Résumés
David Blakey's career
Highlights
Introduction
Contact information
| Name | David John Blakey |
| Postal address | PO Box 74-235 Market Road Auckland |
| Mobile telephone | 025 953 794 |
| Nationality | British New Zealand residency |
| Driving licence | New Zealand Class 1 |
Coopers & Lybrand
I worked for Coopers & Lybrand as a Senior Consultant. Within the Management Consultancy Services practice, senior consultants were responsible for business development as well as actually completing assignments. As a result, I acquired a particular affinity for the electricity sector in New Zealand, working with a number of integrated supply companies. I also performed a number of assignments in land transport (for the government) and in commercial fishing (for the industry).I won a number of competitive bids for consulting assignments while I was a senior consultant at Coopers & Lybrand, including in the electricity industry, in central government, and in the education sector.
Skills in managing projects, people and budgets were needed on every assignment that I undertook for Coopers & Lybrand.
Fishing: Service acquisition
I advised on the acquisition of outsourced services for the administrative services required for the commercial fishing industry. I provided advice to the client in its negotiations with the Ministry of Fisheries on the acquisition of outsourced services.Transport: Service acquisition
For the selection of an outsourcer, I assisted the client during the short-listing process and provided de-briefing sessions for the unsuccessful proponents. I then advised on the preparation of a process for the client and a preferred supplier to jointly develop a memorandum of understanding (MoU). I facilitated the meetings between the client and the supplier during the development of the MoU and the associated service level agreements.Fishing: System requirements definition
I managed an assignment to build specifications and standards for administrative services to be provided for the commercial fishing industry. I co-wrote the final report to the board. The assignment was at the request of the board in light of changes to the existing quota system. The assignment was to identify the services required under the new regime, determine which of these could be contestable and to define service standards and levels for these. As the assignment progressed, an increasing number of issues continued to arise so that a second report, on various options and issues, was written and submitted to the board.Government: Strategic analysis
My consultative advice to the Ministry of Transport in December 1994 on future options for the management of the Land Transport Fund emphasized the information systems used and their integration at the LTSA. Within the team of three consultants, I successfully identified the core information systems requirements that the Ministry had for the fund. I outlined and documented the systems and processes that supported core business functions and those which were ancillary or were used for revenue collection.Transport: Service acquisition
I chaired and facilitated meetings for the LTSA to agree business specifications for the RUC, MVR, and LATIS systems. Chairing this review team required me to test assertions, qualify needs and to work within an unstable environment. My prime purpose was to see that the meetings remained focused. I ensured that the business principles stated as the foundations of the systems were sound and appropriate.Cap Gemini Sogeti
I was a Managing Consultant with Cap Gemini Sogeti (now Cap Gemini), in its British subsidiary CGS (UK) Limited.Cap Gemini was (and remains) Europe's largest systems and services provider. Its British subsidiary specialized in command and control systems, and has little general commercial experience and no consulting activity. I was employed to build a consulting division, based on the existing education division.
I became aware of a request for proposals, issued by the Crown Prosecution Service, which CGS did not intend to respond to. I gained permission to bid, and, some eighteen months later, CGS and Unisys jointly won the business, from 86 original respondents and against two strong short-listed competitors. Having won the business and handed over the implementation, I left CGS in order to move to New Zealand.
My roles in business development and bid management required project management, people management and budget management skills.
Vendor: Bid management
I was the project manager at CGS responsible for a bid for a case tracking system for the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK, in partnership with Unisys. From over eighty original proposals, the Unisys-CGS bid was short-listed as one of three to prepare a technical design study (TDS), in early 1990. This TDS was completed on time and within budget.I then worked with Unisys on the preparation of a Memorandum of Agreement with the CPS, and on the final tender, which was accepted in December 1990. Throughout the entire tendering process, I had complete control of CGS's negotiations.
Initially, the Crown Prosecution Service project involved the preparation of a base proposal, providing estimated costs and time-scales. As the project continued, I performed all of the data analysis and database design, and, with another analyst, prepared the detailed specifications for those parts of the application which were developed during the TDS. I selected the staff to complete the TDS: a second analyst, three to five programmers and a data base administrator. I managed the TDS project management and, with Unisys staff, carried out quality assurance of the software products.
In later stages of the project, I was CGS's principal point of contact for user presentations, data base sizing, and contract negotiation.
Vendor: Service formation
I developed a consulting arm of the organization in the United Kingdom. Cap Gemini Sogeti was initially unable to purchase a consulting firm in the UK, so they built one from the bottom up. My role as Managing Consultant was to create a consulting service within the new Education and Consulting Branch. The consulting branch was successfully established.Systems & Business Consultants Ltd
I worked as a Senior Consultant for SBC, a small company started by one of my friends. In addition to some work in business development, placing other consultants, I undertook a variety of consulting engagements in Britain, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Germany. My work ranged from IS strategic planning for the Central Bank of Nigeria to coding COBOL for the US Army.Central bank: Systems audit review
I worked as a member of a three-person team in Lagos, conducting an audit of the banks's systems. The report, presented in April 1987, covered: the management of projects: a review of each of the bank's accounting, payroll, securities, exchange control and research systems; a review of computer operations, including the computer room, data entry by six different departments, quality control, job control and systems programming; a review of the capabilities of the EDP auditors; a review of systems development; a review of future systems; a training of training and eductaion; and recommendations for re-organization.Exporter: System implementation
Following an earlier contract with Lonrho Mining Supplies, during which a DEC MicroVAX system using the Oracle database was selected, with Cedardata as the OEM and software developer, I was recalled to replace the previous project manager on the implementation of the application.Software delivery was phased, so that a purchasing phase was delivered first, followed by an inspection phase, an invoice payment phase, and a shipping phase. A general ledger and purchase ledger were also to be delivered during the implementation, and word processing and telex systems were also required.
My main responsibilities during the first part of the project were to ensure that the delivered software met a set of metrics which he proposed. These included the ability of the software to run efficiently and accurately, to meet requirements for ease of use and operational simplicity, to be maintainable and expandable, and to have adequate documentation, auditability, security and consistency. Each phase, on delivery, underwent a rigorous acceptance test using information provided and entered by users under my control.
Changes to the management structure of Lonrho Mining Supplies and to the information requirements of the "client" company, Ashanti Goldfields Corporation in Ghana, occurred during the implementation project and were handled with as little impact on the overall delivery of the application as possible, although the schedule was extended to allow for major changes to the handling of information between London and Ghana.
Because of the phased software delivery and the resultant phased use of the system by the various teams within Lonrho Mining Supplies, careful control was necessary to ensure that information remained secure, current and complete. My schedule ensured that the late entry of information was kept to a minimum, and the major changes to the London-Ghana reporting were handled by careful and continual monitoring of the schedule. As a result, no information was lost and no back-tracking to enter old data was needed.The telex and word processing systems were installed on PCs served through Ethernet by the MicroVAX, and the hardware and software installation and user training on these applications were accomplished without any impact on the overall schedule for the main application.
In later stages of the project, when final acceptance was being carried out, my role became increasing that of an adviser on future areas for development, particularly on EDI, on other means of communication with suppliers and inspection agencies, on additional management reporting, and on the impact of Ashanti Goldfields' change from ICL to IBM hardware.
I also ensured that the system manager was fully trained, was fully conversant with the applications, and was able to continue to manage the installation at the end of the project.
This project used my skills as a project manager and negotiator. It involved many presentations to the board, and I was on the project group, which was instigated by me and met fortnightly, to review progress and which consisted of Lonrho and Cedardata senior management.
It also involved user discussions and negotiations, and user and management training, especially in technical skills which I felt strongly should be known to the Lonrho staff and not just restricted to technical people from outside the company. My toughness and patience were used continuously throughout the one and a half years of the project.
Software developer: Application design and development
I designed and developed a personnel application for the US Army in Europe, which I installed at various locations throughout southern Germany.Software developer: Customer support
I provided customer support for personnel systems to the US Army in Europe through Wang's Federal Systems Division in Stuttgart and, later, in Frankfurt.Software developer: Application design
I designed a management information system for the modernization of the US Army in Europe.Exporter: Vendor Selection
To provide information for Lonrho's proposed acquisition of a computer system, I carried out data analysis and developed a database design for their requirements for a purchasing application. I prepared a tender for hardware and software, based on this work, which was sent to a number of suppliers. As the client had no previous knowledge of information systems, it was necessary to investigate the operation of the business in depth and to draw up a specification of the users' requirements, which formed the basis of the tender document.The tendering procedure involved sending brief requests for proposals to fifteen hardware and software suppliers, then evalutaing the proposals, reviewing the initial quotations, and finally selecting a short-list. Throughout this exercise, discussions were held continually with suppliers to assist them to present their most appropriate products. The short-listed suppliers were presented with the results of the detailed data analysis, database design and user specification, and were invited to prepare final quotations. From these, the final supplier was selected.
This project involved not only a comprehensive specification of the users' needs, but also a lengthy process of negotiations with and presentations to suppliers.
Freelance Contractor
I worked as a London-based freelance contractor. My major client during this period was Chase Manhattan Bank NA.Merchant bank: Systems development
I worked as a systems analyst and programmer for Chase Manhattan in London on their re-financing of debts on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The work during this period was performed by a small team to extremely tight deadlines and with continually changing requirements. The team had started work using a single Wang VS processor and we gradually increased the power and number of machines until I took on the role of managing operations.Hill Price Davison Ltd
I effectively had two careers with HPD. The first, beginning in 1978, was as a Senior Consultant. Then, from 1982 to 1983, I was a Product Manager.I worked on a number of assignments, usually as a project manager or business analyst, and moved to Saudi Arabia in 1980 working in materials management and managing up to eight HPD consultants.
I returned to Britain in 1982 and took over responsibility for HPD's products for property management, working with clients such as Conrad Ritblat and Richard Ellis.
Oil: Systems development
I worked for over two years as an analyst on the materials and requisitions system for Aramco (now Saudi Aramco) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.Brian Louis & Associates Ltd
I began working with two other people, whose skills in sales, finance and systems fitted well together, on the design and development of systems for fruit and vegetable wholesaling in 1976.Following completion of the prototype applications for a client in Bristol, I then refined the product with a client in London.
As sales of the software increased, in Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow, as well as in Bristol and London, I became Project Director, based in BLA's Birmingham office.