http://www.geekcorps.org/default.asp?l1i=1&l2i=7&l3i=440 - my volunteer assignment for USAID/IESC/Geekcorps and AED in Rwanda November/ December 2003

also a local version at Geekcorps_org.htm

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My assignment for Maersk Sealand January - May 2001

-----Original Message-----
From: Gardam, Tom
Sent: 17 May 2001 17:48
To: Tanning Europe; Tanning India
Cc: Tanning, Larry; CMT; Sleeper, Scott; Stalch, Michael
Subject: Delivered to Production on time.

Folks,

This is a short note to let you know that the Data Improvement Project at Maersk Sealand successfully entered Production this week.

This project collects information from 8 separate large mainframe reports that track data quality anomalies from the core business systems at Maersk. Data from these reports is then extracted, cleaned, and loaded into an Oracle dB. Business Objects is used to perform detailed statistical analysis on information that allows Maersk to monitor the trends in data quality and consistency within its core business world-wide.

This information is available to the majority of the Maersk Business Users and the user roll-out has begun. It is estimated that between 600-1000 concurrent users will access the system world-wide 24 hours per day.

This project has been a first for Maersk Sealand in a couple of ways. It is the first project within Maersk Sealand to use Business Objects as the selected Enterprise Wide reporting tool. It is also a project that has used a new management structure enabling much closer collaboration between the true business user, the developers and the facilities management suppliers. The project was completed on time in 4 months and within budget.

I would like to pass on my sincere congratulations to [Alex Weir] who led this project from the outset. It is never easy deploying a project into production - especially in a vast organisation with a huge infrastructure. However this challenge was made harder because the project broke organisational boundaries and long established cultures within the organisation. [Alex] stepped up to the challenge, he said what Tanning would do and then did it. He has also proved the point that projects can be delivered in a short time frame with a small number of people yet deliver very significant and highly visible business benefit.

Please join me is thanking [Alex] for this considerable achievement.

Tom Gardam.