KenGranderson.com

I am looking for consulting opportunities that utilize my superior software architecture and development skills using Microsoft development tools and servers on the desktop or on the Internet.

I am a seasoned professional Windows developer with 14 years of Windows development experience on every Windows platform from Version 3.0 to Server 2003. Having also managed my own Windows network since 1993, I also have over a decade of Windows network administration experience and knowledge of the server architectures and networking protocols underlying Windows applications.

Over the course of my career, I have specialized in several programming languages. While I started with C, I quickly moved to C⁺⁺ and ultimately to the Visual Basic family of languages (VB, VBA, VBScript, VB.NET), which has been my forte for the majority of my development career.

My first six years exclusively targeted the Windows desktop; as the Internet became a common business tool, my work in the late 90’s became almost exclusively web-based, and in the 21st century has been an even mix, building both server-based services and components as well as desktop applications.

Since 2001, with the advent of Microsoft’s .NET framework, I have been able to re-apply my object-oriented programming expertise (from C⁺⁺) and have been doing more modeling and architecture work up front to apply best practices of enterprise-level mission critical systems.

 

I am proficient in the following programming and markup languages:

C, C^#, C⁺⁺, CSS, DHTML, HTML, JavaScript, SQL, VB.NET, VBA, VBA for Excel, VBA for Word, VBScript, Visual Basic, XML and XPath.

I am proficient with following programming interfaces, development environments and modeling tools:

ADO, ADO.NET, ASP, ASP.NET, Exchange Server 5.5-2003, Internet Data Connector, Outlook Object Model, Outlook 97-2003, SOAP, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 6.5-2000, UML on Visio 2002/3 Enterprise Architect, Visual Basic 3-6, Visual Studio .NET, Visual Studio 6, Web Services, Windows SDK

I also have a high level of proficiency with the English language, in written form as well as in speech, and am able to effectively communicate complex technological concepts to non-technical people.

Over the years, my projects have started on the desktop, have gone to the Internet, and now often include components from both domains. This partial list of completed projects below illustrates the range of technologies and environments that I have successfully used:

Special Olympics - Healthy Athletes Provider Directory (2005):
This web application is a self-service online directory of physicians who are qualified to provide services for persons with intellectual disabilities. Physicians are able to self-register and maintain their data, and parents and other caretakers can search for physicians based on a variety of criteria. Special Olympics staff can monitor and modify the database via web-based tools and reports.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, Visual Basic.NET, ADO.NET, Crystal Reports 9.

Crave Technologies - Retail Inventory Search Catalog Builder (2004):
This application enables users to open any ODBC-compatible data source and map its fields to their internal business schema, and import the data into a searchable catalog of retail inventory. This project required understanding and managing retail product hierarchies of arbitrary complexity.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000

Crave Technologies - Web-and-WAP User Interface for Catalogs (2004):
Using the databases created by Catalog Builder, a common programming interface was developed that is called by both a standard web user interface and cell phone (WAP) compatible user interface.
Technologies used: ASP.NET, JavaScript, Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000, Web Services, ASP.NET Mobile Toolkit

eTimeSoft – eTImeSoft Web Application (2004):
This ASP.NET web application (written in Visual Basic.NET) enables home health care agencies to manage their human resources via the web. It also provides electronic billing services to New York State Medicaid using HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) – complaint transactions. This project incorporates both web-based and desktop-based modules working in collaboration with each other, and in the course of working on this project, I built an object-oriented framework to read and write HIPAA-compliant documents.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, ASP.NET, Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000, HIPAA.

Liberty Mutual Insurance - Insurance Company Data Migration Validation (2004):
This project (written in Visual Basic 6) enabled a major insurance company to validate that several gigabytes of insurance claim data converted from the systems of a recent acquisition (another major firm) had been correctly converted into their standard database format.
Technologies used: Visual Basic 6, DB2, MS Access, XML

PSP Consulting - Account List Management System (2004):
This Access 2000/Visual Basic for Applications application targets sales executives in the broadcast industry and enables them to track pending and past sales activity and compare sales projections to actual data imported from their existing Traffic System.
Technologies used: MS Access

Charter One Bank (purchased by Citizens) - Mortgage Loan Consolidation, Validation and Reporting (2003):
This application, built for a major Midwestern US bank, consists of 2 modules. The first module is a set of Windows Services (written in Visual Basic.NET) that pull loan data from 2 different incompatible legacy systems, combines the data into a common format, and runs validation rules against the data using a custom-built XML-based business rules engine to raise and report data validity exceptions.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, Windows Services, ODBC, XML, SQL Server 2000

The second module is an ASP.NET intranet application (written in Visual Basic.NET) that enables bank officers to enter loan goals and view reports of loan activity. This module also contains a custom projections module that projects the probability of hitting future goals based on past performance. In addition to custom code, this project uses Graphics Server and Crystal Reports for .NET.
Technologies used: ASP.NET, JavaScript, Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000, XML, Graphics Server .NET, Crystal Reports 9, QuestSoft Geocoder

Summit Education - MyTutor Online Testing Center (2003):
This ASP.NET web application was developed for an SAT and MCAS testing firm to enable their clients to take sample tests online. The tests were hosted in a SQL Server database that was populated from test answer data the client had in Excel spreadsheets. When students took the tests, they were given tabular and graphical results of their answers and scores via the web and a richly-formatted e-mail.
Technologies used: ASP.NET, JavaScript, Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000, VBA

Rachel Abroms Designs – Online Catalog (2003):
This was an ASP.NET/VB.NET/SQL Server e-commerce web site that enabled a specialty jewelry manufacturer to promote and sell their products to a global audience.
Technologies used: ASP.NET, JavaScript, Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000, SSL

Liberty Mutual Insurance - WARP Project Management System (2002):
This task management application was implemented as a custom Outlook forms application that ran against a SQL Server database and tracked 150 fields of task and project management information.

The second version of this tool was an ASP port that delivered all of the same rich user interface functionality in a web client that users had come to expect from the Outlook forms application. As the deployment environment mandated zero changes to either the server or client configurations, this functionality had to be delivered through extensive client-side scripting and Dynamic HTML.
The web version also ran queries against an Oracle database to display data from a pre-existing Oracle/Java-based application.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, Outlook Forms Development Kit, SQL Server 2000, Oracle

Charter One Bank (purchased by Citizens) - Community Offering Information System (2003):
Built intranet survey web application for Midwestern bank to capture employee activities that qualify for federal recognition under the Community Reinvestment Act.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, JavaScript, ASP.NET, SQL Server 2000, XML

Northeastern University - Northeastern School of Education Web Site (2002):
Built web application to present course offerings and staff. Created self-service data management pages for staff to manage course and personnel data via the web.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, ASP.NET, JavaScript, SQL Server 2000

City of Boston Empowerment Zone - EZ-Info Web Site (2002):
Self-managed online directory of businesses and organizations in Boston’s Empowerment Zone.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, ASP.NET, JavaScript, SQL Server 2000

Fifth Third Bank - Biz-In-Site Web Site (2002):
Self-managed online directory of businesses and organizations in Cincinnati’s Empowerment Zone.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, ASP.NET, JavaScript, SQL Server 2000

East Harbor CDC – Organization Web Site (2002):
Self-managed web site for Baltimore community development corporation. Included online articles and discussions features.
Technologies used: Visual Basic.NET, ASP.NET, JavaScript, SQL Server 2000

Fleet Bank (purchased by Bank Of America) - Roxbury.com (2001):
This online community enables residents and organizations in the Roxbury community of Boston to promote their events and read news and discussions via a self-service community information database.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, ASP.NET, Visual Basic.NET, SQL Server 2000, SMTP

PeopleStreet - LiveCard (2000):
This predecessor to plaxo.com (written in Visual Basic 6) pioneered the concept of the self-updating Outlook Contact that could be shared with friends to keep them up-to-date with changes in your contact information.

I built a fully-functional concept demo for this Cambridge Incubator dot-com startup using an Outlook COM add-in, proprietary web service, SQL Server database and ASP web application that I designed and built from a simple specification.

I also created a stand-alone version using Access as the data store that the CEO used to run demos on his laptop for investor presentations.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, SQL Server 2000, MS Access, Visual Basic 6

Aftermeeting – Aftermeeting Web Site (2000):
Online community to enable conference attendees to collaborate online after meetings and other events.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, SQL Server 2000, Chat, MS Site Server 3.0

Nellie Mae Education Foundation – Organization Web Site (2000):
Self-managed web presence for foundation. Client is able to manage data for personnel, grantee organizations and articles and white papers.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, SQL Server 2000

Boston Parent’s Organizing Council – Organization Web Site (1999):
Self-managed web site for community organization. Client is able to manage data for member organizations, events, documents and announcements.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, SQL Server 7

NESCAUM - Air Quality Monitoring Web Site (1999):
Web site that used a custom-built application to pull data from a dial-up air quality data monitor and post graphs of air quality on the web.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, VBScript, JavaScript, SQL Server 7, Visual Basic 6, Hilgraeve HyperTerminal, Graphics Server 5

Bessemer Venture Partners – Company Portfolio and Jobs Web Application (1999):
Self-managed web site for venture capital firm. Client was able to manage data for portfolio of companies, current investors and job opportunities. Separate web module handled event planning for investors and portfolio company executives. Third module produced marketing documents based on current portfolio of companies and current investors in database.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, JavaScript, VBScript, SQL Server 7, VBA

Quality of Life Network – Online Community Web Application (1998):
Built online community for people passionate about local and global quality of life issues. Site included personal profiles, discussions, announcements, internal messaging and live chat.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, VBScript, JavaScript, SQL Server 7, Chat

National Fire Protection Association – Online Catalog (1998):
Self-managed online catalog for national free protection organization. Client was able to self-manage descriptive information and images for entire product line from 450-page catalog, as well as import price updates via companion Access database.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, VBScript, JavaScript, SQL Server 7, MS Access 97

The Boston Foundation – Organization Presence Web Site (1997):
Built initial web presence for Boston’s leading foundation.
Technologies used: HTML

Blackside Productions – Companion Web Sites to PBS Documentaries (1997):
Self-managed web site for producer and distributor of documentaries. Delivered 3 web sites that enabled client to manage data for educational programs, artist biographical text and media and personnel.
Technologies used: ASP Classic, VBScript, JavaScript, SQL Server

Livelink Systems - Encyclopedia Judaica (1996):
Customized MediaView VBX Control (see below) for Israeli firm publishing the ‘Encyclopedia Judaica,’ a Visual Basic multimedia CD-ROM application.
Technologies used: Visual Basic 4, MediaView VBX Control

Inner-City Software – MediaView VBX Control (1996):
VBX control that made Microsoft MediaView (the engine for Encarta) accessible to Visual Basic developers. Was initially written for ‘African Americans in Boston’ project (see below), later released as shareware toolkit and sold to multimedia developers in over 2 dozen countries.
Technologies used: C++, Visual Basic 4

Inner-City Software - African-Americans in Boston: More Than 350 Years (1995):
Multimedia educational CD-ROM application written in Visual Basic 3 and 4 using content of book of the same name. Sanctioned by Boston Public Library and given to Boston public school system.
Technologies used: Visual Basic 4, MediaView Toolkit, MediaView VBX Control

Lotus Development Corporation - One Source Stock Chart (1994):
Developed CD-ROM based stock tracking application sold by Lotus property One Source.
Technologies used: C++, One Source data access library.

While the projects I have completed have required me to develop expertise in a variety of technologies, I am at my best when working with the following tools/technologies:

Visual Basic/Visual Basic.NET

My VB projects have required a high level of mastery of the following skills in Visual Basic:

• Writing modular, object-oriented code
• Designing the user interface
• Using third-party custom controls
• Writing custom controls
• Writing Office add-ins
• Writing custom COM objects
• Using SOAP to transmit data via the Internet
• Using the WinInet libraries to transmit data via the Internet via HTTP and FTP
• Communicating with proprietary and XML-based Web Services
• Using the SMTP and POP protocols at the TCP/IP sockets level
• Subclassing to override functionality in external applications
• Connecting to SQL Server, Oracle, Access, Excel, XML and Text-based data sources
• Reading HIPAA-compliant documents
• Writing XML-based Rules Engines
• Using the Windows API in VB
• Using system graphics calls (GDI) in VB
• Creating custom browser applications using the WebBrowser Control

SQL Server

99% of the projects that involve databases have been done using SQL Server. In every SQL Server project, I have been responsible for:

• Defining the database entities and relationships
• Creating the database tables, indexes, views and stored procedures
• Creating links to external databases (as necessary)
• Scheduling database maintenance

ASP/ASP.NET

I have been using ASP since 1997 and ASP.NET since 2001, running on IIS versions 3.0-6.0. Generally, I have been responsible for all aspects of the web server, including:

• Installing IIS
• Configuring IIS security
• Creating web sites
• Installing FrontPage server extensions
• Configuring web site security and other settings
• Configuring IIS version control
• Creating web applications
• Deploying web applications
• Troubleshooting IIS issues

XML

Several projects have required a high level of proficiency using XML, which has required me to develop the following skills:

• Creating XML schemas
• Reshaping data with XSLT
• Managing data with XPath queries
• Using the MSXML libraries in Internet Explorer and middleware COM objects
• Communicating with WSDL/XML-based Web Services
• Communicating with XML-RPC-based Web Services

ADO/ADO.NET

I have been an ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) expert for several years, and as most of my recent projects have been based on the .NET Framework and use ADO.NET for data functionality, I have become an ADO.NET expert with a superior knowledge of the following in both environments:

• Connecting to ay ODBC-compliant data source
• Reading and writing database schemas via code
• Effective use of Recordsets/Datasets in connected and disconnected data scenarios
• Synchronization of databases
• User interface data binding
• Writing custom business object wrappers around Recordsets/Datasets
• Caching and paging techniques for large data sources

In my “spare time,” I volunteer on the board of two local community organizations and help them with their technology needs. This also provides me with a platform to test out technology ideas that are often applied to client projects.

• 2002 MOBE (Marketing Opportunities in Business & Entertainment) Influencers and Innovators of the Internet and Technology
• 1999 Honorary Doctor of Human Letters Recipient, Salem State College
• 1998 Black & White Boston Small Business Awardee
• 1998 University of Massachusetts (Boston) Minority Business Entrepreneur of the Year
• 1997 Microsoft Most Valued Professional, FrontPage Web Authoring Application

Available on request.