Projects
ServiceNow
As well as configuration of ServiceNow modules like ITSM, ITBM, CMDB, SAM, and portals, I've successfully developed significant customizations on the ServiceNow platform, including:
- Admin, upgrades, cloning, domains, debugging, security auditing, and vulnerability mitigation.
- A CMDB CI importer API/SDK that streams to appropriate classes in the ci.cmdb database tree. It features: configurable streams from integrations or files, custom attribute fields, custom coalesce functions, name mapping, and full error reporting.
- A notification API, to allow data-bound, branded, accessible, MIME-compliant, and write-once composition of emails. Includes user-focused handling of 'on behalf of' requests.
- New Service Portals, as out-of-the-box or highly customized designs.
- Service Portal widgets and data, including Service Catalog, Knowledge, Incident Management and MIM, Notifications, and Services.
See also: ServiceNow feats
w3pedia
I initially developed the w3pedia core, and later designed it as a product. w3pedia is a content portal for multimedia knowledge, API documentation, ISO compliance and process documentation, training, and marketing asset storage. It drives content for new channels and context-sensitive help systems, including the public-facing printing.com and w3pedia.com.
Benefits:
- A user-centred experience, where users see content matched to their roles, languages, locations, and business channels
- Cloud hosting ended 'network folder anarchy' and opened access to remote locations
- Clear, consistent, and accessible content
- Leaders and SMEs create great content in a publication workflow
- Discoverable training and operational resources, and ISO-900x compliance
- Searchable and up-to-date Marketing assets allow designers to compose quickly and with confidence
- Links to help content from web apps, to eliminate searching
johnvalentine.co.uk (personal)
I coded this site from scratch using PHP and Apache. Design and style are my own. Articles are HTML, with optional helper functions.
Benefits:
- Clean interface, focused on content
- Self-hosted, so uninterrupted by advertising or algorithms
- An easy environment for me to write in.
Class Direct
I helped develop a management system for insurance services. My work included new integration services, CI/test remediation, build scripts, UI design systems, and interfaces for assets, surveys, fees, and class definitions.
Oxford University Press
I coded interface components and the design system for the OUP publishing and licensing portal.
Quote tools
I created quote tools, to give internal and external pricing and schedule for printing projects. It accounted for:
- Batched variations on a substrate, creating optimal layout and cutting programs
- Costs of materials and machine time, including long-term finance costs
- Machine tolerances, compounded overs calculation
- Costs and time for external contractors and logistics
- Options for paper, coating, foil/scratch, cutting, folding, templated and custom die-cutting, hand-finishing
- International currency and production hubs
- Internal and external pricing, timed service levels, variable profit models
- Text export of order summaries for customer quotes
- Variant: book and booklet production
- Variant: large format production
Benefits:
- Executives can quote for print jobs live with the customer, rather than waiting for days for a production expert to cost and approve.
- No need to compose quotes from subcontractors
- No need to calculate 'internal customer' prices, margins, or currency conversions
- No loss-making jobs, using true holistic costs - sales discounting is then at the user's risk and discretion, on their budget line
- Risk-managed workflow, where the customer converts a quote text generated by the tool
- Makes the user aware of the risks of larger jobs
- Enables competitive larger projects, with economies of scale and batching
- Made environmental savings, by making better use of materials, and generating achievable layouts within tolerances
TGI: Template Generator for Adobe InDesign
I bridged the gap between the product database and production-ready documents in InDesign. The project improved the product database, and provided structured data instead of text specifications, with benefits for financial reporting and quality analytics. It accounted for:
- Product size, pages, variations, finishing options.
- Document layers for trimming and folding tolerances, design hints, predesigned die-cut templates, foils and coatings, panel dimensions and orientation.
- Books: creep, binding visibility.
- Large format: eyelet placement, roller windings, frame coverage.
- Live product data updates, critical changes, product development phases and quality.
Benefits:
- Increased gross margin by 1% to 4%, from quality improvements
- Saved 400,000 hours (and counting!) of designer setup time, to free designers to do more of the creative work they love, and generate more profit
- Reduced quality failures, by creating templates that comply with the production specifications
- Made environmental savings - reduced waste, and reduced reworking that was urgent, disruptive, and used up more materials less efficiently
- Eliminated the learning curve for designers setting up new products
- Provides mark-up that production operatives need to complete their process with accuracy and fewer errors outside tolerance
- No need to design all the combinations, as TGI composes elements from the product hierarchy into working products
- Enables lesser-skilled designers to design for complicated products
- Generates custom specifications without error, using configurable building blocks
- Prompts users to update, to help them keep up with critical changes to product specifications or production needs
CloudSeed: client-side preflighter for Adobe InDesign
CloudSeed checked documents for printing, and helped correct errors or out-of-tolerance elements. It generated a report dialog, with a summary and a clickable item tree that selected document elements, and optional Fix and Fix all buttons. Organized by warning class, or by document structure. It also had a preflight rule set for Silicon Publishing integration.
Media merger for Adobe InDesign
This created batches of images or PDFs, from templates and graphics and text data. This was used for seasonal mailings to customers, and marketing customized for outlets. In an earlier form as a personal project, this generated game cards from artwork and data tables.
Shepherd
Created as a service for Windows NT, Shepherd integrated with the product database, to validate PDF designs, and then direct them to central storage.
Worm Watch
Created as a service for Windows NT, Worm Watch, together with my security protocols, eradicated worm viruses from the network, where commercial antivirus has failed.
Financial reporting suite
Integrated into existing systems, my suite accelerated larger reports from hours to seconds. I optimised intensive calculations into data cubes, and created a front end that junior accountants could use.
Public examples
