Business Systems Research Products Philosophy

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Develop Novel Trading Software
2014 - 2024
Stock Market Designed and built various unique analytic tools for price discovery in currency, equity and commodity markets. These tools aim to expose the validity of alternative strategies that have been devised to predict probable future price direction in different timeframes for different financial instruments.
Pension Process Traffic Lights
2012
Traffic Lights Designed and created a real time monitor of the current state of the various interoperative elements of a large application, showing at a glance those elements which are currently running and their status in the continuous staged process.
Automate Various Pension Reports
2010 - 2013
Guaranteed Annuity Option Created and automated various daily and monthly reports regarding different types of pension claims, such as summaries of claims involving guaranteed annuity options, or the total number of pension claims of any type made over the month.
Incorporate Jersey Tax Law Changes
2010
Jersey Made modifications to a pension system to take into account changes in legislation concerning tax arrangements specifically for Jersey pension quotations. This was just one of many small projects undertaken by Graeme Robertson Ltd (GRobyCo) on this large and complex pension system.
Pension Scheme Cancellation System
2009
Cancel Enabled cancellation of a pension scheme by automatically removing large numbers of selected scheme members on mainframe systems via a PC front end, thus saving a considerable amount of clerical time.
Change of Address & Bank A/C Details Speed-up
2009
Change of Address Created a speedy PC front end to an old slow mainframe system thereby significantly reducing time pressure on customer service staff who every day have to process many customer requests to change an address or bank details, while at the same time protect against fraud.
Notification of Death Claims Speed-up
2009
Death Claims Created a PC front end to an old slow data-entry mainframe system which thereby significantly reduced the customer service processing backlog of death notifications, including some newly automated associated administrative functions.
Pensions Calculator Enhancements
2005 - 2009
Pension Calculator Added features to an existing PC system, including automated customer letters for transfer values, with-profit endowments, death letters, nothing-payable letters, commutation of spouse's pension and widow's pension letters. Another major addition was automatic import of relevant data from a number of mainframe systems. These additions greatly reduced the backlog of work for staff, and usage was rapidly extended to over 100 users in England and Wales.
Enhance Large Portfolio Management Application
2004 - 2005
APL Consultant Enhanced a very successful APL system in a number of very specific areas, including the addition of a new Data Type. While most APL applications are written by one or two individuals, and supported by up to three or at most four other programmers, this particular Danish application has very many programmers involved in its development, and is corrrespondingly very large and very complex.
Fourier Transform Add-on using FFTW
1999
Fourier Transform Created a *.dll (Dynamic Link Library) together with APL cover functions to call a Fourier Transform or its inverse from open source FFTW (Fastest Fourier Transform in the World) C++ code. While the C++ code may be faster, an APL model to test the C++ version is straightforward to produce. This APL model is even more elegant since complex numbers were explicitly added to Dyalog APL in 2011.
EigenVectors and EigenValues Add-on using LAPACK
1999
Linear Algebra Created a *.dll (Dynamic Link Library) together with APL cover functions to call a sufficient subset of eigen routines and complex matrix inverse routines from open source LAPACK (Linear Algebra PACKage) C++ code.
Insurance Claims Accounting System Upgrade
1998 - 2000
Reinsurance Modified an existing system for Year 2000 compliance plus other enhancements for Odyssey Re Holdings Corp, then converted this quarterly insurance system to a monthly reporting system for their new owners, RiverStone Management Ltd.
Calculation of Final Salary Pension Claims
1996 - 1998
Final Salary Over 100 pages of exact specification of active and deferred final salary pension calculations were programmed in order to compute individual retiree pension quotations. Also produced a 300 page description of application inputs, outputs and mainframe links in support of over 50 inhouse users.
Petroleum Analysis Workstation Conversion
1995 - 1996
Petroleum Products Led a team to convert a petroleum analysis and trading system from DOS to Windows, and further develop the graphical component and other elements of the program as part of the team work. In 1998 Fame Energy acquired Saladin, in 2003 SunGard acquired Fame, and in 2015 FIS acquired SunGard.
MultiDimensional Accounting System Conversion to Windows
1994 - 1995
KPS Converted the Kunzle Planning System from DOS to Windows for a successful March 1995 launch by Adaytum at the Birmingham NEC soon after they acquired KPS. Adaytum acquired Insight Systems and then, after system completion, Adaytum was acquired by Cognos Inc. for $160m in 2003. (Later IBM acquired Cognos for $5bn in 2009.) The resulting new source of unprecedented funds breathed fresh life into the Dyalog APL language vendor when Dyalog Ltd (formerly Dyadic Systems Ltd) was bought by the newly independent and plentifully rewarded Insight Systems of Denmark in 2003.
Dyalog APL Help Files
1994 - 2003
GUI Help Produced the *.hlp Dyalog APL Help files and New Release Help files for versions 7, 8, 9 and 10. This included the Dyalog APL Language Help file and the Dyalog APL GUI Help file. APL itself was used to generate the numerous jumps and links to be found in the GUI Help.
Dyalog APL Manuals
1994 - 2000
APL Manuals Produced the *.doc Dyalog APL Manual WORD files for versions 7, 8, 9 and 10 from the original Dyalog version 6.3 Kyocera text files and other flat file sources. Productions comprised the Dyalog APL User Guide (486pp), the Language Reference Manual (467pp), the Interface Guide (396pp), the Object Reference Manual (577pp) and the Outer Products Catalogue (35pp).
London Marine Market Insurance System
1993 - 1994
Reinsurance Designed and developed a new 7-dimensional consolidated monthly insurance data system for Commercial Union Reserving Department, complete with a considerable number of built-in hierarchical calculations along and between each of the 7 dimensions. This system continues to be used, even after Commercial Union merged with Norwich Union and later they with Aviva.
A Bayes Linear Estimator
1992 - 1998
Baysian Statistics The ABLE engine was designed by Bayesian expert Professor Tony O'Hagan of Nottingham University, and built by John Scholes and Graeme Robertson to assist in the privatization of UK water boards. Since then it has been used in the privatization of UK railways, Hong Kong water and Melbourne trams. Graeme Robertson Ltd (GRobyCo) has further developed, supported and extended this system for a London Underground project.
REDUCE - Taylor Series Interface
1990
Taylor Approximation Created a routine in symbolic algebraic language REDUCE for Professor Robin Tucker and the Lancaster University Physics Theory Group to calculate Taylor approximations to complex functions that were output from existing REDUCE programs in the group's quantum geometrodynamics research.
REDUCE - LaTeX Interface
1990
TeX Output Reformatted REDUCE output formulae with LaTeX for Professor Robin Tucker and the Lancaster University Physics Theory Group in order to make computed results from existing REDUCE programs more readable.
Worldwide Oil Trading System
1986
Oil Trading Created a system for petroleum trading around the world, based on the same technology as the Worldwide Treasury Dealing System below, using the powerful combination of STSC APL/PC, Sharp APL/MF and the I.P.Sharp communications network which predated the Internet by over 20 years.
Giant APL Variables
1986
Big Data Prototyped a system obviating the need for an APL programmer to handle a separate APL file system by making variables of any size allowed by total hard disc file memory limitations virtually reside in a standard RAM-sized workspace and accessible as an APL variable via curly brackets { } rather than square brackets [ ].
WorldWide Bank Treasury Dealing System
1985 - 1986
Trading System Based on a number of STSC APL utilities written by Martin Turner and Karl Mabert, I programmed a system for Midland Bank Group Treasury in the City of London which was then used extensively by foreign exchange traders around the World, in Europe, USA and the Far East, via the I.P.Sharp communications network. (I.P.Sharp Associates and their network was acquired by Reuters for $47.5m in 1987 after the demise of mainframe APL timesharing and before the rise of the Internet.)
MultiNational Customers Relationship Profitability System
1984 - 1985
Profitability Designed with Rashmi Kakad, and led a small team of APL consultants, including Martin Turner and David Pilbeam, to build a large application involving many existing banking systems. This complex integrated system analysed the profitability of a bank's large multinational customers worldwide. The final project was completed at a total cost of less than 3% of the largest competitor bid for the project, and less than 5% of the second largest bid. The remainder of the £1m budget was spent in training bank staff worldwide on how to use the system.
International Bank Library Search and Find Database
1984
Search System This set-theoretic text storage and retrieval system was based on an elegant file design by John Craig in Aberdeen. I developed the new database system in London for Midland Bank International Business Library. It was also used by Midland Bank Business Sector Marketing Unit for their UK and international competitor databases.
Business Management Graphs
1983
Business Graphs Wrote functions to generate board-level management graphical reports from consolidated company data for various IPSA customers, including a large bank, a wine and spirit importer and a well known brewery.
Chemical Database of Oil Products
1983
Chemical DB This was a classic application of Wizard, the I.P.Sharp multidimensional database package, which was used here to store, in a natural way, details of oil chemical products. Many petroleum-related organic molecules can be classified by positioning them in a four dimensional structure. This structure is very suitable for organising a 4D Wizard database of their properties.
Product Pricing Target Application
1982
Pricing System Created a new six dimensional accounting system for use by a large multinational manufacturing company to model their product pricing structure. It included multiple calculations and consolidations along product, location and business cycle dimensions, but in particular along the accounting dimension - ultimately calculating the cost of goods sold and the earnings from operations for the particular choice of prices for 45 company top products.
Architect Project Scheduling System
1982
Project Scheduling This was a bespoke add-on to SNAP, the Sharp Network Analysis Package. The system formalised standard project plans and procedures for the Tower Hamlets Borough Council architects. Each project followed the same plan which was provided as a template for implementing and monitoring the progress of each new building project in the borough.
European Marketing and Finance Database Systems
1981 - 1984
Region DBs Most of the work at Kodak was based on a brilliant application called Wizard which was developed at IPSA in London by Peter Airs. I led a small team of APL consultants, including Nicki Coyne, Christine McCree and Sally Drew, to build multidimensional database systems using Wizard for Marketing, Finance, Graphic Arts, Medical X-ray Film, Administration and Customer Service departments. The development team and customers were all excellent.
Over 50 APL Training Courses
1980 - 1986
Introduction to APL Delivered over 50 Sharp APL training courses, including, in particular, A Working Introduction to APL and A Working Introduction to APL for Instructors. It was my pleasure and privilege to have been a student on both these courses when they were originally delivered in London by Dr Kenneth E. Iverson, the inventor of APL, and to have helped to arrange his talk An Executable Analytic Notation at Westfield College, London and at other IPSA locations in Europe.
Planning System to Facilitate New IT Implementations
1979 - 1980
Project Plans Project planning at Rank Xerox in London was based on a brilliant APL application called SNAP which was designed and built by Ken Chakahwata at IPSA. I assisted Ken and the strategic planning team at RX by developing a layer of software on top of SNAP to control its application in executing the successful implementation of various new RX computer systems in Europe by producing the European plans and management reports.
Magnetic Variation North Map
1978
Navigation Maps Created a machine code representation from FORTRAN source code of a world magnetic variation map for aircraft navigation. Navigation by compass is untrustworthy near the poles where the magnetic field splinters. In these places, other means of navigation must be employed because magnetic North is not well defined and therefore the magnetic compass cannot be trusted.
Fuel Remaining on Station Calculation
1977 - 1978
Machine Code Performed a machine code calculation of the volume of aircraft fuel that would remain on the aircraft after completion of a mission. This is a small component of an aircraft navigation system octal computer program. Having adequate fuel to complete a journey is clearly vitally important in this context.
Barometric Height Program
1977
Aircraft Navigation Performed a machine code calculation of aircraft height from a barometric pressure reading. This is a small part of a navigation system octal computer program. A simple calculation is performed in 8-bit machine code to convert the external atmospheric pressure reading into an altitude for later use in the navigation program.

"We did it!" exclaimed one delighted business manager at the end of a contract.
"Without such commitment we would not be where we are today," wrote one happy, and soon to be very rich, CEO.

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New Foundations, Vector Vol.20 No.1 July 2003
Bell's Theorem & Matrix Mechanics, Vector Vol.20 No.3 January 2004
50 Years of APL
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Nottingham University
Network Rail
Yorkshire Water
Warwick University
Thames Water
Sheffield University
Saladin
South West Water
Odyssey Re
Midland Bank
Optima Systems
Eastman Kodak
Commercial Union
Adaytum Systems
Sinclair Knight Merz
Mouchel
Admin Re
AVIVA
Transport for London
RISCU, Warwick
SSU, Sheffield
Legal & General
SimCorp
Lancaster University
Schlumberger
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Arthur Guinness
Hiram Walker
Rank Xerox
Exxon Mobil
Southern Water
Severn Trent Water
GEMCO
Kunzle Planning System
Riverstone Management
Ferranti Ltd

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