Robert A. Blake, PMP
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"The experience of others adds to our knowledge, but not to our wisdom; that is dearer bought".
Hosea Ballou (1771-1852)



"He knows the water best who has waded through it."
-- Danish Proverb



"If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it".
-- Chinese Proverb



“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
-- Tom Bodett



“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.” -- Immanuel Kant



"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."
-- Confucius



Completed Projects

Experience is a great teacher. This is no truer than in the arena of project management. Below is a list of a few actual projects that have contributed to my knowledge and experience...

Global System Migrations - Led an international project team that successfully migrated all North American iSeries LPARS to an iSeries Service Bureau located at corporate headquarters in Sweden. The cross-functional project team included members at several locations in the U.S., Belgium, and Sweden. This year-long project greatly reduced costs by making the corporation's iSeries capacity more effectively utilized. All North American iSeries test and production LPARs were migrated to the corporate HQ data center in Sweden with minimal disruption of mission critical applications to end users located all over North America. (Technologies: iSeries, MIMIX data replication software, Rumba, Windows, WAN, DNS)

Large Dealer ERP Implementations - Led a cross-functional, dispersed project team that successfully delivered managed IT services and an enterprise wide dealer management system (ERP) to the largest Volvo Construction Equipment dealer in North America. Project team designed and delivered all local area network infrastructure and telecommunication circuits. Project team worked with third-party software vendor to design and implement first hosting platform for the enterprise wide dealer management system. This year-long project included migrating all of customer's 300 desktop clients, and MS Outlook clients, at 15 branch locations in 5 different US states onto a new network and email system in a single day! (Technologies: Windows XP Clients, Windows Server 2003, Citrix, Active Directory, MS Outlook, MS Exchange, AIX, WAN, VPN, LAN, DNS, FTP)

Acquisitions - Led an Infrastructure & Operations Project team in supplying the necessary infrastructure to support the merging of the primary manufacturing plants for two of the largest North American Truck manufacturers. This 1.2 million dollar project included all telecommunications lines, LAN cabling, servers, workstations and peripherals. The project involved coordination with numerous local and remote IT professionals, various levels of business managers, trade unions, and 3rd party vendors. (Technologies: WAN, LAN, Windows, Rumba)

Mission Critical System Upgrades - Led an Infrastructure & Operations Project Team in the successful implementation of a load balanced / automatic failover solution for a mission critical, AIX based, Citrix delivered parts information system involving 300+ nationwide client locations and approximately 1200 users. The switchover to the new load balanced / automatic failover solution was done "transparently" to the end users, with virtually no down-time for the customer. (Technologies: AIX, WAN, LAN, Windows, Rumba)

Process Re-egineering - Led a cross-functional, dispersed project team that successfully unified two Network Security Groups' policies, processes, and procedures supporting the largest bank merger in U.S. History. Led the effort to identify the "best practices" of both corporate network security organizations and the migration to one set of policies, processes, and procedures. Streamlined workflows and maximized efficiencies within the Network Security area of the new combined organization.

System Documentation - Led a project to design and implement a unified approach for a large Network Security Group's technical documentation. Identified and documented the new "look-and-feel" for all technical documents which adhered to all corporate security, compliance and legal policies. Delivered a formal style guide as well as standard reusable templates. Also developed and documented the new formal document approval process and the final repository for all the organization's documentation. Identified the Network Security Group's key processes and procedures, and delivered documentation for those processes and procedures in the new standardized format.

Project Audits - Led an onsite project audit in Johannesburg, South Africa for a troubled ERP implementation at the largest construction equipment dealer in South Africa. The purpose of this audit was to examine all parts of the implementation project and to deliver a document to the sponsor summarizing the status of the project, highlighting areas of concerns putting the successful implementation at risk, and recommend solutions to get the project back on track and enhance its chances for success. The audit was international in scope and needed to address the technical challenges, project management processes, project team's skills and experience, project & customer communication, as well as cultural issues.



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