With over five years of experience in various IT roles and having worked for the Departmental Applications team

for the past two years, I have had the opportunity of working on various IT projects that have impacted the end users of IT products in a positive way. To summarize some of the projects that I have undertaken and completed successfully in my current role with Departmental Applications team are listed below: Software implementation for Integrated Community Equipment Store (ICES). Pindar Active Catalogue system for County Supplies. Arts ticketing software implementation. HTLC ( Hampshire Teaching and Learning College) / CAS ( Course Administration Service) migration project. Windows 2008 and Xen App 5.0 migration project for HFRS ( Hampshire Fire and Rescue Services) .

In addition to the above mentioned major projects, I have carried out other small/medium scale application system upgrades. In 2010, I had the opportunity to work on HTLC CAS migration project. The requirement was to move the HTLC website from the stand alone server to IT2000 domain in Winchester data centre. During my discussion with the customer it was also clear that the website had to be split into two, namely HTLC and CAS, and I had to come up with a method to handle this request. After some deliberation of the requirements, I understood that the request can be achieved by migrating to Windows 2008 and IIS 7.0.One of the hurdles for the successfully completion of the project was the fact that none of my team members had implemented redirect functionality using URL rewrite module in IIS 7.With the aid of the technical documentation available on the Microsoft website I was able to implement website redirection using the URL rewrite module. This also involved translating the customer requirements with regards to website split, which I had gathered during my initial meeting with the customer, into rules in the URL rewrite module. Apart from this I was able to explain the technical details of the project in layman terms to the project manager and this in turn helped the project manager to understand the complex detail of the implementation. I also made sure that the customer extensively tested the implementation so that no error (minor/major) manifested itself during the go-live or post go-live phase. This process helped us iron out few errors that could have been a show stopper. Here is the feedback from the project manager Kay Chapman for your reference: I would like to bring to your attention that the above project was delivered yesterday and its success
was due to excellent work of the team involved which included Veena. Could you please ensure that she is complimented on her work. She has been very patient especially when explaining things to me - responded well when unforeseen problems arose and completed all task in a very timely manner. Overall a very professional approach which has been much appreciated by the whole of the project team.

The next project that I wish to discuss about is the Windows 2008 and Xen App 5.0 migration project for HFRS.This by far was the best project I worked on because it involved interaction with people at

various levels within and outside HCC and it also required me to learn technically complex topics and implement them in stipulated and demanding timeframe. During the course the project I managed the communication between the end users and the supplier, and there by providing a seamless migration experience. To kick start the implementation of this project I created the VMware template for the backend HFRS servers and documented the template creation process so that any Departmental Apps team member could reuse the solution with minimal effort. In the next phase of the project I listed the four major applications used by HFRS and obtained detailed information about the current architecture of these applications. I made a list of documents that were currently missing and made a plan to improve the migration experience for the customer. As each application had different suppliers and each of the suppliers was unsure of the migration process from Windows 2000/2003 to Windows 2008, I had to come up with the architectural design for each of the application. Further, in order to get the suppliers to support their products in the new environment I had to create a working prototype and prove that their product works in the new environment. During migration of the Hornbill application, we were hit by an issue, which rendered the product non-functional in the new environment. The supplier was ready to provide a solution at a cost of 5000.I took this as a challenge and came up with an alternate solution, which is to use two step migration process listed below: Upgrade from v7.3.5(existing version) to v7.3.11 Upgrade from v7.3.11 to v7.4.1(target version)

This process helped the customer save 4000 that the vendor had quoted for the migration. Once all the suppliers had agreed to the supportability of their products and extensive testing was performed by the end users, I came up with a detailed deployment plan and checklist for the Go-Live tasks. I also created DR documentation (one of the missing documents) and tested the DR solution before Go-live. Another important task that I performed during this project was to resolve issues related to the software that the supplier deemed unsolvable. Please refer to the mail thread below:Quote During the course of the project I conducted knowledge sharing sessions with John Curtis and Andy Renos on building and deploying VMware templates. I still remember the skills analysis meeting I had with Rob Tillman (Team Leader) in 2010,wherein I mentioned my goal was to become to be in a position where I possess , not only the technical expertise to implement solutions but also the expertise to prepare cost models and design architecture, more in lines of a technical consultant. Looking back at the work that I have done over the past two years, I can confidently say that I have achieved beyond my set goals.

Thanks, Veena. And thanks for all your help with this project. Blackbaud colleagues keep singing your praises to me as the 'great fixer'. Please know that we are very grateful to you for your expertise.
Tim Kelly, Arts Development Officer

Please give details of how you meet the criteria outlined in the Role Summary and Person Specification (enter a maximum of 1000 words) Candidates will be shortlisted for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific Skills and Experience, and Qualifications and Education for the role. Please ensure you explain how you meet these criteria, making clear the contribution which you personally made to projects in which you were involved. An employment history which simply lists past appointments/projects is unlikely on its own to secure an interview. Please give details of how you meet the criteria outlined in the Role Summary and Person Specification (enter a maximum of 1000 words)