Don Estes
Background Summary
IT Management and
Technical Consultant
Experienced IT consultant
with background in several industries and technical environments. Works
with hardware and software, functional and performance characteristics
of applications, technical staff and corporate executives, sales and
marketing. Strong analytic, strategic, and leadership abilities.
Interdisciplinary background. Well published. Has reputation for state
of the art solutions. International experience.
Areas of interest:
Education includes
S.B. in Physics from MIT and a Masters degree in Educational Psychology
from the University of Texas. Member
Cutter Consortium. Guest
Editor Cutter IT Journal, special issues on testing.
Experience Summaries
18 years experience in legacy asset
modernization and integration, both in-place projects and migration from non-IBM mainframes/mid-range
systems to IBM mainframes, and from all mainframes to Unix/Windows
platforms.
Created numerous legacy
modernization solution architecture plans driven by testing accuracy
goals and constrained by budgets, risk and delivery schedule for 5
different legacy modernization and migration companies, including both
mainframe and non-mainframe projects. Maintains a close working
relationship with several specialist companies, including
Forecross,
HTWC,
MSS International,
Raincode,
Trinity Millennium Group,
Xactis,
and
Xseed. Assisting
SAIC in expanding their legacy
modernization practice.
BPM architecture assignments:
-
State of Rhode Island
Department of Labor and Training: BPM architecture standards for
implementation of a new BPM based application and its integration with other
applications, plus BPM application design oversight
-
State of Rhode Island
Department of IT: BPM architecture standards and integration planning with
state portfolio of legacy applications, also advised DoIT on the selection
of a BPM platform for statewide use
-
Perot Systems: business
analysis and design of two BPM applications for a Perot client
Solution architect for the State of Rhode Island. Recent assignment evaluated the feasibility of consolidating all the
primary mission critical State applications (mainframe, AS/400 and Unix)
onto a mainframe Linux or an Intel Linux/Windows platform,
including integration (via an enterprise services bus) with Websphere
portal server, other web applications, and new applications being built
with FileNet, a BPM platform. Previously Year
2000 Advisor to the State CIO. Avoided the unnecessary expenditure
of $17 million on program remediation by outside consultants that was
successfully done by state staff. Conducted compliance testing for
applications at two largest state agencies. Consulted on Y2K plans for
all State agencies.
Brings financial
perspective to software analysis and solution architecture. Most
recent example, "From Legacy to BPM," available from the Cutter
Consortium at
http://www.cutter.com/offers/legacyBPM.html.
Created the only automated testing system which could objectively prove
a program to be Year 2000 compliant, subsequently enhanced to provide
automated testing of legacy modernization projects.
Managed successful integration project in
Colombia, SA, linking network of mainframes with fault tolerant data
communications processor. Designed proprietary interface board that
enabled the solution. Project required coordination of six groups on
four continents and was completed in just 87 days. Subsequently managed
re-hosting project for the same client.
Headed
architecture team in a one year study project planning migration of
large Unisys mainframe to Unix for a state agency, including 4 major
language groups.
Created annual savings of over $1.5 million for fast food chain by
developing a historical sales data analysis on IBM mainframe. Developed
the statistical analysis software using APL, a powerful mathematical
language, and completed the project, estimated to take two years, in
just 8 months. This project was used by IBM as a case study in their
contemporary advertising.
Generated significant consulting business as the
result of a 1997 paper entitled "Year 2000 Strategic Project Design:
Risk Assessment, Cost Control and Automated Testing", published on a
private web site. Also generated speaking invitations and an invitation
to join the Cutter Consortium.
Published articles on testing and test
automation, IT risk assessment and mitigation, IT audit, independent
validation and verification (IV&V), XML, web services, enterprise
application integration (EAI), legacy to web, legacy asset management
and re-use, legacy modernization strategies, and IT/legal issues. Had
regular column on testing in the Y2K Journal. Contributor to Cutter IT
Journal, eAI Journal, and Crosstalk.
Technical Capabilities
30+ years in mainframe COBOL, including IBM VSAM, CICS, some DB2. 20+ years
experience in open systems COBOL, Micro Focus, CA-Realia and AcuCOBOL, and open
systems SQL databases. 5 years in XML, XSL and web services for COBOL
applications. IBM, Unisys and Bull mainframes. Wang, Data General, DEC (now HP),
Tandem (now HP), and AS/400 proprietary mid-range systems. SCO, AIX, Solaris and
Linux Unix variant systems. MVS, VSE, VM, MCP, and OS/2200 mainframe operating
systems. IDMS, DMS/2200, IDS II, DMS2, and TBAM non-relational database systems.
VMWare workstation. Windows systems.
15+ years experience with legacy modernization project architectures moving
COBOL, Fortran, PL/1, ALGOL, ADSO, APS, CSP, IDEAL, LINC, Natural and Pacbase
applications from Wang, Data General, AS/400 and various mainframes to a
standardized IBM mainframe or open systems environment. Many required
modernizing the user interface and most involved replacement of
non-relational data access with SQL. Some involved restructuring source
code to eliminate “spaghetti code”. Some involved automated testing to
meet accuracy, delivery and cost goals.
10+ years in IBM
COBOL, CICS, VSAM, some DB2. 20 years experience in open systems COBOL
- Micro Focus, AcuCOBOL and CA-Realia, including open systems databases
and open systems CICS. 5 years in XML, XSL and web services for COBOL
applications. 15 years experience with legacy modernization projects moving
applications to a standard IBM mainframe COBOL/CICS/DB2 environment or to
a Micro Focus COBOL/SQL environment. Familiarity with Java, C, IDMS, Adabas, Datacomm/DB, IMS, TOTAL, TBAM, RUP, agile methodologies.
4+ years experience with BPM
architecture, design and implementation. Familiarity with IBM Filenet P8 and
Tibco BPM products. |
