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Curriculum Vitae - Nicholas Holmes

Personal Details

Qualifications

Educational Establishments

Employment History

Leisure Activities

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Curriculum Vitae - Nicholas Holmes

Personal Details
Name: Nicholas M. Holmes

Location: Farnham, Surrey

E-mail: N. Holmes

Date of Birth: 7th June 1958

Marital Status: Married (3 Sons)

Personal Details
Name:	Nicholas M. Holmes
Location:	Farnham, Surrey
E-mail:	N. Holmes
Date of Birth:	7th June 1958
Marital Status:	Married (3 Sons)

Curriculum Vitae - Nicholas Holmes

Qualifications
January 1982 Diploma in Management Data Processing and Cobol Programming Language.

June 1976 2 'A' Levels in Mathematics and Economics.

June 1975 1 'AO' Level in Mathematics.

November 1974 1 'O' Level in French.

June 1974 7 'O' Levels in Mathematics, English Language, History, Physics, Chemistry, Art and Geometrical and Mechanical Drawing.

Qualifications
January	1982	Diploma in Management Data Processing and Cobol Programming Language.
June	1976	2 'A' Levels in Mathematics and Economics.
June	1975	1 'AO' Level in Mathematics.
November	1974	1 'O' Level in French.
June	1974	7 'O' Levels in Mathematics, English Language, History, Physics, Chemistry, Art and Geometrical and Mechanical Drawing.

Curriculum Vitae - Nicholas Holmes

Educational Establishments
Oct 81 - Jan 82 Compucentres,
London.

Oct 76 - Jun 78 Portsmouth Polytechnic,
Portsmouth,
Hampshire.

Sep 69 - Jun 76 Theale Green Grammar School,
Theale,
Berkshire.

Educational Establishments
Oct 81 - Jan 82	Compucentres, London.
Oct 76 - Jun 78	Portsmouth Polytechnic, Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Sep 69 - Jun 76	Theale Green Grammar School, Theale, Berkshire.

Curriculum Vitae - Nicholas Holmes

Employment History
2004 Recent Update. VB6 & DOCprint.
Since returning from New Zealand I have continued my partnership with Kinetrol on a part-time basis. Whilst maintaining and improving the existing Global system, we have also made steps to keep in line with the rest of the world by introducing interfaces with the Windows environment. One such requirement was to be able to print Kinetrol document sets (such as Orders & Invoices) on designated networked Laser printers, rather than the existing method of using multi-part pre-printed stationery on dot-matrix printers. For ease of use the interface was required to be seamless with no additional user intervention.
As there did not seem to be an appropriate software package on the market that mirrored our exact requirements, I decided to utilise my Visual Basic knowledge gained from the APCP contract to develop a program which would do the job and came up with DOCprint.

DOCprint is an easy to understand, simple to use tool to design, create and subsequently print professional documents with raw data exported from a host system, in this case Global.

DOCprint is used to create a separate interface for each document, design a template form using images, boxes, lines and text, and specify the data layout and printing characteristics.

DOCprint can then be run as a background application, it will continually scan for data files specified by the interface parameters (generated by the host system) and print the document without any user intervention.

Aug 01 - Aug 02 Advanced PC Products Limited, Napier, New Zealand.
My latest contract was to renew my association with Advanced PC Products for a year in New Zealand. The task was to help Phil and his team to convert the Ports of Napier (NZ) and Squamish (Canada) systems away from Global using Visual Basic and SQL Server. A great experience for me and my family.

Feb 93 - Now Self-employed.
BOS Cobol and Speedbase development contractor.
I am currently specialising in BOS Cobol and Speedbase software for a small but select client base which includes TIS Software, who are the authors and distributors of the BOS (now called "Global") software range, and both resellers and users of "Global 2000" and "Global 3000" software. (References available on request). Contracts have ranged from complete systems, such as EDI interfaces with Global, to single program requirements and maintenance. I have completed a two month contract for a Global reseller in New Zealand. I can take on program and database design, coding, documentation, installation, training and support. Outside the Cobol environment, I have written a C/C++ application consisting of an 'electronic catalogue' for one of my clients. I have also delved into the world of internet programming by self-teaching HTML, Javascript and Java.

Aug 88 - Feb 93 Advanced PC Products Limited, Farnborough, Hants.
Computer Software Systems House.
The company was a licenced reseller of the BOS operating system and range of accounting packages which is used, primarily, on PCs. I was employed to write systems and programs in BOS Cobol and Speedbase 4GL Languages revolving around accounting systems such as Sales, Purchase and Nominal Ledgers, Order Processing and Stock Control. The work involved liaising with clients to establish their requirements, specifying and planning the systems and writing the programs. The systems I have written include Invoicing, Warehousing and Expenses Ledger and I was extensively involved in a real-time application to computerise operations at an Import/Export container terminal.

Feb 83 - Aug 88 Kinetrol Limited, Farnham, Surrey.
Control Engineers.
I was responsible for maintaining and programming the computer system which was BOS Cobol software running on a PDP-11 Minicomputer. During my time there I converted the original BOS Stock Control system to one tailored to suit their methods of manufacturing and production control. Working alone, but in liaison with the Managing Director and the departments concerned, I wrote systems such as Sales, Works and Purchase Order Processing, Sales Order Forecasting and Material Requirements Planning, Capacity Planning, Work Centre Loading and Stock Taking.

Oct 78 - Sep 81 Ladbroke Racing Limited, Wokingham, Berkshire.
Licensed Bookmakers.
Manager of high-street betting office in charge of five staff.

Employment History
2004	Recent Update. VB6 & DOCprint. Since returning from New Zealand I have continued my partnership with Kinetrol on a part-time basis. Whilst maintaining and improving the existing Global system, we have also made steps to keep in line with the rest of the world by introducing interfaces with the Windows environment. One such requirement was to be able to print Kinetrol document sets (such as Orders & Invoices) on designated networked Laser printers, rather than the existing method of using multi-part pre-printed stationery on dot-matrix printers. For ease of use the interface was required to be seamless with no additional user intervention. As there did not seem to be an appropriate software package on the market that mirrored our exact requirements, I decided to utilise my Visual Basic knowledge gained from the APCP contract to develop a program which would do the job and came up with DOCprint. DOCprint is an easy to understand, simple to use tool to design, create and subsequently print professional documents with raw data exported from a host system, in this case Global. DOCprint is used to create a separate interface for each document, design a template form using images, boxes, lines and text, and specify the data layout and printing characteristics. DOCprint can then be run as a background application, it will continually scan for data files specified by the interface parameters (generated by the host system) and print the document without any user intervention.
Aug 01 - Aug 02	Advanced PC Products Limited, Napier, New Zealand. My latest contract was to renew my association with Advanced PC Products for a year in New Zealand. The task was to help Phil and his team to convert the Ports of Napier (NZ) and Squamish (Canada) systems away from Global using Visual Basic and SQL Server. A great experience for me and my family.
Feb 93 - Now	Self-employed. BOS Cobol and Speedbase development contractor. I am currently specialising in BOS Cobol and Speedbase software for a small but select client base which includes TIS Software, who are the authors and distributors of the BOS (now called "Global") software range, and both resellers and users of "Global 2000" and "Global 3000" software. (References available on request). Contracts have ranged from complete systems, such as EDI interfaces with Global, to single program requirements and maintenance. I have completed a two month contract for a Global reseller in New Zealand. I can take on program and database design, coding, documentation, installation, training and support. Outside the Cobol environment, I have written a C/C++ application consisting of an 'electronic catalogue' for one of my clients. I have also delved into the world of internet programming by self-teaching HTML, Javascript and Java.
Aug 88 - Feb 93	Advanced PC Products Limited, Farnborough, Hants. Computer Software Systems House. The company was a licenced reseller of the BOS operating system and range of accounting packages which is used, primarily, on PCs. I was employed to write systems and programs in BOS Cobol and Speedbase 4GL Languages revolving around accounting systems such as Sales, Purchase and Nominal Ledgers, Order Processing and Stock Control. The work involved liaising with clients to establish their requirements, specifying and planning the systems and writing the programs. The systems I have written include Invoicing, Warehousing and Expenses Ledger and I was extensively involved in a real-time application to computerise operations at an Import/Export container terminal.
Feb 83 - Aug 88	Kinetrol Limited, Farnham, Surrey. Control Engineers. I was responsible for maintaining and programming the computer system which was BOS Cobol software running on a PDP-11 Minicomputer. During my time there I converted the original BOS Stock Control system to one tailored to suit their methods of manufacturing and production control. Working alone, but in liaison with the Managing Director and the departments concerned, I wrote systems such as Sales, Works and Purchase Order Processing, Sales Order Forecasting and Material Requirements Planning, Capacity Planning, Work Centre Loading and Stock Taking.
Oct 78 - Sep 81	Ladbroke Racing Limited, Wokingham, Berkshire. Licensed Bookmakers. Manager of high-street betting office in charge of five staff.

Curriculum Vitae - Nicholas Holmes

Leisure Activities
I am very keen on all sport, both as a spectator and competitor. My main participation sports are road running (over 80 marathons completed to date) and triathlon. In 1999 I qualified for and competed in the World Ironman Triathlon Championships in Hawaii, USA and in 2000 and 2003 I competed for the Great Britain Age-Group Team in the World Long Distance Triathlon Championships in Nice, France and Ibiza, Spain respectively. Further details can be obtained from my Sport page. My other interests, when not training or supporting my children's activities include art, photography and a wide variety of music.