April 1998 – July 1998: GEC Alsthom T&D Protection & Control Ltd, St Leonards Works, Stafford ST1 4LX
Technical Author (15 week contract)
Wrote, edited and produced the Windows online help for the MV Platform PC Support module. This software, running under Windows 95 and NT, and customisable to the user's language, is sold throughout the world to control, program and monitor the performance of power station relays either on-site or via a modem.
The software used to write the helpfiles was HDK 3.2 and Word 6.0, with Visio to create diagrams.

October 1997 – April 1998: Environment Agency, Stockdale House, 8 Victoria Road, Leeds LS6 1PF
Technical Author (6 month contract)
Edited and maintained the library of standards and procedures produced by the National Harmonisation Project's PC and Server Design Team as paper documents and HTML web pages. This project was set up to define, create and maintain a WAN linking all offices and outposts of the Environment Agency in the UK using NetWare 4, ManageWise, GroupWise, Windows 95 and TeamTalk.

August 1993 – September 1997: BACG, Leeds
Senior Technical Author
Wrote and produced on-line, electronic and paper documentation for BACG's RDW/TIS (Retail Data Warehouse / Traded Information System), an enterprise-wide client-server package for the retail industry, managing and accessing terabytes of historic sales data; plus two new packages to deliver optimisation solutions for space management and pricing.
Over four years my responsibilities included overseeing the move from the traditional large, function-based and text-heavy paper documentation to process-driven, user-friendly media such as Windows' On-line Help and Acrobat documentation on CD. I was also instrumental towards using the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web as a means of distributing documentation to clients and BACG staff at other locations.
I was earlier involved with producing user guides for mainframe systems for the retail/distribution-chain industries including warehouse management, purchasing, short cycle ordering, etc.
Packages used included Windows Office, Visio, Acrobat, Corel Draw, HomeSite and Ventura.

February 1993 – August 1993: BACG, Leeds
Technical Author (Contract)
Edited and produced documentation for mainframe and PC-based retail/distribution-chain software, and worked on the creation of Windows Online Help for a warehouse/stores system.

December 1992: British Aerospace Space Systems Ltd, Bristol
Technical Author (Contract)
Responsible for revising and updating Working Procedures for the Pyramid Systems computer used by Space Systems to run their Business Information System.

July – September 1992: ICI (Chemical & Polymers), Teeside
Technical Author (Contract)
Produced Quality Assurance documentation for safety and backup procedures for the Teeside Operations Computer Applications Group (TOCAG) within ICI. This was required for TOCAG's application for ISO9000/1 accreditation.

July 1991 – July 1992: IBM, Leeds
Learning Centre Administrator
Responsible for running the local IBM Learning Centre used by IBM dealers, agents, customers and internal staff. This included the production of learning material, maintaining the Learning Centre network of PCs and interactive laser-disk players, and assisting with courses.
I was also responsible for maintaining the IBM database of customers and prospects for the Northern Commercial and Enterprise branches, using it to produce mailshots and management reports using AS/400 Officevision.

December 1990 – June 1991: Personal writing projects

March – November 1990: Unisys, London
Technical Author (Contract)
Responsible with a second author for producing 10 manuals from existing, inadequate documentation to match extensively revised software. Later, with a further three authors, also produced another 12 manuals from scratch for newly-developed modules. The software packages were part of two accountancy suites written for the construction and contracting industry, one running under LINC on Unisys Series A machines, the other running under UNIX. All documentation was produced using BS5750 standards in a small in-house run for which we prepared the camera-ready copy.

September 1989 – March 1990: Legal & General, Kingswood, Surrey
Technical Author (Contract).
One of a team of three writers producing user guides and reference material for CLASSIC (Client Advice, Sales, Servicing and Information Capture), a PC-based integrated pension, mortgage, insurance, life assurance and financial services package for Legal & General's sales consultants.

March – August 1989: Mega Products, Surbiton
Technical Author
Responsible for writing and producing the user documentation for the MAGICAL suite of Sales Order Processing, Purchase Order Processing and Inventory Management packages.

July 1986 – March 1989: BOS Software, London
Technical Author
Responsibilities included writing and editing user manuals for the whole range of BOS accountancy, business, office and programming products, together with release notices, brochures, information sheets and associated documentation. I was involved at all stages of production —from initial liaison with developers to dealing with customer feedback; from discussing the look and layout of the documentation through to delivering the camera-ready copy for the printers.
I also started and produced the company's in-house newsletter to improve communication when expansion forced the company to split over several sites.

February 1986 – May 1986: Guardian Computer Training, Leeds
Software Documentation Course
I attended a fourteen week full-time course in technical writing for the computer industry that led to the City and Guilds examination in Technical Communication (in which I received a Credit for the examination and a Distinction for my project).

1982 — 1983: Systime, Leeds
Commercial Computer Programming Course.
Computer theory and programming in Basic+ and COBOL.

1979: CDI, Leeds
Computer Operating Course.
Computer theory and the operation of ICL and IBM mainframe machines.

1969 - 1976: Garforth Comprehensive, Leeds
A Levels: Chemistry, Pure and Applied Mathematics, Physics.
O Levels: Art, Astronomy, Chemistry, English, Mathematics, Physics.