Stewart N H Mackie
MCSD FRSA MSc MA
Professional Developer, ORSM Consulting
Profile
Experienced
senior manager, software solutions analyst, web developer and marketing applications consultant. Spent many years building up the SPA group of Computer Aided Sales and Marketing consultancies. Most
recently a director and part of the
web/software development team for the FirstNexus group of companies – Structured Training Ltd, Predaptive OD Ltd, Sales Pathways Ltd and DotWorld
Ltd.
Commercial
Skills
·
Creating successful market analysis and salesforce automation
businesses;
·
Recruiting and managing teams of graduates in sales, client
support, consultancy projects and software development;
·
Formulating business strategy & running the day to day
operations of a company.
Technical
Skills
·
Developing complex web sites and software applications in ASP.NET 2, VB.NET, XML, VB6, C#, SQL, Classic
ASP, SQL Server and Oracle;
·
Developing web based HR and elearning systems.
·
Mathematical modelling, database modelling and statistical
analysis;
·
Running market analysis, OR and GIS projects using MapInfo,
Tactician & Mosaic Systems.
Recent Positions
Product
Development Manager of Predaptive OD Ltd
and Technical Solutions Director of DotWorld
Communications Limited (from Sept 2000).
Previous
Positions
·
Proprietor of ORSM
Consulting, Technical Director of Drivetime
Software in
·
Development/Commercial Director, Sales Performance Analysis Ltd (SPA) (1991-96).
·
Managing Director of SPA
Marketing Systems Ltd (1988-90).
·
Technical Director of SPA Marketing Systems Ltd (1984-87).
·
Senior Consultant with CACI
Inc Market Analysis Division (1982-84).
·
Computer Manager for Market
Location Ltd (now Wegener DM) (1981-82).
·
Principal Consultant at the
Unit for Retail Planning Information (now a part of MapInfo Inc) (1978-80).
·
Principal Planning Officer in the
·
Consultant with the Local
Government Operational Research Unit (1969-75).
Key
Achievements
·
Created the software for a major new elearning product ‘Learning World’, including a Learning Management
System & Content Production/Delivery System.
·
Designed and produced a web based 360 Appraisal System, now used by several major companies around
the world, including Siemens and Diamdel.
·
Developed interactive advisory web sites powered by an expert system engine.
·
Developed and sold the world’s first commercial retail location model software.
·
Conceived and built The Marketing Machine, a suite of modelling
software that, as Mosaic Systems,
became the
·
Created & managed a successful
software modelling business, recruiting a team of 20 graduate consultants
to use the software for project work and license it to clients.
·
Sold this market modelling business to CCN (now Experian).
·
Designed and built Journey-Plan,
the world’s first integrated sales territory optimisation, journey planning and
call scheduling system, the rights to which were then sold to CACI Inc.
Business Interests
My
primary business interest in life is in using my breadth of knowledge and
experience in analytics and software development to deliver cost-effective solutions to clients’ problems and business
issues. I do this by designing, developing and deploying powerful, cutting edge
software products.
I
have over 35 years of experience in analytic software and services
consultancies. I have worked extensively
in:
·
Operational Research, optimisation heuristics and expert systems.
·
Geographic Information Systems (MapInfo, Tactician, Site and
Mosaic Systems).
·
Web & PC software development (in Visual Basic, HTML,
JavaScript, VBScript, SQL, C and Fortran).
·
Urban, transport & retail planning.
·
Logistics & journey planning.
·
Consumer targeting and geo-demographics (ACORN and MOSAIC).
·
Data mining and statistical analysis (with SPSS).
·
Computer aided sales and marketing.
·
Online HR and 360 appraisal systems.
·
Elearning, Learning Management & Learning Content Systems.
I
see myself basically as a Hybrid Manager, Software Developer and Complex
Systems Analyst. I have a strong technical background in developing and
applying analytical modelling software. I also enjoy harnessing other people’s
creativity and bringing their ideas together in novel ways, for example:
Contact
Manager + Distribution Planning System = Sales Force Automation Software
I
have extensive management experience in project work, team building, client
support and consultancy, which has always been done within a commercial, profit
focused environment.
I
like to help to build profitable businesses that are based around innovative
software modelling products and analytical services.
Web Skills
I
have been designing and building complex, database driven intranets and
extranets for the past five years. These have been built to a standard DNA
three layer architecture on a mainly Microsoft platform using:
·
IIS as the web server.
·
SQL Server 2000 or Oracle 8i as the database server.
·
COM Object DLLs written
in VB6 for a data wrapper and
business layer objects.
·
Active Server Pages or ASP.NET written in VB.NET, VBScript or C# (server
side), Javascript (client side) and HTML for rendering the presentation
layer at the browser end.
I
have been heavily involved in the full product development life cycle:
·
Design – producing data
models, analysing the business logic with clients, liaising with graphic designers
and other developers to turn web page concept images into HTML and ASP code.
·
Develop – writing and running
T-SQL and PL/SQL scripts to create tables and stored procedures, coding DLLs in
Visual Basic, writing HTML and ASP with Visual InterDev and a text editor.
·
Debug – including unit
testing on local servers and system testing on test servers.
·
Deploy – porting the system
to either our own or client hosted production servers, and training the
administrators in the system’s ongoing management.
I
have been supported by graphic designers and javascript programmers in creating
the front end web pages. Apart from that, I have been the sole analyst, DBA and
developer on many of the web projects that I have worked on.
Recent Positions
DotWorld Communications
Limited
From
September 2000 to February 2005, I was the Technical Solutions Director of the
web design company DotWorld Communications Ltd (see http://www.dotworld.com), and, since March
2004, the Technical Products Manager for DotWorld’s sister companies Predaptive
OD Ltd (see http://www.predaptive.com)
and Structured Training Ltd (see http://www.structuredtraining.com).
I
helped to guide the technical direction of the company, particularly in
applying my extensive knowledge of emerging technologies to the development of
DotWorld’s intellectual capital.
The
three main strands of work that I have done are:
·
Consultancy and
mentoring – for example, helping a client set up an internal web
development team, analysing their underwriting processes, and building them a
decision tree for risk assessment.
·
Bespoke web site
projects for clients – for example, building members and suppliers extranets for a
buying society, re-designing the architecture and database structure of an
extranet for a leasing company and assisting with its coding, helping to design
and code a complex holiday/absence booking intranet.
·
Product development of
browser based HR and elearning systems – primarily the ‘Learning World’ elearning
system, and ‘360 Insight’, the online 360 appraisal system.
I
have worked on bespoke projects with a number of major blue chip clients,
including Diamdel, SFS (Siemens Financial Services), Experian, Forte Hotels and NMBS
(the National Merchant Buying Society). I have been involved in customising
‘Learning World’ and ‘360 Insight’ for several clients, including Halma, Diamdel, Siemens, Experian, Benenden Health Care and Hoare’s
Bank.
I
have also completed some internal projects; for example, developing a Learning World Online Order Processing
System – LOOPS – as a part of Structured Training’s own web site, to enable
people to purchase licences for any number of elearning modules.
The
products I have designed and built are:
·
360 Insight - This is an online,
browser based, password protected360 review system. With this system, people
can select their reviewers, have them complete an online competency based
questionnaire, view their own individual results, and, if they are a manager,
call up a wide variety of charts of aggregate results. People with
administrator rights can set up surveys, questionnaires and users directly
through the web site. For further information about the system, go to: http://www.predaptive.com/360insight.asp
·
Learning World - This is an elearning
system. It comprises a Content Delivery System for end users, a Learning Management
System for administrators and analysts, and a Learning Content Management
System for content providers. For a demo of the delivery system, go to: http://www.structuredtraining.com/extended/appraisal/demo.asp
Each
product is built on a SQL Server database, comprising about 40 tables and 300
stored procedures, with COM objects for data wrapping, charting, questionnaire
rendering etc, and over 100 ASP files.
Structured Training
Limited
From
July 1999, I was contracted full-time to Structured Training Ltd in Leamington
Spa. I was responsible for developing an “intelligent” web site capability,
called GoFetch-IT Technology, for their web design company DotWorld.
This
system provides online advice to visitors to a web site through an interactive
question and answer session. It uses an expert system’s inference engine to
power the site, an engine that is ‘fuelled’ by the expertise encapsulated in a
back end knowledge base. At the same time, the visitor’s details and responses
are captured into a SQL Server database, a very valuable source of marketing
intelligence for the site owner. For further information, go to: http://www.dotworld.com/aspx/gofetchit_demo.htm
.
I
used this system to build a public web site for SalesPathways Ltd. This site
gave advice, customised to individual’s circumstances, about implementing a
Customer Relationship Management system and provided them with a shortlist of
suitable vendors.
I
was also responsible for all of Structured Training’s IT needs. In particular,
I organised the installation of new NT Servers to run their internal intranet
and to host a number of web sites.
At
the time, I was also the sole developer at DotWorld, responsible for any
scripting and/or database work that their clients’ sites require. This included
a database driven financial system for estimating visitors’ annuities, and a
set of online calculators for advising visitors on their heating and air
conditioning needs.
Previous
Positions
Proprietor of ORSM
Consulting (1997-2000)
Offered
a service to deliver “Operational Research Systems for Management”. A major
contract was the continued development of the “Journey-Plan” software for CACI
in the
Technical Director of
Drivetime Software in the
Co-owner
of Drivetime Software, based in the USA, an operation set up after the sale of
SPA to exploit its territory optimisation and journey planning software in the
USA (by agreement with CACI). Responsible for all technical support issues,
such as the building of driving time matrices and zipcode databases.
Non-executive director
of SPA Marketing Systems Limited (1997-2000)
Sat
on the board of SPA Marketing Systems to safeguard the interests of its
non-managing owners, and to assist in formulating the company’s technical and
commercial policies.
Development Director of
Sales Performance Analysis Ltd (1991-97)
Managed
the development team responsible for SPA’s sales force planning software.
Created Strategist, a sales resource
evaluation tool. Designed and built Journey-Plan,
the world’s first integrated sales territory optimisation and call scheduling
system (which automatically produces ideal, compact, balanced territories, then
generates the best possible journeys, minimising driving for pre-planned visits
with varying call frequency). Eventually
involved in the sale of the whole business to CACI.
Managing Director of
SPA Marketing Systems Ltd (1988-91)
Built up an organisation to:
·
do consultancy projects, mainly for retailers, using my market
analysis system;
·
license the system to clients and help them to carry out their own
analyses.
Recruited
and managed about 20 staff, split into four teams responsible for sales,
consultancy projects, client support and software development. Eventually
involved in selling the intellectual property rights in SPA’s software as
Mosaic Systems to CCN (now Experian) and the transfer of staff and clients to
them.
Technical Director of
SPA Marketing Systems Ltd (1984-88)
Co-founded
the SPA group of analysis companies.
Conceived and built The Marketing
Machine, the
·
geocoding,
·
customer profiling,
·
modelling market potential and
·
analysing catchment areas.
Performed
a cluster analysis of census data to produce SPA’s own neighbourhood
classification. Integrated SPA’s software with Experian’s MOSAIC datasets to
produce Mosaic Systems, a suite of
software and data marketed jointly by both companies.
Senior Consultant with
CACI Market Analysis Division (1982-84)
Did
consultancy work for CACI’s market analysis clients, based on the ACORN
consumer targetting system. Helped to set up and develop a branch office
specialising in retail analysis projects.
Computer Manager of
Market Location Ltd (1980-82)
Selected
and installed an inhouse HP3000 computer. Set up a DP department, comprising an
operator and three analyst/programmers. Organised the company’s transition to
new production methods.
Principal Consultant at
the Unit for Retail Planning Information Ltd (1977-80)
Managed
various consultancy and research projects at URPI (later known as The Data
Consultancy and now a part of MapInfo Inc). Carried out all stages of
consultancy work for retail and local authority clients, from initial tender to
final report. Managed the company’s DP and program development. Successfully completed
several major projects, including:
·
Market research studies for Habitat,
·
Retail impact modelling for Milton Keynes Development Corporation,
·
Pedestrian surveys for Fitch & Co,
·
Retail location modelling for
·
Shopping Centre Assessment programmes for
Designed and built MARKETS, the world’s first retail location model running on a
micro-computer, and was involved in selling the software to several clients.
Principal Planning
Officer in the
Held
the position of assistant team leader of the West Berkshire Structure Plan
team. Was also responsible for all of the county’s work on retail planning and
analysis.
Consultant with the
Local Government Operational Research Unit (1969-75)
Carried
out a wide range of applied research contracts for fee paying public sector
clients, including;
·
Evaluating refuse collection systems for the British Airports
Authority,
·
Running employment and housing simulation models for several
counties,
·
Forecasting population growth in the Scottish New Towns,
·
Designing a calibration computer program for the COMPASS
transportation suite,
·
Developing a dynamic program for the Department of the Environment.
Education and Training
Ecclesbourne Grammar
School,
Duffield, Derbyshire (1958-65): Four GCE
A-levels in Pure Maths (A), Applied Maths (A), Higher Maths (C), Physics
(B), 11 O-levels.
Pre-university
training (1965-66) with: Nuclear Applications Group, International Combustion Ltd, and the Theoretical Dynamics Section,
British Rail Technical Centre.
Vacation
training (1967 and 68) in Operational Research with W.S. Atkins & Partners (Epsom) and the United Steel Company (
Reading University (1970-71): M.Sc. (Urban and Regional Planning Studies),
with a dissertation on ‘Calibrating Spatial Interaction Models’ (later published
by the University as a Geographical Paper and by Michael Batty in his book
‘Urban Modelling’, C.U.P. 1976).
Microsoft
Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), 2005. Exams passed:
·
Developing
& Implementing Web Applications with C#.NET and Visual Studio .NET
·
Developing
& Implementing Windows Applications with VB.NET and Visual Studio .NET
·
Developing
XML Web Services and Server Components with C#.NET and the .NET Framework
·
Designing
and Implementing Databases with SQL Server 2000
·
Analysing
Requirements and Defining Microsoft .NET Solution Architectures
FRSA, elected 2005 to be a Fellow of
the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce
For
further details, please email Stewart Mackie at sm@snhm.com