OLIVER CAHN

Project Manager, Consultant & Troubleshooter


PERSONAL DETAILS

My wife, Pam, and I live in Bushey Heath in South Hertfordshire, UK, with our two children. 

Main hobbies are playing the guitar and keyboards, cycling, running and distributing jokes. 

We like eating out, going to the theatre / opera / ballet, and travelling

Member of the Professional Contractors Group (www.pcg.org.uk)

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

OVERALL SUMMARY

Freelance Retail Systems Consultant, Enterprise Architect, Project Manager, Systems Troubleshooter and Information Technology Professional. 

B.Sc (Hons 2.1) in Computer Science with extensive experience in software development,  Project Management, Retail, EPOS and Store systems

Management Skills in 

  • Stakeholder Management

  •  Financial

  •  People

  • Team Work

  •  Planning & Organising

  •  Change Control

  •  Controlling Quality & Standards

  •  Issue & Risk Management

  •  Vendor Management

  • Software Development

Business Areas include Store Systems, Head Office Systems, Petrol Forecourts, Radio Frequency IEEE 802.11  and IP Telephony Systems.

IT Skills in Prince 2 Structured Methodology , PMW, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office, Windows, Databases and Workgroup Software.

CAREER HISTORY

Dec 2006 - Present Sainsbury's 
Freelance Project Manager
  • Obtaining Stakeholder buy-in
  • Preparation and presentation of Business Case to JS Investment Board
  • Identifying all of the possible third-party suppliers
  • Managing the full development life-cycle of Outdoor Payment Terminals for Petrol Stations
  • Managing the design of the prototype system
  • Planning the project in precise detail for all of the design, hardware, software and site requirements as well as required government and bank approvals
  • Implementing the project by managing all of the five major third parties

     
Sep 2006 - Nov 2006 Marks & Spencer 
Freelance Infrastructure Designer
  • Designing an interim tactical EPOS server solution to replace obsolete equipment
Jan 1996 - Aug 2006 Tesco 
Freelance Project Manager, Enterprise Architect and Consultant
  • Worked as the Senior Enterprise Technical Architect of the Retail New Technology Group responsible for all new IT initiatives for the 750 Stores in the group
  • Managed Multiple Projects for Store Systems Development through 3rd Party Suppliers
  • Project Manager for part of the 22,000 unit EPOS roll-out
  • Project Managed multi-million pound roll-out of Back-Office Printers
  • Acted as Technical Design Co-ordinator on Multiple Windows NT projects
  • Obtained all National Weights and Measures Laboratory Approvals for Tesco Scales and Petrol Systems
  • Designed & managed the installation of Radio Frequency Systems
  • Managed relationship between Tesco and Wincor-Nixdorf R&D Berlin
  • Worked with Tesco Technical and Architecture Division on Thin-Client Strategy for all In-Store devices including EPOS terminals
  • Developed Simulator/Diagnostic Software for Smart Card Interface to EPOS terminals
  • Responsible for Smart Card Reader Integration into EPOS terminals
  • Developed Customer Price Checking Terminals for all stores
  • Technical Consultant for Electronic Shelf Edge Label introduction into Tesco
  • Responsible for Watching Brief on Voice Recognition and Biometric Technologies
  • Specialist in RFID 
Skills Used - Windows XP/NT, Prince 2, Microsoft Project, Office 2000

Apr 1995 - Dec 1995 Cardcast Ltd.
Freelance Project Manager/Consultant
  • Designed and Implemented a sophisticated telephone exchange, modem emulation and Card Authorisation system for Cardcast using ISDN
Skills Used - Windows, 'C', Basic, Z80 Assembler, ISDN Communications

Dec 1992 - Dec 1995 Omron Systems (UK) Ltd.
Freelance Project Manager
  • Managed the implementation of the 'Ablepos' Retail System now installed in over 2000 sites
Skills Used - Windows, Windows 95, OS2, 'C', Basic, Novell, ISDN and Asynchronous Communications
Jul 1989 - Mar 1995 Micrelec Petrol
Forecourt Systems Ltd.
Freelance Troubleshooter
  • Achieved BS5750 Software Standards
  • Both managed and participated in the development of the Master Series EPOS, EFTPOS and Back Office System installed successfully in over 4000 sites in the UK, Denmark and Spain.
Skills Used - Z80 Assembler, 'C', DB2, Basic, Novell, Async & Bisync Comms PMW and Microsoft Project, Lotus Notes and Windows

PREVIOUSLY

  • 1987 - 1989 Technical Director of Applied Retail Technology
  • 1980 - 1987 Managing Director of P.O.S.S. Limited
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