SHELDON H. POTOLSKY 23 Links Lane Kingston, N.Y. 12401 (845) 336-6259 SHPsalm139@AOL.COM SUMMARY A professional programmer/consultant with 17 years of writing, supporting and installing software applications in the computer industry. Additional experience in large projects, systems integration, workstations, artificial intelligence and computer operations. Strengths include analysis, organization and documentation. A results oriented individual adept at automating and streamlining business processes. TECHNICAL SKILLS APL REXX XEDIT MS Word 2000 Visual Basic Excel SQL/DB2 ESE (AI Language) PL/1 JCL VM MVS Assembler COBOL RACF ISPF EXPERIENCE Princeton Information, White Plains, N.Y. 2001-2003 Programming Consultant For Avon, Inc. · Avon was involved in a large-scale, long-term project to convert their formula system, a legacy system written in APL in the 1970s, to a client/server application. This formula system was used by the chemists in Avon's R&D division to develop all their new products and had grown incrementally over the years and contained many parts. My responsibilities included writing a number of large export programs that would validate their data, presenting errors to the data owners for their correction before writing out export records in specific formats where it would be migrated to different Oracle servers and tested, one section of the system at a time. Job requirements included strong communication skills - written and verbal, working with various groups of people including programmers, system analysts, project planners and data owners representing groups in Toxicology, Guidelines, Microbiology, Fragrance Oils, etc. I love math and "number crunching" and was asked to make many estimates on how long jobs would run and how much disk space they would require. I documented all my work meticulously and this was very beneficial as I was often asked to change or rewrite programs, sometimes months after they had initially been written. I got involved in many parts of the project including writing SQL queries that confirmed that we had successfully migrated the exact number of formulas and ingredients from the old system to the new. I also used MS Excel, VBA, Word, Access, FTP and Lotus Notes on the job. My services were no longer needed as the project was wrapping up and nearing completion. IBM Corporation, Kingston, N.Y., Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 1983-2001 Systems Management Integrator Professional-Advisory 1995-2001 Installed the CLAS application for commercial and internal customers. · From 1997-2001 I was part of the Rollout Team for the worldwide application, CLAS. My responsibilities included installing CLAS on commercial MVS and AS400 systems as well as internal MVS and VM systems across all U.S. geos and Latin America. I coded exits using REXX and PIPES, used SQL/QMF regularly and developed JCL for the running of jobs. I also developed procedures for the handling of CLAS during node merges and deletes. CLAS handled many system tasks such as userid administration, system security and audits. Host performance support spanning different geographies/customer sets. · Responsible for host performance response times for fifteen VM systems. Required detailed system knowledge, analysis of lots of data and the use of performance tools such as FCONX, SMART and VMPRF. Problems encountered were often unique, requiring quick problem determination and solution. Job involved interfacing with various groups such as VM Base, Capacity Planning, Storage Management, Project Planning and Account Management. · Besides the live monitoring of systems, there was a huge volume of historical data that was collected. I oversaw that data collection process for 60+ systems on a daily basis, corrected any errors, generated appropriate reports and was proactive when that data pointed to impending performance problems if action was not taken. When this new data became available, I created new processes by building a series of EXECs and tables that proved extremely useful for us and other groups such as Capacity Planning. Senior Associate Programmer 1990-1994 Coded, installed and maintained office applications for customer base of over 10,000. · Sole support for an electronic signature application (ECFORMS). Reduced headcount 50% by creating automation programs in support of this highly visible application. · Designed, wrote and installed REXX programs to automate program support, debug existing problems and prevent future downtime, all of which reduced the time needed to support applications such as PROFS/Office Vision. · Maintained tools for internal customer base including IBM's worldwide employee communication program and the applications integral to the Northeast becoming the first I/S organization in the country to be ISO 9001 certified. Associate Programmer 1986-1990 Specifically chosen as a member of a start-up team of programmers which evaluated the usefulness of artificial intelligence (AI) technology applications in business processes. In addition, served as a member of APL Support department with a worldwide customer base of 47 IBM sites. · Created prototypes, consulted with and assisted individuals that were looking for feasibility/advice on starting up AI applications in knowledge based (expert) systems. These endeavors led to six Expert Systems being written for such areas as training computer operators and providing answers for commonly asked questions to the Information Center. · Enhanced and wrote new functions for the Benefits Expert System used by over 8,000 internal customers. Decreased repetitive calls into the Benefits Department, freed up the staff necessary to handle these calls and increased the consistency and accuracy of the information provided. · Provided programmer support for a worldwide APL Database (DBI). I wrote original APL code and fixed our customers' code. Helped convert our APL environment and applications from APLSV to APL2. In addition, resolved APL customer application problems and was part of the team that successfully migrated the entire APL mission to another IBM site. Senior Computer Operator 1983-1986 Operated mainframe MVS systems including monitoring CPU's, DASD, communication controllers and other necessary hardware and software. · Powered down and brought up systems, started applications, handled phone calls from customer base of over 10,000 and trained new operators. · Successfully worked with system support staff and customer engineers to make upgrades and/or apply fixes to the systems. AWARDS AND RECOGNITION Monetary awards received for: Innovative Ideas, Peer Recognition, Individual Contribution/ISO 9001 and Team Contribution EDUCATION Certificate in Applications Programming, 1982 Pace University, New York, N.Y. B.S. Accounting, 1974 Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, N.Y. Corporation Sponsored Courses HTML C C++ Visual Basic Windows JavaScript Pipelines AIX(UNIX)