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R3V1 - Production & Process Monitoring System
I spent three years working for a company [then] called
Nicollet Process Engineering (NPE) now called FullMetrics. The Client/Server
product was a program used to monitor machine information primarily for Plastic
Injection Molders.
My Contribution(s)
I was involved in system design discussions and documenation projects. My primary
function was one of developer support. I developed utilities and applications using
Borland's Delphi 2/3 to make both the system and the development team more efficient.
- Developed install program (reduced install time from 4+
hours to 30 minutes) -- combination of Delphi, Installshield, and SQL
- Designed and developed database conversion program (Paradox/Access to MSSQL)
- Participated in design sessions
- Developed various user-interfaces
- Developed database interfaces
- Developed test plans and test cases
- Authored user documenation
- Supported staff of 5-10 developers
Challenges/Project Notes
This application provided many obstacles and challenges throughout the
product lifecycle.
Team Development
The composition of the development team changed drastically over the first two
years of the development. When I first began there were three full-time developers;
over the first 6-8 months an additional 8 programmers were hired, resulting in a
team of 11 Delphi programmers. I learned how to deal with a diverse group of
programmers with drastically different levels of experience.
Installation/Setup
The nature of the R3V1 system was such that installation was far from straightforward.
The system was designed to be modular and thus had 23 main executable programs that
accessed as many as 68 MSSQL 6.5 tables in three databases. The system also relied
heavily on baseline resource information, so many tables needed to be populated with
specific values before the system could be run. To further complicate the issue, many
of the programs and hardware needed to be calibrated at the time of installation.
Early versions of the system were installed manually, taking 2 technicians and 2
programmers as much as three days to fully install the system. I developed two
installer utilities and several Transact-SQL scripts to automate the installation.
The use of these programs reduced the installation time to one technician spending
about 30 minutes.
Release Coordinator/Manager
I was the Release Coordinator and Testing Manager for the final product. I was
responsible for managing three Testers, as well as coordinating the product launch.
I created test plans, test scripts, administered the automated testing software, and
coordinated testing. I tracked testing progress and bug reports, I communicated with
developers and followed-up on bug fixes and change control.
Documenation
Prior to my participation in the project, initial design sessions were conducted
by developers behind closed doors and resulted in little or no documenation. In an
effort to increase the longevity of the project and decrease future maintenance costs,
I authored system documentation. This included design documents, specification documents,
and knowledgebase documents.
Technical Liaison
In order to smooth the waters between the developers and the other business
units in the organization, I often acted as a sort of technical liaison between
Engineering and Marketing. My degree, experience, and background in Business
helped me to better understand the business dilemmas, while my programming and
computer experience provided me with an understanding of the technical issues.
This proved to be an eye-opening experience.
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