Technical Author (Woolworths UK Head Office) September 2006 to Present
Working as a technical author attached to the Central Inventory department at Marylebone, London
(3 month contract). Responsibilities include identification of key company business applications and associated processes. Reviewing and enhancing of existing documentation. Liasing with subject matter experts to obtain additional information as needed. Creation of future document production strategy, special focus on functionality not commonly in use. Production of documentation covering all of above areas, acting as in-depth reference material and ’current standards’ documents for future change management.



Training Services Technical Author (gedas) April 2005 to August 2006
Working as the company technical author attached to the training services dept. Responsibilities include production of documentation for gedas's MS2 product in a variety of formats for a range of audiences, both technical and non-technical. Design and creation of e-Learning material.

e-Learning – Audi & Volkswagen Relief Cars application
Created e-Learning for Audi and Volkswagen, to support the release of an application for managing loan vehicles. The e-learning contained;
• Documentation with embedded tests, to increase user interactivity and improve data absorption.
• Screen 'movies' where users could view tasks being performed in the application.
• Simulations built from application screen captures, with 'hotspots' for data entry, so users could familiarise themselves with processes before using the production system.

e-Learning – HR Workshops
Created e-Learning to advise staff on various aspects of company policy (e.g. absence, bullying, stress). This had several key advantages:
• Information is available to staff at any time.
• Content can be easily updated if company policy changes.
• Removes the need for HR workshops to communicate this information.

MS2 Documentation
Created various documents for the gedas MS2 application, in a variety of formats.
• Liaised with consultants and developers to produce new version release documentation, to advise customers about enhanced product functionality and features.
• Interrogated closed issue logs to produce application workaround documentation, to assist consultants and technical staff
• Worked with colleagues to produce an 'End of Day' CD for customers. This CD details activities customers need to perform to maintain their installation and safeguard their data, with instructional screen capture movies and supporting documentation.




Operations Documentation
Created various documents in word, pdf and online formats to assist Operations staff, with versioning to control new document releases. Subjects included:
• ADSL VPN Project – Installation, configuration and troubleshooting instructions for Support staff, usage guides for customers.
• Wireless LAN Project – Installation, configuration and troubleshooting instructions for Support staff, usage guides for customers.
• DB2 client installation and configuration – Installation and ODBC creation guides.

Working as a technical lead in the gedas desktop project team. Responsibilities included identifying and implementing improvements in the production environment, evaluation, deployment and documentation of new hardware and software products. Liaising with developers, helpdesk, server teams and customers to resolve issues and meet project objectives. Creation of documentation for customers and support staff. Updating existing documentation to ensure accuracy. Examples of this include:

CSi Support Intranet
Created a customer support intranet, to assist staff at the Volkswagen UK head office. Wrote technical articles that customers could follow themselves to populate the site, detailing step by step fixes to simple desktop problems.
• Added new items (currently running at approximately 150 articles) based on customer feedback. I enhanced functionality with features such as:
• Hot news for updating customers on daily operational issues.
• Researched an indexing search tool, so the site can be burnt onto CD for field staff to assist them outside of support hours or if they are unable to dial into the network.
• Implemented a feedback page, where customers could post questions and view responses.
• Managed proof reading of articles from other staff before publishing, to check the quality and suitability for the intended audience. To view this website please click here.

Volkswagen UK Head Office – XP Deployment Project
The deployment of Windows XP to Volkswagen UK was the largest project gedas undertook in 2005.
• Heavily involved in the project at a variety of levels.
• Participated in designing a multi-hardware platform Volkswagen XP PC image.
• Documented image creation procedure.
• Created and updated installation documentation for bespoke and third party applications. Documents were used by the 3rd party engineers performing XP installations.
• Maintained active communication with senior levels of management, in both gedas and Volkswagen.

ABS laptop backup Solution
Volkswagen staff experienced a high degree of laptop hard drive failures, resulting in many staff loosing data. To safeguard against this:
• Researched, trialled and implemented a backup solution of an external hard drive in a shockproof case, usable on various windows platforms.
• Produced supporting documentation for both support staff and customers.
• Device is now the standard I.T. backup solution for Volkswagen and gedas staff, resulting in significant customer data being saved after laptop theft or hardware failures.
• Trialled a USB2 solution for Windows XP, updated the supporting installation and customer documentation accordingly.

Working for gedas as a senior desktop consultant at Volkswagen UK head office. Responsibilities included supporting 700+ on site staff and 500+ field based customers, resolving customer issues within the corporate SLA, escalation of issues to appropriate teams when required, and working to ITIL principles. Examples of my work in this department include:
• Documented issues encountered in the support dept, to ensure configuration details or issue resolutions were recorded for future reference.
• Recognised need for organised storage of departmental documentation. To address this I created a departmental intranet. Managed and co-ordinated reviews of material, proof reading as required, liaised with colleagues to ensure accuracy.
• Designed a standard template to ensure key details where captured, e.g. author, date and document version.
• Developed a search tool to allow data to be retrieved more efficiently.