cycle of delivering new schedules, merging, planning and providing feedback on the projects. Because of the good experience with the TIR approach, German was asked to do the same for TIGA. German performed an information analysis and proposed a design with a central MS Project usage and Excel for the projects. He developed a scheduling application built with an interface between MS Project, Excel and SharePoint. He also developed a QA control application for automated checking of the weekly incoming flow. He took over requirements management and led the weekly release of these applications. He trained users and handed the documented applications over to IT management (Infosys, India).
The MS Project import/export and QA control applications were successfully put into operation. This helped make the TIGA planning cycle a success.
Department: TIGA.
Tools: VBA, MS Project, SharePoint, Excel, workshops, interviews, Agile/Scrum.

Jun 2010 - Jul 2010

2 months

Application Developer / BIA-BPM

British American Tobacco

The existing bonus system (Excel application) for tobacco retail outlets no longer matched the new bonus structures. This very complex system was undocumented and had become very opaque and uncontrollable because of the many changes over the years. German analyzed the existing application. He documented the bonus processes, their information needs and information flows. Then he rewrote the bonus application together with key users, using an Agile/Scrum style.
At the same time, he documented the system and trained the users.
Department: rebuild of the outlet bonus system.
Tools: VBA, Excel, VB.Net, BIA/BPM, workshops, interviews, Agile/Scrum.

Jan 2010 - Jun 2010

6 months

QA Manager

Fortis

There was only limited insight into the bank-wide scope (retail, private, business banking, legal, IT and facilities) of the Fortis rebranding at the board level. German was asked to bring more insight and transparency to the program planning.
German also took on quality assurance and requirements management. To visualize the planning he created an MS Project interface with PowerPoint, Visio and VBA. He also led the weekly progress meetings with the program managers. In addition, one of German's creative hobbies came in handy: he shot a rebranding promo film. German's efforts helped control the scope, quality and governance of the rebranding program.
Department: rebranding program.
Tools: workshops, interviews, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, VB.Net, MS Project/VBA, PowerPoint/VBA, Visio/VBA.

Jan 2010 - Apr 2010

4 months

Technical Specialist (MS Project / Excel / VBA)

Fortis

There were planning issues (both content-related and technical) in planning the integration of Fortis and ABN AMRO. Fortis and ABN AMRO's legal advisors did not trust the joint legal merger planning. German conducted a root cause analysis of technical MS Project issues and fixed them. He documented Fortis's results and joined the joint Legal Merger planning, working closely with legal staff from Fortis and ABN AMRO. He developed an easy-to-use MS Project-Excel interface for simple delivery of basic plans. German solved the MS Project technical issues and made sure Fortis's results were clear and under control.
Department: Legal Merger program.
Tools: interviews, workshops, VB.Net, MS Project/VBA, Excel/VBA.

Sep 2009 - Dec 2009

4 months

Technical Specialist (MS Project / Excel)

ABNAMRO

For the TIR migration, a schedule with multiple test runs and a final run was created. There was a central MS Project plan with about 50 parties and 5000 tasks. The team had technical and content issues when developing the MS Project schedule. There was a weekly cycle of delivering new schedules, merging, planning, and feedback on the subprojects. The project manager asked German if he could solve their problems. Based on an information analysis, he proposed a system with a central MS Project and decentralized Excel use. For this, he developed an interface application between MS Project and Excel in VB.NET. To automatically check the quality of the provided schedules, he created a QA control application. He managed the requirements for these applications and handled the weekly releases.
German trained users and handed over the results to IT management (India).
The import/export applications for MS Project (and the QA control app) were successful. Thanks to German's work, the TIR planning cycle was successful.
Department: TIR Migration.
Tools: MS Project/VBA, VB.Net, Excel/VBA, Workshops, Interviews, Agile/Scrum.

Feb 2009 - Aug 2009

7 months

Various Internal Tasks

CGI

Created the portfolio management system for Achmea.
Advised Rabobank on creating portfolio management.
Instructor for Clarity and Open Workbench.
Contributed to Lean Six Sigma training.
Contributed to the "Lean Six Sigma" offering.
Contributed to the "Lean Six Sigma" management game.
Astellas/PrimaVera bid management.

Sep 2008 - Jan 2009

5 months

QA Manager, Head of Program Office, Application Developer (MS Project/Excel)

ING

The program to set up a new division of ING Business Bank for the mid-market SME segment had just started. The acting program manager was unhappy with the project managers and the program office. German's main task was to reorganize and lead the program office.
Over time, he was asked to take over QA management, requirements, and dependencies for the program. He also developed a "Thermometer" application to display the program's progress, using MS Project, Excel, and VB.NET. Thanks to German's effort, the program's scope and progress were better under control, partly through the "Thermometer" app he developed and a clear program governance structure and processes.
Department: ING-TANGO-Business Banking.
Tools: Prince2, VB.Net, MS Project/VBA, Excel/VBA.

Aug 2006 - Sep 2008

2 years 2 months

Head of Quality Assurance

ING

There were progress and quality issues within the call center program (Call2rING). The program included about a dozen projects, including RINGO, the project for a new call center application. German's tasks were QA, requirements, and dependency management. He was a sounding board for the call center manager and the program manager. He also advised TANGO Sr. QA Management at ING. German implemented a weekly QA control cycle and resolved 100+ QA issues. He also made significant contributions to QA control for the TANGO program.
Department: ING/TANGO/Call2®ING.
Tools: Workshops, Interviews, Clarity, VB.Net, Access/VBA.

Jul 2006 - Aug 2007

1 year 2 months

Technical Specialist (EPM), Implementation Specialist (EPM), Project Manager

Friesland Bank

For one and a half years, Friesland Bank used the hosted EPM solution from LogicaCMG and wanted a private in-house EPM installation. German wrote a project mandate and the PID. He was project manager and technical specialist for the technical installation of EPM on Friesland Bank's infrastructure and the subsequent migration of project data. He and his team successfully installed EPM and migrated the existing project data.
Department: In-house EPM implementation.
Tools: Project Server, SharePoint Server, IIS, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server Reporting Services, PL/SQL, Workshops, Interviews, Prince2, Agile/Scrum.

Feb 2006 - Aug 2007

1 year 7 months

Technical Specialist (EPM), Functional Manager (EPM), SQL Developer, QA Manager

Friesland Bank

Friesland Bank ran into many technical and organizational problems after the first implementation of LogicaCMG's hosted EPM solution. German was asked by the LogicaCMG sales manager to complete the Microsoft EPM training and solve the issues. German led the functional management of the hosted EPM solution at Friesland Bank's head office in Leeuwarden. He served as both 1st and 2nd line helpdesk for EPM issues. In solving technical problems, he worked with Microsoft's EPM specialists in Portugal. He organized and delivered a three-day MS Project and EPM training for about twenty-five project managers. German also developed billing reports based on the EPM database and created custom queries on the EPM databases. He developed and implemented a planning standard. Based on the EPM database, he developed a function point application.
He also developed and implemented a portfolio management process, made the resource management process more professional, and set up a project quality system. In the end, German helped Friesland Bank's IT portfolio regain control and he solved 100+ technical issues.
Department: Hosted EPM as Functional Manager.
Tools: EPM, Project Server, SharePoint Server, IIS, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server Reporting Services, PL/SQL, Excel/VBA/ODBC, MS Project/VBA, MS Access/VBA, VB.Net, SharePoint, BIA/BPM, Interviews, Workshops, Prince2, Agile/Scrum.

Apr 2005 - Feb 2006

11 months

Program Manager

ALD/Société Générale

There was a lot of progress in developing a new lease contract management application. The implementation took place in Belgium and the Netherlands with English specialists. The reporting project was outsourced to India. Hardware was implemented in Paris and managed by the Ukrainian project manager. The financial stakeholder was Société Générale. The program requested an extra (third) PMO employee. In his first role, German led the program office and started with a situation/problem analysis. After he finished this in one week, he was asked as program manager to present his solution proposal. Once he completed that in a week, he was asked to implement his proposal as program manager. As program manager, he was responsible for overall project management, resource management, planning, risk management, and budget and status checks. He also temporarily took on the role of project manager for the outsourced reporting project. German's key contribution was the successful delivery of a first version, made possible by the structured (re)organization of the central program, the subprojects, and all deliverables.
Department: Vulcan NL Pilot.
Tools: Interviews, Workshops, Agile/Scrum, Prince2, Managing Successful Programs (MSP).

Oct 2004 - Mar 2005

6 months

Head of Program Office, QA Manager

ING

The program aimed to deliver a new application for mortgage management. The program suffered from delays, technical and organizational problems. There was no program office, only an administrative secretary. German was asked to set up a program office and grow his team to the needed size (4 people). He was responsible for the daily management of staff. As QA Manager, he also implemented a reporting cycle and was a sparring partner for the program manager.
Department: Participating.
Tools: Business Objects, Agile/Scrum, Prince2, MS Project, RUP, UML.

Jun 2003 - Sep 2004

1 year 4 months

IT Project Manager

AGIS

The goal was to implement and facilitate data exchange between healthcare providers. This was legally required and there were no national standards yet. German's task was to represent AGIS in the national cooperation organization VECOZO and to help develop a national standard for health data exchange. He also worked on the initiative for a national patient record. German was the IT Project Manager for delivering the Exonet SOAP services and managing AGIS requirements. German ensured the implementation of SOAP services for data exchange.
Department: IT Project Manager Exonet/VECOZO.
Tools: Agile/Scrum, Workshops, Interviews, MS Access/VBA, Java.

Jan 2003 - Sep 2004

1 year 9 months

IT Project Manager

AGIS

Project Poseidon BAU (Business as Usual): The new claims processing application (Poseidon) was handed over to IT management and there was a large amount of aftercare work, so a project-based approach was needed. German was responsible for IT project management and implemented change and release management, including a release street. Tools: Prince2, Agile/Scrum, DB2, Cobol, Tuxedo, UniFace, Clarity/Niku Workbench.
Project AGIS Website: A new web portal with more customer functionality was required. German took on the role of IT Project Manager. Choosing a package was one of his tasks, either IBM WebSphere or Bea WebLogic, as well as configuring the web server and portal. He also carried out a requirements analysis and managed requirements. His tasks also included setting up SOAP services for the DB2/Cobol backend. German ensured a successful implementation and configuration of the Bea WebLogic Server and achieved the required service-based functionality. Tools: Bea WebLogic, Java, Cobol, Prince2, Agile/Scrum, Clarity/Niku Workbench, Workshops, Interviews.

Sep 2001 - Dec 2002

1 year 4 months

IT Project Manager

AGIS

The IT department at AGIS had just been reorganized and there still was no single PM tool. On behalf of the IT organization, German was responsible for package selection and requirements management. He also contributed to the Clarity configuration within Oracle and was a Clarity trainer.
Department: Clarity implementation.
Tools: Clarity/Niku Workbench, Oracle, PL/SQL.

Mar 2001 - Jun 2001

4 months

IT Project Manager

AGIS

The IT department at AGIS had just been reorganized and there still was no unified PM method. German wrote a project management handbook and trained project manager colleagues and project team members. In addition, he carried out quality assurance for all AGIS IT projects following the principles of the new handbook.
Department: Project management professionalization.
Tools: Prince2, Agile/Scrum, workshops, interviews.

Nov 2000 - Mar 2001

5 months

Project Manager

ENECO

There were major changes to the existing ENECO GIS developed by CMG. These changes were done internally within CMG under a fixed-price/time contract. The project struggled with progress issues.
German took over project management for a ten-person team. Under his leadership, the project was delivered under cost and time pressure and the post-project work was defined.
Project: ENECO GIS (for CMG).
Tools: UML, RUP, SmallWorld, Magik, Unix, VB6, workshops, Prince2.

Jan 2000 - Nov 2000

11 months

Application Developer / Technical Specialist (MicroStation)

KPN

KPN's fixed network operator (OVN) needed a management system for technical areas. This system had to be connected to the existing BOBOCAD. After preparing and conducting a situation, information, and process analysis, he implemented MicroStation. He configured the system and developed additional functionalities. He migrated existing drawings and data.
He also documented the system and trained users and administrators.
This resulted in a working TORCAD system.
Project: TORCAD (for CMG).
Tools: BIA/BPM, Intergraph MicroStation/macros, VB6, BOBOCAD.

Dec 1997 - Jan 2000

2 years 2 months

Application Developer (Access, VB, SQL Server, Oracle, C++) / Tester / Functional Manager

KPN

CMG internally developed a new sales management system for KPN. German was asked to join this project. He then took over programming, database design, creating functional designs, designing test cases, and running automated test runs. He was also the project manager for the testing project. Afterwards, he put together deployment packages and carried out a nationwide rollout of the application. Finally, he worked nationwide as a functional manager and helpdesk. He also mentored new programming colleagues.
Project: Leistung '97 and '98 (for CMG).
Tools: MS Access, VB6, SQL Server, PL/SQL, Testframe, DSDM, MS Visual SourceSafe, Oracle, Oracle Forms, C++, ITIL, ASL.

Sep 1997 - Dec 1997

4 months

Application Developer (SmallWorld)

CMG

After his bachelor's degree as a SmallWorld programmer, he was asked to join the ongoing GIS project for NUON's gas network management. Here he programmed and tested several modules.
Project: NUON GIS.
Tools: VB, SmallWorld, Magik, Unix, Emacs.

Jul 1994 - Jul 1997

3 years 1 month

Research and Development Project Manager

Intomart

Mobile GIS project to measure the reach of outdoor advertising (July 1994 – July 1997): Intomart worked with analog recorded movement behavior of a rolling sample of 15,000 Dutch people. This was done manually at high cost; there were also many quality issues. German conducted a situational and problem analysis. Then he wrote a definition study on possible solutions. After he created an action plan, he started implementing a mobile GIS/GPS system. He also programmed the GPS and the recording devices. His tasks included establishing and optimizing a mathematical algorithm to interpret measurement points (route formation). After organizing the national rollout, he focused on the statistical interpretation of the resulting movement data. German's work resulted in a functional GIS/GPS system and a new, more accurate analysis method for continuous measurement of advertising reach.
Tools: MapInfo, dBase, VB, Delphi, Clipper, SPSS, GPS technology, MATLAB.
Project: Lloyds ISO 9001 certification (Oct. 1996 – Jul. 1997): During the process of getting ISO 9001 certified by Lloyds, German analyzed and documented quantitative and qualitative market research processes. He also recorded and carried out the internal audit process. His work resulted in Intomart receiving ISO 9001 certification.
Tools: Business process analysis, ISO 9001, workshops and interviews.
Project: European funding (Aug. 1995 – Dec. 1995): The rules for obtaining European grants for research projects were unclear. German first conducted secondary research on existing regulations. During a visit to Brussels, he had the rules explained to him. Then he wrote a handbook on European subsidies.
Tools: Mind mapping, Excel, Word.

Jan 1994 - Jul 1994

7 months

Project Manager/Application Developer

Environmental Police

The need arose to add a geographic component to the environmental knowledge system, as the legislation was especially location-based. German created an action plan, then designed and developed a geographic information system, ran tests and fixed bugs. He also organized deployment and user training. This led to an introduced GIS for the Environmental Police.
Project: Environmental Police GIS (as a freelancer).
Tools: ArcView, ArcEditor, VB, Clipper, ArcInfo.

Aug 1993 - Jan 1994

6 months

Project Manager/Application Developer

Freelancer

The complicated environmental legislation was hard for officers in the field to comply with. German developed an action plan and got it approved. He analyzed the legislation, created a decision tree and wrote a functional and technical specification. Then he developed an application, tested it and fixed bugs. A working knowledge system was completed.
Project: Environmental knowledge system for manure discharge regulations.
Tools: dBase, Clipper, VB, SDM.

Jul 1993 - Aug 1993

2 months

Information Analyst

Limburg Network Administrators

The existing version of the exchange standard format for pipeline data was not sufficient. The Limburg network administrators (KPN, Lima GAS, WML and Enexis) were involved. German performed an information analysis based on the basic information from the parties involved. He clarified and synchronized the requirements. This led to a joint requirements catalog for SUF 2.1.
Project: SUF 2.1 development (as a freelancer).
Tools: Intergraph MicroStation, Intergraph 220 Workstation.

Summary

German has now been working in IT projects for 30 years and has successfully completed a wide range of assignments. He stands out for his flexibility; he has worked as a project or QA manager, but also as a technical specialist who likes new challenges. He has an eye for both technology and business processes. In recent years, he has successfully worked on developing new features for a data warehouse for Deutsche Bahn, such as implementing GeoData with routing algorithms and redeveloping a series of client-server applications for Deutsche Bank HELABA (Credit and Operational Risk) as well as many other small application development projects.

German Popken is an all-round IT professional with over 30 years of experience in ICT. In the last 25 years, he has worked as a DBA, designer and developer for back-end and front-end applications. He is specialized in MS SQL Server, .NET Framework (C# and VB) and MS Office integration with VBA, using OOP, test-driven development and modern design patterns.