Ganapathy Raman

A client has an implementation of JDA, a forecasting and planning product, which comes with over 1TB of data, 2,500 tables, and about 500 procedures and scripts.

I have been the single person managing the technical maintenance of the implementation since 2019. I perform bug fixes, enhancements, ad hoc reporting, and housekeeping activities in the system. I assist the DBA with performing intense activities like server upgrades.

A client used a web-based application in the SaaS model for their planning. The system was very slow; eventually, they only used Excel for daily activities. Their job involved field activity, so they noted everything on paper and entered it into an Excel sheet.

I proposed to the client not to upgrade their MS Office with a new version and instead buy Microsoft365. This eliminated their need to upgrade their server computer too. We used a combination of SharePoint, Power Apps, Power Automate, and PowerBI to implement the functionality the SaaS provider was offering.

The recurring cost became almost zero as it was all part of their Microsoft365 license. The solutions were accessible from the computer as well as from a mobile. All their operations were automated, and monitoring was done using PowerBI.

A client had a hugely complicated Excel macro with over 40 sheets and numerous formulas and volumes of data. It was challenging to make any changes as a change in one place could affect several other instances. The client had an MS SQL server from which data was copy pasted into many sheets of Excel as a daily activity.

I proposed a solution that has a set of views and stored procedures. The data extraction and consolidation were restricted to the database, and clean data was populated in two sheets against 30. Formulas were limited and replaced with VBA macros to perform actions on demand. The size of the file came down to one-tenth of what it was, and the processing got reduced from 30 minutes to under 20 seconds.

I invented two ideas that were eventually awarded patents in India and the USA.

The patent Business to business integration software as a service (US8046441B2) was granted in 2011. The idea revolves around revolutionizing B2B communication and making it easier to onboard small businesses that cannot afford substantial infrastructure costs.

The patent Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for comparing XML documents (US9009172B2) was granted in 2015. The idea is a unique algorithm for comparing large-sized XML documents efficiently. The prototype built using the idea was 10 times faster than the best-known comparison mechanisms at the time of invention.

Portfolio Management for a Fortune 100 Aircraft Manufacturer

I was a portfolio manager managing a team of 150 offshore members and about 20 projects in Waterfall, iterative, and Agile methodologies. The role demanded excellence in delivery and operations, focusing on customers and people and striking a balance for maximum profitability, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.

The key metrics of concern were project margins, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, percentage of projects with CMM L5 rating, and projects in high risk.

Some of the notable projects included:
• developing a Java, Oracle, and XML-based integrated data management system connecting various systems for their new aircraft model to enhance data accessibility for service engineers;
• creating, maintaining, and supporting a Java and Oracle-based custom editor for documenting and maintaining wiring diagrams;
• building a system to collect, cleanse and analyze in-flight system data of airline customers and predict malfunctions and issue alerts about preventive maintenance;
• developing an integrated supplier information system to provide a single window for enterprise-wide supplier and order management.

The engagement was to handle all the projects from a product group and execute them offshore. The peak number of projects was four, and the peak team strength was 25. The clients wanted to implement a series of reporting mechanisms to track the progress. A series of projects were implemented in this regard using SSIS and SSRS with MS SQL as the back end.

RESPONSIBILITIES
• Project planning
• Overall responsibility for technical solutions and delivery
• Bidding for new projects
• Team management

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• One of the first experimental projects working on a beta version of SSIS for the customers themselves.
• Close interactions with the customer's product team to identify issues and improvement areas in the product based on project experience.
• The ability to deal with a database size of over 500GB which was the first of its kind at the time.

The customer had plenty of intranet sites, each with its technology, purpose, and look and feel. Though we addressed most of the organization's internal needs, a lack of consistency led to most of the sites being unused. Also, more than 50% of the sites contained obsolete and duplicate information, which led to a chaotic environment on their Intranet.

The project was a program to consolidate the intranet websites, approximately 100, and ensure consistency, simplified content update, and intuitive navigability. Analyzed the list of sites, interviewed stakeholders, assessed needs with the involvement of the senior management, and defined a consolidated taxonomy and style guide. I also worked on defining the hardware and software architecture and cost estimation. Once the plan of the program was approved by the senior management, sites were taken for consolidation in a phased manner.

I played more than three main roles in the program, including the overall program manager, technical architect, business analyst, and primary SPOC for business users.

The project involves the end-to-end development and maintenance of an internal news portal for the client's employees. I was the project manager, business analyst, and technical architect for the project.

It was a pilot effort for implementing content management solutions for Intranet applications. Much news information had to be communicated to the client's employees, and the site was initially maintained as a static HTML site. Making changes to the site daily was an uphill task, and it involved the content experts to know HTML programming language.

The application's objective was to build a content management solution that would allow the content authors to update the site easily without having to know any programming. The architecture was redefined to reduce the development cost and improve performance, as the portal was a high-volume site registering 50,000 hits daily. Implemented a robust archiving mechanism and metrics collection on the site hits.

The project involved end-to-end development and maintenance of a personalization website that was the first attempt of its kind for the clients. The project also involved showcasing Infosys' capabilities in terms of process, onsite-offshore model, and technical expertise. I was the project manager, technical architect, and business analyst.

The client, as a semiconductor manufacturer, had lots of products, tools, and applications. Though all these were available on the external website, the clients felt that personalizing what they needed could improve their productivity. The project aimed to provide a customized view of the content in a secure environment.

Different types of personalization were incorporated, including requesting the users to give their preferences and automatically personalizing their experience based on the site usage. From a business perspective, multiple dimensions of content personalization like cross- and up-sell were offered. The project also implemented a single sign-on solution.

The project involved enhancing the order management system, Pure eCommerce, to enable and accept orders and allow real-time status checks from a third-party website.

It also involved developing a generic PDF generator for generating packing slips and shipping orders at runtime in PDF format. It also aimed to showcase Infosys' ability to create reusable components. I was the Java developer for the project.

The project involved the development of a web-based system through which customers can generate quotes for shipping goods from one country to another. Further, their system was enhanced to allow the users to book the quotes generated by them and directly book shipments without causing a quote.

A set of data maintenance screens were also developed for the company representatives to update the rates and other data about the quote generation. I was the lead Java and Oracle developer for the project.

The project involved the maintenance of Java-based B2B eCommerce components. I was a developer on the project.

The various project activities were bug fixing and enhancements for the pluggable components. Managed multiple enhancements, including performance tuning, connection pooling, and internationalization of the components.

The project also involved developing new B2B components encompassing a customizable front and back end. Two such components were attempted, auction and request for proposal (RFP). It started with defining the component requirements by general web browsing and brainstorming. Used Rational Rose 2000 for the design and a product called Versata for the development.