Glenn Walker

Solution Architect

Personal Resume of
Glenn Walker, B. Comm. ('85)
Senior Technical Architect

Contact Information

Objective

I continue to hone my skills as an enterprise/solution architect and leader in the software industry.  I am seeking opportunities to work in an environment that encourages a team approach to building software that incorporates the end-user and development perspectives to produce the best outcome. I also seek an employer that is not averse to looking at new tools, techniques and technologies to see if they can further the goals of the organization. 

Skills Inventory

Computer Training and Experience

  • Languages: C#, Visual Basic.NET, Visual Basic 6.0, Oracle Developer/2000,  VBScript & Javascript (ASP/DHTML using Visual InterDev 6.0 and FrontPage 2000),PowerBuilder 6, Microsoft Visual C++, COBOL, Clipper 5.3, PAL 4.5 (Paradox Application Language), Pascal, Prolog, Lisp
  • Programming Environments: .NET (WinForm and WebForm), COM+, DCOM, COM
  • Databases: Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SQL for NT 7.0, Oracle Enterprise Server for NT 8i, Access, dBase, Paradox
  • Operating Systems: Windows 7.0, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 and 3.X, Windows 95, Windows 3.11, DOS, BSDI UNIX, System 36, OS/400
  • Network Operating Systems: Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT 4.0 Server - Enterprise Edition, Novell 3.x
  • Internet/Intranet Protocols: WWW (IIS, Active Server Pages, Scripting and HTML,  ASP.NET), FTP, TCP/IP Networking (including firewalls / routers)
  • Methodologies: Systems Life Cycle, Unified Software Development Process, UML for Object Oriented Analysis and Design, CGI ISO 9001 Project Management Framework, TRANSFORM, EDS Global Solutions Management System (especially Object & Component Engineering work type)
  • Packages: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team System, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional, ReSharper 4.X, Microsoft Visual Studio.NET Enterprise, Enterprise Architect, Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0, Microsoft Expression Studio 3.0, Rational Rose 98, Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Access 2007, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, Microsoft Outlook 2007, Microsoft Visio 2007.

Communication Skills Training and Experience.

  • Member of Toastmasters International since January 1987.
  • Attained designation of Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) in 1992.
  • Held several executive offices inside club: President, Vice President Education, Vice President Membership, Treasurer, Bulletin Editor.
  • Held office as Area and Division Governor responsible for guidance of over 30 clubs in Northern Saskatchewan.
  • Awarded District Citation Award, in 2002, for outstanding contributions to Toastmasters, in Alberta and Saskatchewan
  • Lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina.
  • Lecturer for community college courses.

Conferences and Courses Attended

  • Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference - September 96, Long Beach, California. Microsoft Corporation.
  • Object Oriented Design and Development Fundamentals - April 97, Vancouver, British Columbia. Rational Software Inc.
  • Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference - September 97, San Diego, California. Microsoft Corporation.
  • Microsoft Business Application Developer's Conference - September 98, Las Vegas, Nevada. Microsoft Corporation
  • ITIL Essentials - September 99, Regina, Saskatchewan, Pink Elephant
  • Microsoft Tech Ed Conference - June 2001, Atlanta, Georgia
  • Microsoft Tech Ed - June 2003, Dallas, Texas
  • Microsoft Tech Ed - June 2006, Boston, Massachusetts

Education

  • ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management
    EXIN (1999)

  • College of Graduate Studies
    University of Saskatchewan (1985 to 1986)

    • Advanced Systems Analysis and Design
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Computer Languages
       

  • Bachelor of Commerce
    Computer Science Major
    University of Saskatchewan (1985)

  • College of Commerce
    University of Saskatchewan (1981 to 1985)

    • Honors Seminar Project - User Interface Design
    • Systems Analysis and Design
    • Hardware Theory
    • Networking
    • Database Design

Experience

Solution Architect
CGI Management and Information Consultants Inc.
Western Canada Architecture Team
(May 2009 to present)

I rejoined CGI to become a part of the architecture team which primarily dealt with health care initiatives for the Western Canadian region. In this role, I reported to the Director of Architecture for Western Canada. As a member of the team, I became involved in organizing architecture activities in the Edmonton office.

Project Participation:

  • Flint Energy Systems Ltd.
    Acting as an Enterprise Architect, I worked with one of the larger divisions to establish the basis for an enterpise architecture program and establish an architecture vision which can be used to guide future strategic application of information systems. Provided assistance in presenting and advocating for the establishment of the program with various stakeholder groups in the enterprise.
  • Alberta Health & Wellness
    Acted as a Solution Architect providing support to the project team to aqssess the state of the current custom application and do research on alternatives to address current issues / shortcomings with the current custom application system. Project consisted of a current state analysis and proposal of future directions for the processing of claims.

Solution Architect
Flint Energy Systems Ltd.
Business Information Systems - Shared Services
(September 2008 to April 2009)

I joined the Shared Services team as a solution architect. As part of my responsibilities, I was in charge of a team of business process analysts. Together with my team I spent approximately half of my time establishing an enterprise architecture program based on the TOGAF ADM. The rest of my time was spent coming up with solution architectures for the various projects that were conducted by the department. The operating environment included everything from JD Edwards 8.11 ERP running on an IBM iSeries platform to Microsoft-based solutions running on windows platforms.

Project Participation:

  • Custom development of .NET based application software.
  • Planning of migration of US Operations onto Canadian data center and application platforms.
  • Planning of network implementations for two divisions to bring them onto the corporate WAN.

Solutions Architect
CGI Management and Information Consultants Inc.
Microsoft Practice
(2004 to August 2008)

I rejoined CGI, in May of 2004, in the Edmonton office, where I primarily work with Microsoft tools and technologies. My role as Solutions Architect includes developing solutions for customers who wish to utilize Microsoft .NET technology and integrate it with a variety of other platforms. I have also assumed the role as lead architect for the Microsoft practice activities within the branch.

Project Participation:

  • CGI - Internal Systems
    Assisted in setting software architecture for internal systems renewal project. Worked with Dot Net Nuke (DNN) portal framework to build a new time reporting tool for use by members of CGI Edmonton. This included mentoring development team in use of DNN and Microsoft SQL 2000 Reporting Services.
    Assisted in work on developing a project issue tracking system using DotNetNuke (DNN) portal framework. Provided technical support to development staff during development of the modules.
     
  • Alberta Human Resources and Employment
    Acting as solution architect for departmental software renewal initiatives using the Microsoft .NET 1.1 platform. I am the lead architect for all projects carried on by CGI for the department. As well, I am acting as the architect on the Enterprise Data Integration Initiative where I am responsible for technical designs for the software built to move data from legacy systems (CISAM, Oracle and DB2) to an Enterprise Database. This initiative is also charged with building base business objects which will be reused by other renewal initiatives.
     
  • Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation
    Acted as solution architect for an interface project which will link two existing systems together. Approach will use web service interface and business objects developed using Visual Studio 2005, ASP.NET 2.0, .Net Framework 2.0, Microsoft Enterprise Library and Client Server Logical Architecture (CSLA).

Key Technologies: Object Oriented Analysis & Design, Client/Server systems, XML, Internet Applications, Microsoft SQL Server, C#, ASP.NET.

Senior Application Architect
EDS Canada Inc.
Solutions Consulting
(1999 to 2004)

I joined SHL Systemhouse in 1999. They were acquired by EDS. I became an employee of  EDS Canada. I was one of the senior technical resources in the Edmonton office. As such, I was expected to provide mentorship to all of the projects currently underway. I also played the role of Subject Matter Expert locally for EDS' Object & Component Engineering methodology. In this role, I provide technical expertise to the various projects and assist them in properly utilizing the methods.

Project Participation:

  • Alberta Learning - Learner Assistance
    Acted as the Application Architect on a project to redevelop the existing administrative systems. The replacement system is being constructed on a Microsoft .NET platform. My role is to be the liaison between the client and the construction team to ensure that the design and construction meet their requirements.
  • Canadian Light Source
    Acted as solution architect on general network infrastructure (GNI) design work package. In this role, I participated in the gathering of requirements and design of components of the GNI Design work package. I also assumed the role of chief architect later in the project. The Canadian Light Source is Canada's first and only synchrotron. EDS Canada's role was to implement the high speed network required for the facility and design the various other components of the IT infrastructure for the facility.
  • Pacific & Western Credit Corporation
    Acted as solution architect for a project to review and revamp the software systems used to administer the companies activities in the deposit and lending services area.
  • Co-operative Superannuation Society Pension Plan
    Acted as a solution architect helping to capture specifications for a replacement system to encompass the various administrative activities that are part of the day to day management of the pension plan. Employed techniques from the Unified Process to document the use cases and business rules for the Society.
  • Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
    I provided technical assistance in developing components and procedures to integrate the EntireX message broker facility into a customer service web application being developed by PCS. PCS sought our assistance to help them with the transition from a traditional mainframe shop using Natural and ADABAS.
  • Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation
    Acted as solution architect / project manager for transition of SOCO's IT infrastructure from a multi-vendor support environment to a single vendor support model. This involved a complete overhaul of their technical infrastructure to eliminate redundancies. At the same time, several improvements were made to ensure the organization would not face difficulties Y2K issues.
  • University of Saskatchewan
    Acted as solution architect / project manager to migrate a key system written in an early version of Oracle Forms to the current version running on a Windows NT platform. As well, assisted in defining requirements and building a prototype of a Oracle Forms application to streamline the class scheduling process for the University.

Key Technologies: Object Oriented Analysis & Design, Client/Server systems, XML, Internet Applications, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports, Oracle 8i database system, Message Brokering with EntireX, ActiveX Components with Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Basic.NET, C#, ASP.NET.

Senior Consultant
CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Inc.
Systems Integration and Consulting - Western Division
(1996 to 1999)

I joined CDSL Canada Ltd., in 1996. CDSL is a Canadian based consulting and outsourcing firm. I worked in the Regina office which specializes in banking applications. In April, 1997, CDSL was acquired by the CGI Group Inc. of Montreal and became a division of CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Inc. I worked in the Systems Integration area as a senior consultant. My work called on me to employ my technical knowledge on several projects and also to manage projects for various clients of the firm.

Project Participation:

  • RFS for Windows NT Banking System Project
    • Architecture (Research and Development)
    • Release Planning
    • Client Assessments
    • Marketing Support
    • Support of 3rd Party Developers
    • Development of specialized COM component software
  • RFS for Windows NT Benchmarking Project
    • Development of Benchmark Parameters
    • Conducting Benchmark Tests at Compaq Labs, in Houston
    • Recording and Reporting Results
  • Ovation Banking System Projects
    • Architecture Support
    • Marketing Support
       
  • Saskatchewan Health Drug Plan Claims System, TCP/IP Interface Project
    • Initial Feasibility Study
    • Project Manager / Architect for development of TCP/IP interface using Microsoft Internet Information Server on Windows NT 4.0, ActiveX middle tier objects, Microsoft Transaction Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SNA Server (COM Transaction Integrator).

Key Technology Areas: Object Oriented Analysis & Design, Client/Server systems, ActiveX components, Internet applications (IIS, Active Server Pages and HTML), Microsoft Transaction Server, Active X Data Objects (ADO)

Manager - Operations
Canada Loan Administration Services Inc.
(1994 to 1996)

Canada Loan Administration Services Inc. was created as a subsidiary of Saskatoon Credit Union Ltd. to provide a national system for managing student loans, in Canada, for credit unions. With customers all across Canada, CLAS Inc. was primarily concerned with providing a system for administering student loans and supporting that system. The system was created using PowerBuilder 4.x, Oracle SQL Server for NT and Windows NT. The system was written as a distributed system with data forwarding to our office.

As manager - operations, my responsibilities were as follows:

  • Chief Architect on development of Student Loan Management System
  • gathering requirements for the required system
  • design and selection of technical architecture for the system.
  • project management of a team of 11 programmers, 6 testers, 5 support staff and 1 administrative assistant.
  • selection and acquisition of hardware
  • client / server system using Windows NT 3.51, Oracle 7.x and PowerBuilder 4.x.
  • Canada wide WAN including modem and router connections using TCP/IP over Ethernet, phone lines and ISDN.
  • manage day-to-day operations:
    • data collection
    • liaison services with Student Assistance Branch, Human Resources, Government of Canada
    • interpretation and distribution of government directives
    • telephone support of clients
    • maintenance and distribution of software releases

Key Technology Areas: Object Oriented Analysis & Design, Distributed database system. Transaction based processing using PowerBuilder.

Account Manager / Systems Analyst
Kirk Computer Systems Ltd.
(1992 to 1994)

Kirk Computer Systems Ltd. was the largest computer consulting firm in the Northwest Territories. The company specialized in development of windows based database systems. The primary client of the company was the territorial government. When I joined the company, in 1992, they were using Visual Basic as the primary development platform and Gupta SQL as their database of choice. Upon arriving, I introduced PowerBuilder 3.x to the organization and Watcom SQL. Later we also introduced and used Windows NT SQL Server. Shortly after I arrived, the company made a switch in network operating systems from Novell 3.1 to Windows NT Advanced Server.

As an account manager my duties included client contact and management of projects for clients. During my tenure at Kirk Computers, I had the opportunity to work with a couple of major clients. The projects in which I participated were as follows:

  • Chief Architect on conversion of existing AS/400 RPG system to a PC based network using Windows NT, Windows NT SQL and PowerBuilder 3.x. We also used Microsoft SNA Server to tie into the legacy data on the AS/400 during the transition.
    • conducted feasibility study and made initial proposal to board of directors
    • gathered requirements for the conversion
    • designed system and selected hardware for new system
    • project management during conversion
  • Chief Architect for an application tracking system using Windows 3.1, Watcom SQL and PowerBuilder 3.x. The system evolved into a distributed system. Due to the communications problems of the Northwest Territories, we had to come up with some innovative methods of transferring data from regional offices throughout the arctic to the headquarters in Yellowknife.
    • gathered requirements from staff in business development area
    • detailed design from requirements
    • project management
    • planning and implementation of a territorial WAN using Microsoft Mail.

Key Technologies: Windows-based administrative systems using PowerBuilder and Visual Basic, Microsoft Mail.

Director
NTnet Society
(1994)

NTnet was formed in 1994 to bring internet services to the Northwest Territories. The charter board consisted of 6 directors. I was designated as the board chairman for the technical committee. I was responsible for research of alternatives and eventual recommendation of equipment to be used.

  • charter board member for regional internet service provider for Northwest Territories.
  • Technical Committee chairman responsible for planning, acquisition and implementation of internet service provision for the Northwest Territories.
  • initial proposal and feasibility study.
  • technology plan and acquisition of equipment.
  • public presentations at trade fairs and symposiums.

Key Technologies: TCP/IP networking, UNIX system administration.

Analyst
Self Employed
(1989 to 1992)

During my self employment, I did work for many smaller clients. My major client was Saskatoon Credit Union Ltd. Much of my work here was MS-DOS based using CA-Clipper and Paradox 4.x.

  • developed database systems for network environment utilizing CA-Clipper 5.2 and Paradox 4.5.
  • planning and implementation of token ring networks using Novel 3.1 and OS/2 LAN Server.
  • general consulting services.

Key Technologies: Paradox and CA-Clipper. Networked administrative systems.

Systems Analyst
Co-operative Trust Company of Canada
(1987 to 1989)

  • Project Leader for projects involving administrative systems for product management (RRSP, Loans, Term Deposits, etc.) and support services (General Ledger, Payroll, etc.)
  • coordinator of research and development efforts.

Key Technologies: System/36, COBOL, Clipper, Pascal, C/C++.

Sessional Lecturer
University of Saskatchewan
(1986,1987,1989)

  • introductory classes in computer science for non-majors.
  • introduction to systems analysis and design class for non-majors.
  • responsible for conducting lectures, coordination of lab activities and student assessment.