Background Summary

BACKGROUND

13yrs Experience Software Testing, Integration & Deployment Project Testing
Systems Integration Project Planning and Deployment Technical Support

 

Professional Experience

 

Phoenix Trades Depot - Director, Austin, TX

2011 - Present

Partnered with long-time owner of Austin Lumber Company to bring about transformation to the 1-acre property located in downtown Austin from light industrial use to an arts based community and cultural center.

  • Created and implemented business and marketing plans for leasing property to individuals and small businesses for training classes, meetings, public announcement, entertainment events, and gallery space.

  • In process of implementing a Drupal-based CMS catering to the special needs of a community-based venue.

  • Repurposed 2,000ft2 of retail space for gallery, meeting, and events use.

  • Designed and coordinated several successful events designed to pull local artists and their community closer together while bringing a greater awareness of the property’s new identity.

  • Partnerships currently being forged with PeopleFund, BiGAustin, KAZI and other local community outreach organizations.

 

Silo6Media(DBA) – Small Business IT Consultant Austin, TX

2008 - Present

Worked with small businesses to identify computing and data storage/delivery needs within the scope of a LAN and associated intranet solution.

  • Selected computing hardware, installed appropriate OS and software packages, configured small networks of less than 20 hosts, normally consisting of Microsoft XP\Vista and/or Ubuntu Linux.

  • In cases where audio/video configurations were needed, applicable PC and outboard hardware solutions were selected and installed including everything from the microprocessor to the microphone.

  • Built, installed, and configured Linux servers with the traditional “LAMP” setup including Apache, mySQL, phpMyAdmin, PHP5, and Drupal CMS. These servers were not deployed as web servers and existed behind one or more firewalls.

  • Delivered customized Drupal CMS solutions by configuring core modules, selecting and installing extension modules, and assisting clients with creating a consistent look and feel across their intranet site.

  • Created custom media, graphics, logos, and elements for integration with Drupal using applications such as Adobe Fireworks, Flash/AS3, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, SWiSHMax, Sony Vegas and SoundForge, and several other niche applications.

  • Created a package of portable applications and utilities for clients with mobile employees including technical support staff and administrators that needed a consistent software suite regardless of location.

  • Provided training and support for clients after initial installation and where maintenance contracts were purchased.

  • Provided 3rd party consulting for colleagues' clients, specifically when audio/video requirements were involved.

 

Dresser Industries, Wayne Division - New Product Services, Austin, TX

2005 - 2010

Created test requirements, plans and scripts for execution in real-world environments. Selected and coordinated installation base, test requirements and test durations. Performed gatekeeper functions for releasing to production. Managed issues and project progress in coordination with external clients and internal departments at all levels. Leveraged Sharepoint and MS Office applications in conjunction with a volley of other tools for data storage/dissemination and to assist with process adherence and refinement.

  • Planned roll-out and deployment of software projects for a variety of large clients including ExxonMobil, Sunoco, The Home Depot, SAMS/Wal-Mart, and HEB. Provided additional testing support during roll-out phase.

  • Developed basic MSOffice and Sharepoint applications supporting business processes, planning, knowledge base, data storage and analysis.

  • Provided 24-7 support for install base/client helpdesks and leveraged IBM RMA Director for remote diag/support.

 

 

5One Media Group – Principal Engineer , Waco, TX

2003 - 2006

Co-owned and managed 5One Media Group - a boutique production house in Waco, TX. Provided writing, mixing, recording and post-production services for rock, R&B, rap, gospel, and voice-over clients. Services varied from co-writing material to simply cleaning up multi-tracks. Performances were made at clients' request. Soundtrack audio created for several live productions from plays to concerts. The facility attracted clients from all local studios and community outreach programs received accolades from the Rapoport Foundation located in Waco.

  • Architected, installed and configured the computer network, outboard audio/video/processing equipment, and building infrastructure including sound-proofing, acoustical treatments, and appointments.

  • Designed and implemented intranet and web site solutions.

  • Managed marketing and booking of clients.

  • Provided engineering and post-production services from recording to production of resulting CD product.

 

Dresser Industries, Wayne Division – Software Validation, Austin, TX

2000 - 2005

Developed test plans and unit tests from product functional specifications and leveraged automated test methodologies for regression testing. Performed system integration setup and config; created test matrices covering each feature; manually tested new features then automated tests via scripting; controlled input/output routines and data captures utilizing software simulators that emulated various peripherals. Performed gatekeeper and bug management roles for releasing products to beta test or production. Managed various testing teams of 5-30 responsible for manual testing various configurations.

  • Leading software test resource for management, growth, and implementation of a test script database

  • Developed updates to the test framework/engine for automated test suites and simulation software

  • Provided rapid test results that greatly contributed to the success of over 20 firmware/software projects

 

Dresser Industries, Wayne Division – Customer Support, Austin, TX

1996 - 2000

Developed client management and troubleshooting skills while acquiring keyboarding and 10-key abilities. Products supported include fueling dispenser and card processing equipment, related point-of-sale software and hardware, 3rd party peripherals, and accounting software were also supported. Interfaced with end-users, internal engineering/test/deployment groups, equipment technicians, major oil company and card processing host support groups. Became acquainted with shell scripting and programming languages for real world needs.

  • Development of crisis and client management skills

  • Overall understanding of electronic hardware and software systems and applicable troubleshooting developed in this role.

  • Created initial intranet, product knowledge base, and product library

Education

Assessed 57hrs towards an Management Computer Information Systems degree at Park College(Austin,TX)
Individual studies in several coding languages, PC hardware, data storage and networking technologies

Web design, media for marketing, Flash, Photoshop and a wide array of other media editing applications.

 

Technical Inventory

RS232/RS485/CL/TCP/IPProtocol Development and AnalysisWindows XP,2000,NT,9x,DOS,CE,XPe,Linux
MSOfficeSharepointMS Team FoundationPythonVBScript/VBAJscriptJavaScript

HTMLCSSXMLPHPSQLDrupal CMSActionScriptSound and Video ProductionAgile/SCRUM/Lean

 

General Background

  • The Nucleus POS (point of sale) system is a leading player in the touchscreen POS market for convenience store retailers. With proven successes, Nucleus was sought after by the up-and-coming “hypermarket” retail segment with clients ranging from The Home Depot to Walmart/SAMS that desired fueling dispensers in front of their stores. Being at the hub of these operations, the POS was not only required to have solid dependability, but compatibility and configuration flexibility was required for dozens of peripherals including: scanners, printers, tank monitoring systems, back office management and accounting systems, car wash controllers, lottery machines, card processing PIN pads, satellite units, and their corresponding host processor protocols.

  • POS was designed with Visual Studio, SQL, C++ with VB components for the UI and code base included over a million lines of code.

  • Dresser Wayne is a market leader for fueling dispenser technology, card processing, and multimedia marketing at the pump. With industry firsts such as RFID technology co-developed with National Instruments, local authorization of card payments when a card host is down, and many hydraulic advancements for reliability and accurate fuel measurement Dresser Wayne has a track record for quality product development.

  • Software design processes were drawn from DDD, Waterfall, Agile and Scrum to drive development philosophy.

  • IBM e class servers and SurePOS terminals formed the hardware platform with PCI and onboard RAID technology employed for safety of data. Performed RAID performance and data security tests. Troubleshot RAID issues and assisted with interpreting RAID protocol to create a custom alarm interface for the Nucleus application.

  • Relied on protocol analyzers and conversion equipment to acquire and decipher log files, capture data, traces, and live data to troubleshoot, diagnose or otherwise review and report on system data.

  • Card processing host protocol were developed and tested for various hosts including Alliance Data Systems, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Sunoco, CITGO, and other major retail businesses.

  • TCP/IP protocols and hardware for Card Processing, PIN pad devices, multi-terminal point of sale communication, and back office accounting computers. Equipment ranged from satellite communications equipment to networking hardware and diagnostic utilities.

  • Served in many capacities including specification generation, product deployment & support, writing and editing technical documents, test planning and automation, systems integration and analysis, product roadmap planning, and technical installation and configuration of all associated hardware from hydraulics to electronics to software

  • Worked with many stakeholders to see products through development to release phase.

  • Developed hardware and software tools to facilitate standardization, data acquisition and management from creating hardware kits and cables for development and test to writing small utilities for automating installation, configuration, diagnostics, and upgrade needs.

Functional Specifications

  • Participated in domain design discussions to understand business needs and process flows so products worked in ways the clients specifically needed.

  • Assisted with logic flow and verbiage for functional specifications based on client feedback and hardware needs within DDD, Rapid, Agile and Scrum paradigms.

  • Reviewed functional specifications received from marketing and engineering for accuracy and suggested improvements and solutions to flaws.

  • Specifications represented a full range of projects from hardware, firmware and software products to protocol, logic and UI components within those products.

  • Used functional specifications to create test plans and risk assessment in preparation for estimating testing requirements(see Test Planning)

  • Used specification documents to create effective test cases designed to provide maximum coverage with minimum waste including boundary testing, orthogonal arrays, and looping logic.(see Test Planning)

 

Product Documentation

  • Reviewed Functional Specifications for technical accuracy and adherence to client needs/expectations

  • Created Installation, Configuration, Maintenance, Upgrade and Support documentation and drove documents through marketing approval to publication and availability to install base and service groups

  • Received input from management, development, test, support, client and install base to drive needed corrections and updates through to publication. Provided input to the same.

  • Routinely required to read and understand a multitude of 3rd party and off-the-shelf product documents in support of prototype, development, integration, mentoring and maintenance needs.

  • Built and configured system equipment for purposes of creating and verifying documentation.

  • Edited photograph, raster, and vector images for print, video, and web; created flowcharts and diagrams; and used these images to create data repositories and articles for peers, other departments, help desk staff, and field service personnel

  • Maintained textual and software based libraries for availability to all levels of product involvement

  • Created and updated informal documentation and tips for various groups handling projects

  • Created microsites within Sharepoint installations and participated on steering committees for architecture, organization, and implementation planning and execution.

Test Planning

  • Created test plans from functional specifications for time estimates and test requirements

  • Created and maintained project tracking documents in Excel and Access for purposes of test coverage and time estimates. Microsoft Foundation Server was employed for bug reports and issue tracking and Project was used for several projects.

    • Parsed test plans and functional specifications and created test suites covering: Regression, New Features, Error Conditions, Stress/Activity and Random Activity testing

  • Prepared testing platforms consisting of hardware and software tools, product hardware, conduits to client networks peripheral hardware and simulators.

  • Installed client hardware and software products in testing platforms, provided and received technical support via their support staff.

  • Created test plans and executed their associated automation scripts and manual test activity.

  • Trapped and collected test data, analyzed captured data for accuracy and adherence to functional specifications

 

Test Execution

  • Met daily/weekly with engineering and marketing groups to provide results, general feedback, issues and possible solutions, and analytical reports.

  • Met with client to install alpha and beta versions of products. Assisted with installation, trained engineering, testing, and support groups.

  • Trapped installation procedures and photos/images for created product documents. Worked with editors to establish best practices, documentation content and organization, and reviewed the various revisions for improvements.

  • Trained in house technical support group and help desk leads.

  • Leveraged automated testing methods using an in-house scripting language as well as various tools built around VBScript.

  • Used scripts to drive hardware simulation software

  • Restructured testing framework from a 1:1 test script-to-case ratio to a modularized framework that allowed for drastically streamlined test creation and maintenance and a one-to-many script to case ratio. A single test script could then run thousands of cases from a single data set with only one file to maintain. Improved testing accuracy, efficiency and potency just in time for the rapid growth in complexity mature software products create.

  • Restructured test beds during transitions from Windows NT4 to XP. Doubled throughput of most testing locations by creating a LAN architecture and configuration that allowed 2 systems on the same LAN without IP conflicts. Consolidated the test bed footprint by a factor of 5 by working with tools development to transition from netbios to IP communication and allowing for multiple simulators to run concurrently on a given CPU.

  • Continually created informal documentation and hardware kits to allow other departments to become self-sufficient with product installation and configuration and to eliminate waste in support of basic questions. Created a rudimentary, yet effective, intranet for publishing information, software, and test results years before blogs and Sharepoint were popular.

  • Lead the software test group in test generation and coverage and developed tools for others to more efficiently accomplish tasks. Documented most aspects of test processes for training and test standardization.

 

Product Deployment

  • Was specifically chosen for the roll out and deployment departments for skills in testing and automation

  • Created test beds consisting of a two terminal point-of-sale system with a healthy set of core components and peripherals to allow for testing upgrades and new features prior to releasing to customer labs and pilot locations.

  • Received products released from the test groups and worked with engineering and marketing to integrate hardware and software components into a live configuration, sourced and filtered pilot locations, made arrangements with clients to install products at their locations, performed initial install or upgrades, provided 24hr support for pilot sites, managed and tracked issues from the field, and trained support staff in preparation for full production release.

  • Created installation and upgrade manuals and provided feedback on product work flows and features.

  • Created Beta Test Plans based on functional specifications, test plans, and client requirements in the field.

  • Performed customer acceptance tests, pulled subsets of tests from a library to create a test plan for ‘Beta Phase’ development and acted as a gatekeeper for sign-off on production releases.

  • Selected test locations for initial field deployment, managed their defect lists and drove solutions to the end user through a mixture of Domain Driven Design, Agile and Scrum practices.

  • Quickly acclimated to a slew of 3rd party products that interfaced with products as well as card hosts, hardware peripheral vendors, and accounting software vendors.

  • First line of support for product install base available 24/7 and liaison between outside world and engineering resources

  • Traveled to field locations that exhibited chronic and severe issues troubleshot and captured data for analysis. Worked with engineering for immediate causes and solutions. Parsed host and peripheral data using TCP/IP, RS232, RS485, and current loop protocol capture and analysis tools of various types. Reviewed system and event logs for root cause and implemented stop-gap fixes on the fly to get systems back up quickly.

  • Translated product requirements generated from real world usage to product improvements.

  • Deployed BP Nucleus Rel3(~200 locations), Sunoco Nucleus Rel6(~1300 locations), Citgo Rel4(13 locations), installed and configured prototype products for clients and tradeshows.

 

Product Support

  • Fielded support calls from:

    • Internal helpdesk

    • Training

    • Field technical support

    • Installation teams

    • Marketing

    • Sales

    • Client engineering and test groups

    • Host processors

  • Installed new and updated hardware in support for new requirements and software demands

  • Trained client help desks and training departments for support and installation roles.

  • Developed training guides and tutorials for new employees, internal departments, and client helpdesks.

  • Traveled to locations experiencing unresolved issues that were catastrophic either in frequency or severity of occurrences.

  • Met with 3rd party support teams and drove solutions through troubleshooting, testing, and implementation.

  • Performed data captures on a wide variety of equipment types from serial and RJ45 communications equipment to Ethernet networks and internal software and firmware logs. Collected data and paired with engineering and testing groups to quickly identify root cause and resultant fixes and resolutions.

  • Participated in focus groups for major clients in order to triage retail locations experiencing chronic and severe issues in order to create test suites to recreate problems in-house. Travel was often required and on-site troubleshooting was performed. Assisted with resolving hundreds of issues, often times when 3rd party equipment was the root cause and their support groups failed to identify and resolve issues on their equipment.

 

Training

  • Help Desk

    • Transformed an ad hoc document repository into a complete and indexed document library and created initial intranet counterpart with electronic copies, service bulletins, and tips. Assisted with the acclimation of the new tools

    • Trained new employees upon hire

    • Trained current employees on newer and more complex products were deployed to client base and provided mentoring during issue escalations where applicable.

  • Product QA

    • Created initial intranet for the QA group in 2005 and leveraged the consolidated information repository for training peers, engineering, marketing, sales, and support staff. Focused on making data readily available and understandable for a diverse set of users.

    • Trained new employees upon hire

    • Developed new testing methodologies and frameworks focusing on test efficiency, expediency, and simplicity to improve learning curves and improve QA group’s throughput in an environment where product counts increased in the face of human resource reductions

    • Created tools for installation, configuration, and testing and trained peers in their use and adoption.

  • New Product Support

    • Trained new employees upon hire

    • Trained client helpdesk and support groups as part of ‘Production Roll-Out’ of major upgrades and new products

    • Trained client testing staff for customer acceptance test

    • Installed new products in the field and trained field technicians on troubleshooting, triage and repair.

    • Trained end users on new products as they were deployed during pilot and production roll-out phases

    • Provided addendum incremental training to 3rd party help desk and support groups

    • Provided lectures and QA sessions for field technicians during their official in-house product training and certification classes.

    • Provided CBT and Web Based proof reading and error checking in cooperation with the training department.

    • During tradeshows and conventions, provided training to sales staff, 3rd party vendors, and technical staff.

    • Provided technical data to technical publications staff and assisted with editing the documents for readability, accuracy and workflow.

    • Led the way in Sharepoint site development for training and information access

      • Created companion tools for tracking field issues, group support equipment (i.e. data capture laptops and hardware).

      • Aggregated available help guides and tips and created an array of the same to enable remote staff to be more self-reliant and improve client satisfaction through reduced resolution times.

      • Trained peers and external departments on Sharepoint usage and development to fully leverage the tool that largely sat unnoticed.

Development Projects and Hardware

  • Clients

    • Major Oil Companies(MOCs) – the following enumerates the main clients that drove software development in terms of functional specifications as well as funding.

      • Alliance Data Systems (ADS)

      • British Petroleum (BP)

      • Buypass

      • Chevron

      • CITGO

      • ExxonMobil

      • Sunoco

      • Shell

    • “Hypermarket” Clients: Large retail outlets infusing fueling stations on their properties

      • HEB

      • HomeDepot

      • KMart

      • SAMS/Walmart

      • Target

    • Other

      • Navy

  • WaynePlus (Wayne+) Point-of-Sale

    • First-of-its-kind device that not only performed retail sales functions, but allowed for integrated control for up to 24 fueling points. Prior to this product, fueling controllers and cash registers were separate devices.

    • Later revisions of this product also integrated, for the first time, card processing into the point-of-sale, eliminating the need for a separate card processing device.

    • Initial releases only integrated AT modem commands and routines for card processing with later releases adding DB25 ISDN modem compatibility for considerable improvements to communication speed. Many busy locations at that time would be crippled by 28.8K and 56K modem speeds commonly available at the time.

  • Nucleus™ Point-of -Sale in all of its various incarnations

    • Retail point-of-sale system with built in fueling point control subsystem and numerous add-on components to drive car wash, lottery machine, money order, and a variety of other retail peripherals.

    • Server Hardware

      • AMD x100 proprietary command unit

      • Dell GMT

      • IBM eSeries x200-8478

      • IBM eSeries x200-8479

      • IBM eSeries x205-8480

      • IBM eSeries x206-8482

      • Fujitsu A Platform

      • Fujitsu M Platform

    • Terminal Server Hardware (integrated server and payment terminal)

      • IBM SurePOS 741

      • IBM SurePOS 742

      • IBM SurePOS 743

    • Payment Terminal Hardware

      • IBM SurePOS 561

      • IBM SurePOS 562

      • IBM SurePOS 563

      • IBM SurePOS 565

    • Other Server Hardware Components

      • Arco Duplidisk II (DD2)

      • Arco Dupidisk3 (DD3)

      • RocketRaid

      • Intel Onboard

      • Arco

  • In-dispenser forecourt technologies

    • Dispenser control boards

      • SC82™ dispenser controller

      • Vista™ dispenser controller

      • Vista+™ (Vista Plus) dispenser controller

      • iGEM™ dispenser controller

    • Card Processing Control Boards

      • CAT™ Board (Customer Activated Terminal) – First in dispenser control board that allowed for customers to pay outdoors with a credit card instead of being forced to go indoors to pay for fuel.

      • RFID™ Board (Radio Frequency Identification) technology for payment ‘at the pump’ without the need for swiping a credit card(ExxonMobil). This included the logic boards that broadcast and read the RF signals as well as the “key fob” devices that responded to RF signals. This technology is now ubiquitous for all types of retail product management from security, product tracking within warehouses, and toll road tags.

      • IDPOS™ technology to provide for near-100% uptime for payment processing capability – even when a card host is unavailable(Wal-Mart/SAMS/HomeDepot)

      • DualCAT™ technology providing functionality to both sides of a dispenser with one logic board.

      • qCAT (Quarter-VGA CAT board) – first of a line of fully enabled VGA graphics displays. Using a quarter-VGA screen allowed for the benefits of high resolution within a compact footprint. Control board allowed for ‘softkeys’ to be implemented for even more flexibility with customer messaging and option selections that are totally configurable since keys have no silkscreened labeling to contend with. Now retail items could be offered and sold at the dispenser without resorting to numeric entries to select items: selecting items was now simply a matter of pressing the key near the option. The additional real estate on the display, while still monochrome, allowed for custom logos and more complex images to be displayed.

      • iXVGA™ technology providing the first in-pump video screen and, eventually, the first touch screen interface at a fueling dispenser. Based on a custom mother board running windows CE. Now a 14” VGA screen was supported in the dispenser, offering full color and video options never before seen in the convenience store industry.

      • iXVGA™ R2 – iXVGA board reworked for cost reduction and added additional ports for loading, configuration, and diagnostics.

      • iXVGA™ R3 – complete re-design of the card processing board to accommodate new industry standards for security, including on-board encryption and tampering detection. 15” VGA screens and touchscreen capabilities added.

      • SPM™ (Secure Payment Module) - addressing security concerns with credit card issuers, namely MasterCard and VISA. Due to many instances of employees and outsiders hacking system databases and retrieving thousands of card numbers for fraudulent use and many instances of criminals placing data capture devices inside fueling dispensers to obtain card data, card issuers created a list of initiatives and mandates for point-of-sale developers to implement between 2007 and 2011. Part of the initiative included a secure keypad that would have seismometers and gyroscopes for intrusion detection and “Triple DES” encryption routines for the data sent back to the payment computing systems for submission to card hosts.

    • Card Processing Control Board Displays

      • Single Line Display – 2 line 16 character display for customer prompting

      • Graphics Display – 4 line, 20 character display for customer prompting. Allowed for multiple options to be displayed for the first time, critical for driving car wash sales at the dispenser instead of at the car wash bay.

      • qVGA – Quarter VGA display, monochrome only.

      • Color VGA – full color VGA capabilities at the pump. Allows for high resolution graphics and video to be presented at the outdoor dispenser.

      • VGA 14” – Large format display allowing for full size images and video to be displayed outdoors in the form of high impact branding images, full motion advertisements, web served content, and product marketing still images.

      • VGA 15” -

      • VGA 15” Touchscreen -

    • Dispenser Diagnostics and Configuration

      • iXGateway™ -

  • Forecourt peripheral devices

    • Car Wash Terminal protocols supporting card processing by the indoor POS (Unitech ENTERLINK, Ryko Code-A-Wash IV) where the traditional model required a separate modem and phone line for processing card data at the car wash bay. The new model leveraged the speed and flexibility of IP based communication over an Ethernet network over the old RJ-11 hardware over traditional phone lines. Security, display controls and host protocol extensions were of key focus during this integration across several 3rd parties and several card processing hosts including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Sunoco.

    • Veeder Root TLS350 – RS232 device that used resistance to determine depth of gasoline and water for monitoring fuel tank levels without resorting to placing a stick into the tank to measure levels manually. Integrating this device into the point-of-sale allowed for levels to be sent to the network for automatic remote fuel monitoring and delivery.

    • Everbright Price Sign – DB9 R232 port for sending price data out to the outdoor price sign. Price sign driver simply added SQL hooks to pull current fuel prices and send out to the price sign interface.

  • In-store devices

    • 3rd Party Payment Terminals

      • Verifone EVEREST Plus – RS232 card payment device with DUKPT debit encryption implementation for processing debit cards. Loaded device application and DUKPT keys for testing point-of-sale payment processing logic, card host processing protocols, and device application verification.

      • Verifone OMNI7000 – next generation PIN pad device with larger monochrome display for branding graphics/logo and IP-based communication option for point-of-sale.

      •  

      • Verifone MX830 – Monochrome graphics display that allows for embedded advertisement and logos, custom prompts, and RFID payment add-on. IP-based communication to point of sale.

      •  

      • Ingenico I65500 – Full color graphics, IP-based communication to point-of-sale, RFID payment options, PCI compliant security implementation.

    • 3rd Party Point Of Sale Systems (Verifone Ruby, Gilbarco Passport)

      • Verifone Ruby –

      • Verifone Sapphire –

      •  

      • Gilbarco Passport –

        • PAM

        • Universal Distribution Box (UDB)

    • GTECH Lottery Machine - RS232 lottery machine

    • Everbright Price Sign (PWM)

    • Car Wash/Car Wash Terminal systems

      • Unitec POS8000 – RS232 car wash bay control system. Point-of-sale interface consisted of code issuance and verification. Control unit also allowed for card processing at the car wash bay, however the unit required its own modem and card processing protocol for card acceptance.

      • Unitec ENTERLINK – first generation ‘car wash terminal’ system which allowed for card processing via the indoor point-of-sale, thus eliminating the need for a dedicated phone line, modem, and card processing merchant account/host.

      • Unitec CWT – second generation ‘car wash terminal’ that added new protocols for displaying custom messages/data requests on the fly for more flexible host processing – particularly for ExxonMobil’s enhanced card processing architecture.

      • Ryko Code-A-Wash II/IVI – RS232 car wash bay control system similar to the Unitec POS-8000 system.

      • Ryko CWT -

    • Security Camera Interface – DB9 RS232 connection to the point-of-sale where each line item rung up on the cash register is sent out in ASCII format for reception and presentation to the video camera interface to be trapped on video.

    • Change Machine – DB9 RS232 connection where the point-of-sale sends change amount to a change machine.

  • Networking and Card Processing Hardware

    • Hubs/Switches

      • 3Com Connect 8 port hub – Basic hub without switching. Was prone to data communication errors and short life-span. Nucleus point-of-sale utilized a hub to link up to 8 devices including other Nucleus terminals, Ethernet host devices, and 3rd party peripherals.

      • Milan 8 port switch – Replacement for the 3Com hub and contributed to cleaner, more reliable communication between Ethernet devices.

      • Cisco Linksys 16 port switch – Used in applications where point-of-sale terminals, and card payment card swipe units used Ethernet communications and exceeded the 8 ports of the standard Milan switch.

      • Fortigate “Fortinet60” – a router with multiple, firewalled zones to allow for local Ethernet connections for onsite network communications zone, a ‘DMZ’ zone for devices exposed to the internet, and a host zone for card processing communications. Device implemented to enhance security of internet enabled locations now prevalent in the industry.

    • Satellite/ISDN routers

      • DirectWav – ISDN satellite router

      • Hughes STAR????

    • Dialup/AT telephony devices

      • Courier Modem – commercially robust basic dialup modem operating via DB25 RS232

      • Mannatec card processing unit/modem – Proprietary modem that processed fleet fueling cards for stations servicing clients that operated larger fleets of vehicles. Allowed for vehicle specific tracking of vehicle odometers, mileage between fill-ups, and fuel volumes for greater visibility and control of vehicle costs and usage. Point-of-sale communications operated over DB25 RS232 connection with a terse protocol for conveying items in a sale, product codes to ensure non-fuel items are not purchased on the fleet cards, vehicle data, and sale totals.

      • Datawire dialup-over-IP modem – allowed for leveraging RJ45 IP broadband connections readily available in lieu of more expensive ISDN or antiquated RS232 dialup modem technology. Allowed for drastic throughput improvements without the need for point-of-sale software or hardware updates. Testing focused on start/end protocol segments to ensure parity with dialup modem implementation within IP packets.

      • Datatran – proprietary modem that featured storing/buffering of transactions to allow for multiple card processing requests per dial and local batching of sales transactions for reconciliation at card processing hosts and store location.

    • BlackBox Host Processors

      • Verfone VIPER – IP-based PCI compliant black box host processor that firewalled host communications from the point-of-sale and was essentially a router with on-board storage for logic firmware for card processing host communications. Card swipe and RFID units (Verifone MX830s in this implementation) were connected via RJ45 ports, each behind its own firewall. Rules were loaded into the device to allow for uni- or bi-directional between ports. BP was the first of the major oil companies to implement the architecture and protocol. Nucleus point-of-sale was the first to implement the IP-based implementation of the Verifone hardware (Verifone had implemented an RS232 version to their RUBY point-of-sale).

        • Point-of-sale communications to device were encapsulated in a simple XML wrapper that conveyed numeric codes for product types, line item quantities and amounts, sale taxes, discounts, and totals. The black-box managed card swipe prompting, card data collection, and host communication.

        • Benefits of the architecture included the ability for host protocol and card processing changes without the need for costly and cumbersome point-of-sale changes and resultant certification requirements. Problem/resolution processes were streamlined and XML messaging made for simpler interpretation and troubleshooting.

      •  

    • Remote Support Software

      • Paraguine Remote Service Management

      • PC Anywhere

      • VNC

      • Insite proprietary software

      • IBM RMA Agent (Remote Management A????)

    • BOS

      • The Software Works

      • Insite - Blackpipe

  • Special Projects

    • BP Helios House

    • NACS2008 Tradeshow

    • NACS2009 Tradeshow

 

Administrative Projects

  • Intranets:

    • Product Verification

      • Created the department’s first functional intranet via Dreamweaver MX

      • Success of the intranet encouraged engineering department to adopt the same principles.

      • Site pulled together product documentation, installation checklists and tips, troubleshooting info, test framework explanations and supporting files that saved countless hours for seeking out engineering experts, working through problems by trial and error, and scouring networks for documents.

      • Made available test plans, results, and reports that greatly enhanced access to information critical to engineering and project managers ability to deliver products on time and in budget.

      • Created product pages to collect and store obscure engineering documents, 3rd party manuals, software tools, technical tips and known issues currently not readily available to the helpdesk, deployment and field support groups and contributed to lost revenue through lengthy and chronic service calls, client frustration, and unnecessary/incorrect part replacements.

    • Finance department’s “FiNET” – awarded “2001 Financial Impact” award for enabling the finance department to disseminate information to external departments as well as facilitate rapid updates and accessibility of business critical data. Trained users of the intranet how to use and build upon the seed site.

  • Sharepoint site development – first to really push Sharepoint technologies and capabilities to everyday life of the departments. From creating issue tracking applications to increase visibility of project progress, to inventory pages to keep tabs on data capturing equipment sent to all corners of the U.S., to coordinating meeting agendas and notes for sharing and dissemination in and out of the department. Once other departments realized the capability and potential of the Sharepoint model, other departments inherited the enthusiasm and began to leverage the product for the benefit of the company.

    • Storage

    • Information

    • Business Logic

    • Project Management

    • Asset Tracking

  • Shell/VBScript/WMI Scripts:

    • With coding, scripting, and shell experience garnered in the software testing capacity, many installation, configuration, and diagnostic tools were developed to ensure consistency of product installation and maintenance. These mini-projects enabled departments from development to manufacturing to become self-empowered to do tasks and collect data that previously required a human to perform, resulting in cost/time savings across the entire organization for product related delivery and support requirements.

    • CD/DVD media verification prior to sending to client test labs and field locations.

    • Archival scripts to pull product code, configuration, test scripts, and test results and package into one archive set to allow for reproduction/validation of past issues and respective code fixes

    • Point-Of-Sale and test PC configurations to streamline and make consistent loading of new test machines or resetting their state back to a known baseline. With the test group servicing many more application types than hardware available, these scripts literally saved days of testing efforts during project transitions and especially when field issues with legacy code were escalated to engineering for review and current test framework had changed considerably.

    • Created installation scripts to ensure software was installed/upgraded consistently and to remove human error where possible.

  • MS Office templates

    • Created templates for hand-off signatures, test metrics, and reporting.

 

Development Tools and Software

  • PVCS Tracker – Bug Tracking Engine

  • Microsoft Team Foundation – Bug Tracking Engine

  • PVCS (Polytron Version Control System) – code repository engine

  • Scripting Languages

    • ATGX – proprietary scripting language that needed to be compiled. As a result, we tried to abstract out inputs and output expectations into text files that could be read. By leveraging CASE statements in the compiled code, updates could be made incrementally without interrupting or corrupting existing routines.

    • VBScript/QuickTest Pro – towards the end of my tenure, we began to investigate QuickTest Pro. Due to the extreme challenges our product brought to the table, the software vendor had to come in-house and fine tune their software to meet our requirements.

      • The nucleus platform had UI, database, card processing host protocol, and over 30 different 3rd party products and applications to contend with; each requiring a homebrewed simulator application to masquerade as the actual device for development and testing purposes.

      • Device communications involved a litany of protocols and communication types to accomplish their task; all of which needed to be aggregated by the point-of-sale

      • XML wrappers, bitfields, variable length host messaging via ASCII, RS232, RS485, TCP/IP, UDP, TTL, and numerous other protocols were employed.

    • NT Shell scripting used for setting up test platforms and re-initializing test systems and products under test, adding and dropping databases, archiving log files, dumping event viewer and performance monitor data, re-imaging hard drives, installing integrated software utilities such as RAID management software, loading ‘Nucleus code’, and anything else that could possibly be automated. With 5-8 projects under test at any given time by 5 test members, there was a constant need for cleanup and re-purposing of test hardware.

    • VBScript employed for WMI and shell automation for same reasons noted immediately above.

    • Jscript/JavaScript – leveraged these languages where needed and where most efficiently employed. No singular tool was used, only the best method for the task at hand.

  • Sharepoint

    • Front runner in the company for leveraging Sharepoint.

 

Sharepoint/Drupal Development/Support

  • Sharepoint site development –

    • Pressed department managers to adopt Sharepoint as their de facto intranet framework in lieu of the disparate solutions currently implemented.

    • Developed prototype Sharepoint sites for presenting the power and potential the new technology has to offer.

    • Worked to deploy Sharepoint technologies and capabilities to everyday life of the departments. From creating issue tracking applications to increase visibility of project progress, to inventory pages to keep tabs on data capturing equipment sent to all corners of the U.S., to coordinating meeting agendas and notes for sharing and dissemination in and out of the department. Once other departments realized the capability and potential of the Sharepoint model, other departments inherited the enthusiasm and began to leverage the product for the benefit of the company.

    • Solutions included

      • Storage

      • Information

      • Business Logic

      • Project Management

      • Asset Tracking

  • Drupal CMS Development

    • Worked with small businesses to identify computing and data storage/delivery needs within the scope of a LAN and associated intranet solution.

    • Selected computing hardware, installed appropriate OS and software packages, configured small networks of less than 20 hosts, normally consisting of Microsoft XP\Vista and/or Ubuntu Linux.

    • Built, installed, and configured Linux servers with the traditional “LAMP” setup including Apache, mySQL, phpMyAdmin, PHP5, and Drupal CMS. These servers were not deployed as web servers and existed behind one or more firewalls.

    • Delivered customized Drupal CMS solutions by configuring core modules, selecting and installing extension modules, and assisting clients with creating a consistent look and feel across their intranet site.

    • Created custom media, graphics, logos, and elements for integration with Drupal using applications such as Adobe Fireworks, Flash/AS3, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, SWiSHMax, Sony Vegas and SoundForge, and several other niche applications.

    • Created a package of portable applications and utilities for clients with mobile employees including technical support staff and administrators that needed a consistent software suite regardless of location.

    • Provided training and support for clients after initial installation and where maintenance contracts were purchased.

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