( Letters of Recommendation are near the bottom of this page. See my Biography for some of what my colleagues say about me. )
Skills
Made processes more efficient: * Enhanced the string manipulation and array handling in an Upper/Lower case utility to change it from an overnight utility to one that could be accomplished the same day, in hours, or less. An increased efficiency of 50%. * Developed a utility to make standard menu options utilized by production staff automated and repetitive, driven by a parameter file containing options for the various elements. This streamlined project production, adding value to customer projects with faster turn-around of deliverables. * Rewrote the Laser file creation system to have more elements table driven and add variability.
System Monitoring / Notification tools: * Developed a utility to periodically scan the system display of jobs to look for those needing attention and taking appropriate action, including emailing and text messaging appropriate personnel. This utility helped staff be proactive with issues to help maintain service level agreements. * Developed a report to monitor for files that may reach maximum capacity, thus preventing application/database issues.
Utilities: * Created a utility command to convert reports (spool files) to emails with variable parameters, streamlining delivery, and saved over 500 reams of paper annually * Created a utility to format postal addresses driven by table entries for individual international countries. Used for display and printing labels / address blocks. International countries each have unique mailing address formats.
Data Visibility / Cleansing: * Developed a variable / customizable File Statistics report with numerous options for report on the contents of files field by field. * Developed a variable / customizable file data checking utility to verify data against pre-defined acceptable ranges and/or values. * Enhanced a custom in-house developed utility for scrubbing data using pre-defined options. This utility reported on and/or repaired various data issues with address, name, postal and email fields. Part of this was a routine to cleanse and/or repair inaccruate consumer supplied email addresses so they were usable. * Developed a custom ETL process to import divergent data into standardized transactions for database update. This freed up 100 plus programmer hours annually.
Procurement Analysis / Supply Chain:
Supported Spend analysis for all categories of non-production procurement. Including Category Management and Classification of Spend. Aerospace.
Direct Marketing & Fulfillment systems:
This included managing Direct Marketing databases by performing address standardization, updates from various divergent sources, fulfilling consumer requests for literature and creating marketing lists, email blasts and lasering or inkjetting marketing materials. This also included analysis and reporting of various aspects of Direct Marketing, databases and fulfillment.
Client Industries included those in Travel, Tourism, Software, Financial, Insurance and Gaming.
Real Estate Information:
This involved the consolidation of Property, Sales and Title information from vaious business and government agencies into databases. Products in various media were created with this data including Microfiche, CDRom and printed reports and/or mailing labels.
Clients were Title companies, Real Estate agencies, Insurance and any others with a need for property and sales information.
I have programmed in COBOL on various platforms.
My most recent experience is with COBOL/400 on an iSeries (AS400) with both OPM and ILE COBOL.
Previously I programmed in Pro*COBOL with embedded SQL accessing an Oracle database. This was on a VAX/VMS platform.
I also worked briefly, on an internship, on a IBM 4341 Mainframe system in COBOL with CMS. (and also in Fortran).
I also have a some experience with Realia COBOL in a PC environment.
My past 13 years of development have been on an iSeries platform.
Application software My development on this platform has been with COBOL (OPM and ILE), Query/400 and CLP. Most of this development was via the PDM interface.
I have also used SQL with the third party utility, WRKDBF, to perform file maintenance functions.
I have skills utilizing third-party utilities on the AS/400 including PK/400(PKZip), Mailtool and Group-1 postal software; and integrating them with various applications and processes.
I have developed various systems level tools for the iSeries; including Job Schedulers; Data checkers, scrubbers and statistics reports; job MSGW monitors with email and text messaging notifications; process watchdog that watches for when something does not happen; and custom sign-on screens. In creating these I've used DDS/DDM, System API's, IFS, Data Areas (*DTAARA) and custom code in CL, COBOL and Query/400.
I am experienced with Screen Design Aid (SDA) for simple table maintenance applications to full blown multi-file database views. I have also done many Data File Utility (DFU) screens.
I have used the MS Office suite of applications throughout my career. MS Excel: I am an Advanced user of Excel and am proficient with Pivot tables and have used VBA to automate tasks. MS Word: Used extensively for documentation and as a PC Editor. MS Access: I am a Beginner/Intermediate user of Access and have developed some small applications/databases using tables, queries and forms. MS Visio: have used visio from time to time to document flowcharts and data flow diagrams.
I have over 4 years combined experience with Tableau Desktop, and some exposure to Tableau Server. I have connected to external tables and spreadsheets for geographical, charts, graphs and tables utilized in dashboards.
I had worked with Oracle versions 6 and 7 (including a version upgrade!) for 8 years. I performed various data/table maintenance and updates and reporting/product upates in the Real Estate Information industry using SQL and Pro*COBOL with embedded SQL. I also had training as an Oracle DBA.
Recommendations
Graeme Curtis - Bowne 10/22/2009 Dan supervised a team of three and played a leading role in designing, developing and enhancing very large mail and email marketing databases for a number of our clients. This work ranged from moderately to extremely complex. For example, one client system comprised over 2,000 individual programs, over 500 jobstreams, and over 750 files.
Dan performed this work to the highest standards, usually meeting or beating goals despite changeable client specifications and often very short lead times. Dan was effectively both a technician and a business analyst, able to communicate well with both non‑technical clients and software developers.
Dan is a quick learner and an excellent problem solver. He was a principled, valued employee of this company. I particularly recommend Dan for work requiring analysis, attention to detail and creative problem‑solving.
Graeme Curtis General Manager, Seattle Bowne MBC 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3000 Seattle WA 98101
Craig Volwiler, VP and General Manger, Vestcom/Manus Direct April 7, 2010
I knew Dan Volkmann for many years at Manus Direct / Vestcom, a marketing services agency. I was Senior Vice President of Client Services and later General Manager. I worked most closely with Dan in my Client Services role. I was his internal "client." My job function was to coordinate a variety of the company's services to deliver effective marketing solutions to our external clients. Our most important services were the management of client databases and the marketing systems which used them. That meant that IT services were the key component of what we delivered to our clients -- all creative, promotional programs and campaigns were built upon those technology foundations.
The company operated with a small IT staff, generally opting for experienced individuals who could perform a variety of functions rather that several layers with specialized and limited functions. That is, our staff consisted of multi-skilled people who were asked to operate independently or in small teams. Dan functioned exceptionally well in both environments.
Our Client Services team knew the technical staff quite well. We knew which people we could comfortably invite to a client meeting, and which people were best kept working their magic behind the scene. We liked having Dan assigned to our client because he always made positive contributions, whether in front of a client or working behind the scene. In client meetings he was always professional and represented our company well. He not only listened to exactly what the client said, but was also able to think beyond what was stated and probe for those unstated details that are critical to a successful development project.
Dan always came prepared to meetings, whether they were internal or with a client. He would research the data and the processing issues in advance, so that when requirements were discussed he would be able to explain the pros and cons of various solution options. And he was always willing to look at alternate solutions, or different ways of approaching a solution. His focus was on reaching a pragmatic, "best" solution and knew that collaboration usually resulted in such because it encompassed the combined knowledge of the entire team.
We often requested Dan as our lead developer because we knew we would never have any problems with the resulting work product. As a developer, Dan was careful to fully understand the requirements before any coding began. He paid attention to details, and made sure that he understood the desired outcome for each data condition before he started actual coding. Once he began the coding, the project moved very quickly. If he discovered unexpected data conditions or situations during development or testing, he would always communicate what he found, then verify that his proposed solution was what the end user would want. He thoroughly tested his own work, developing test cases and reviewing the results of them himself initially, then with a colleague as a final check. We knew that when he delivered the final work product it would perform as desired.
In terms of his personal traits, Dan has a strong work ethic, very high personal integrity, and is completely reliable. He commits himself to team goals, and will always deliver his assigned tasks on time even if it requires extra effort. He related well to others at all levels in the organization.
Sincerely,
Craig Volwiler
Maryhelen Hudson - Snohommish County PUD September 8, 1982 [NOTE: this is an old, but still relevant, recommendation. MaryHelen has since retired.]
To Whom It May Concern:
Daniel Volkmann has successfullly completed a variety of work for me in both Cobol and Fortran. He has excellent command of both languages. He is one of very few students who also learned the IBM Job Control Language during the quarter. He learns new procedures very quickly.
Our system is a DOS/VSE IBM 4341 with 3330 disk drives, 3370 disk drives, 3 tape drives, diskette drive, reader, punch and printer. We use Condor for on-line programming. Conversational Monitor System EDGAR is also used. Fortran IV-G is used under CMS.
Daniel is very competent and a hard-working person. His math is strong. His work is done quickly and correctly. He can contribute greatly to data processing production.
Please feel free to contact me for any additional information.
Sincerely yours, Maryhelen W. Hudson Statistical Systems Analyst
My past 13 years of development have been on an iSeries platform.
