OBJECTIVE: software development, in PERL or a mainframe programming language
like COBOL	

EXPERIENCE:

From October, 1990 to March, 2010, Systems Consultant with Trans Union, one of
the top three credit reporting companies in the country.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Designed and developed numerous “Master Data Management” applications. For each
application, I wrote a PERL script that fetched a datafile from a website, ftped
it to the mainframe, and triggered a job applying updates to the Master Data
table(s) on DB2. From this point, our IBM Data Propagator software applied these
updates from the DB2 Log  to target tables on different platforms. This ensured
that updates across all platforms were timely and in sync. 

As administrator for over 120 Corporate-wide DB2 lookup tables, I developed a
rapid back-out procedure to recover any updates that were found to be causing
production problems. Due to our reliance on replication software, a backout from
an Image Copy was out of the question, since replication depended on SQL only. 
So I wrote a PERL program which produced “backout” SQL for any update. 

Developed a client/server system to maintain over 60 corporate-wide lookup
tables, utilized by multiple application areas, out of multiple Panvalet
libraries. These tables were consolidated into one set of DB2 tables on the
mainframe. For ease of user access, developed a GUI front-end using Visual Basic
6, which ensured data integrity through field edits and validations. The system
replaced numerous manual hand-offs with automatic notification of the next
downstream application area to test table changes. Via 80 COBOL programs, the
system automated the update of tables in the old Panvalet format, needed by
legacy systems until these cut over to DB2 only.

Led a three-person team, and consultants, in developing the Zipcode Maintenance
System. This involved the conversion of zipcode tables from Panvalet members, one
per state, to a DB2 database. This COBOL CICS batch system automated the update
of our DB2 tables from the monthly USPS zipcode tape as well as automating the
update of tables in the Panvalet format, which were needed by legacy systems.  

Participated as team member in the design and implementation of a company-wide
utility to free application programmers from dealing with the intricacies of a
database record which was variable-length and utilized bit switches as field
presence indicators and pointers. With the new utility, an application program
simply  does a call, requesting the "view" of the data it needs from the utility.
The requested view is returned in a fixed-format record. This utility gave the
company much greater responsiveness to changing business needs.

Designed and wrote a facility, utilizing CLISTS and ISPF dialogs, to create
plus/plus PANVALET cards automatically for a user, so that the PANVALET
"footprint" might be maintained at an installation which does not have PANVALET
ONLINE. This facility worked by running an online COMPAREX against a PANVALET
production member and a complete "change" member incorporating all user's
changes. With this facility, the user gets to work with a complete test copy of
the program instead of having to type plus/plus cards, a task which is
time-consuming and error-prone.
 

Hired to direct a three-person team in the development and installation of a
complex (50 programs) front-end system (COBOL CICS-VSAM) controlling the
assignment of internal subscriber numbers to the raw data we receive daily from
thousands of data contributors.


From 12/84 to 10/90, Systems Analyst with Arbitron-SAMI,  a market research firm
involved with reporting data on the movement of food items from chain warehouses
to grocery stores.

HIGHLIGHTS:

As project leader, designed and directed implementation of a system linking
ad-hoc, customized reports written in SAS with our production system controlling
the number of report copies, the generation of mailing labels, and the production
of status reports. This interface system was driven by ISPF panels which invoked
CLISTs and various application programs utilizing Dialog Manager services.

Project responsibility for projects with impact on either the group's CICS
transaction or on our mailing label database (IDMS). These projects included,
among others, modifications and enhancements to CICS transactions, the creation
of verification files and monthly report listing all work done over CICS, and
CULPRIT-generated flat files of the database, which were transmitted to
Cincinnati monthly for promotional purposes.

From 1/84 to 11/84, Programmer/Analyst on CICS CONVERSION PROJECT

Member of team which converted all in-house INTERCOMM applications to CICS.

From 8/81 to 1/84, Programmer in SAMI's Scanner Group

Wrote update and report programs, and assisted in enhancements, maintenance, and
production problems for the Scanner Store and Panel systems (IDMS database).
 
EXPERTISE:

PERL, COBOL, MVS/OS JCL, DB2/SQL, TSO, CICS, VSAM, EASYTRIEVE PLUS, ISPF,
PANVALET, FILEAID, CLISTS, EXPEDITER, SPF MACROS, DOS, Windows, Microsoft
Outlook

EXPERIENCED IN:

LINUX, C, SAS, IDMS, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Visual Basic,
Microsoft Project, CULPRIT, EXPEDITER, ONLINE QUERY

EDUCATION:

BA	English, University of Toronto	
MA	English, Northwestern University	
PHD (ABD)	English, Columbia University, NY