Maher Harras, Consultant

Maher Harras

Consultant

Freelance Community

Location
Egypt - Cairo
Education
Diploma, Workflow& Document Management Systems Workshop
Experience
50 years, 7 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :50 years, 7 Months

Consultant at Freelance Community
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • My current job since March 2011

Provide the following services:
1- Develop tender documents and grant, R&D and tender proposals.
2- Perform process reengineering, feasibility studies, strategic planning and market research.
3- Write technical articles &papers, books and PHD& MASTER dissertations.
I provide such services remotely or as in-house short term consultancy tasks.

General Manager at Nahdetmisr Information Technology
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • June 2009 to February 2011

Number of staff supervised: 130

Responsibilities:
1- Business development with the aim of making the company one of the leaders of e-learning solution providers.
2-Managing the company daily operations that include resources reallocation, IT products procurement, solving technical and administrative problems, handling abnormal requests of clients,
3- Planning for and managing the company yearly budget .
4- Managing presales and contracting activities that include price-estimation / negotiation, preparing demos/presentations and developing proposals .
5-Supervising the implementation of contracted projects to be on time and within budget .
6-- Delivery manager of strategic company projects with full responsibility of communication and coordination with clients in all projects' phases starting from requirements analysis up to the client acceptance.
7-Managing after-sales operations with the aim of maintaining effective service- provision to clients according to maintenance and support contracts.

Achievements:
1-set up new company strategies, drove improvements to project management process, developed and delivered innovation in the company products and solutions.
2-Initiated the design and developing of innovative e-learning solutions.
3-Defined the company process and supervised its implementation.
4-Initiated an innovative idea that matches with the objectives of the MEDITERRANEAN SEA BASIN PROGRAMME 2007-2013 issued by the EU union . I led the establishment of a consortium of 4 partners ( 2 from Europe and 2 from Egypt) and wrote the proposal which was submitted on 20th of October 2009. It passed sucessfully the 1st evaluation phase and is currently in the 2nd evaluation phase.

General Manager at Harf Information Technology -Cairo
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • March 2000 to November 2008

Number of staff supervised: 350

Responsibilities:
1-Managing the company daily operations that include resources reallocation, IT products procurement, solving technical and administrative problems, handling abnormal requests of clients, supporting marketing managers with advisory services and analyzing different alternatives of s/w solutions to be developed .
2- Planning for and managing the company yearly budget .
3- Managing presales and contracting activities that include price-estimation / negotiation, preparing demos/presentations and developing proposals .
4-Supervising the implementation of contracted projects to be on time and within budget .
5-- Delivery manager of strategic company projects with full responsibility of communication and coordination with clients in all projects' phases starting from requirements analysis up to the client acceptance.
6-System analysis and process reengineering for customers that have sensitive environment.
7-Managing after-sales operations with the aim of maintaining effective service- provision to clients according to maintenance and support contracts.
8-Subject Matter Expert (SME) as an information architect in all company projects .
Achievements:
1-set up new company strategies, made process redesign, drove improvements to project management process, developed and delivered innovation in Harf products and solutions.
2-led the company to achieve Level 3 Rating on the Software Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI ).
3-Led the company in its successful move to provide new business solutions in the field of e-learning .
4-Initiated and led Harf research team to develop localization components that fit with Harf products .
5-Designed and supervised the development of a smart multi-user digitization system that allows for automating all phases of a digitization cycle.

Head of the Project Management Office (PMO) at Sakhr Software
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • April 1997 to February 2000

Number of staff supervised: 200

Responsibilities:

1- management and delivery of all company projects . This includes release and change management, prioritization of projects, working with the business stake holders to formulate project plans, budgets and delivery time lines.
2- Delivery manager of all company projects with full responsibility of communication and coordination with clients in all projects' phases starting from requirements analysis up to the client acceptance.
3-Supervising the design of presales material, demos and presentations with regard to company solutions and technology.
4-Managing presales cycle of the company solutions starting from writing proposals until the contract is awarded.
5-- System analysis and process reengineering for customers of different business environments.
6-Researching market, analyzing competition, and writing early feature definition and specifications of the company solutions and products.
7-Managing the development and release of new software functionality .
Achievements:
1- Supervised the successful delivery , in time and within budget of 6 projects in areas of document management, Information management and digital libraries.
2- Established the company new line of business as a solution provider and systems integrator.
3- Initiated, created and managed new solutions for this rapidly growing business line.
4- Designed and supervised the Implementation of innovative search types in the company search engine " Idrisi".
5- Led the design and development of numerous innovative solutions/products: an internet/intranet based electronic publishing system, a new Arabic based document management system, an Arabic library union catalog system and an Arabic taxonomy .

Project Manager at Sakhr Software
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • December 1994 to March 1997

Number of staff supervised: 200

Responsibilities:
Project Manager of a project to develop the biggest Islamic Digital Library with the most comprehensive information discovery tools that have ever been known .I was the information architect of that project at the same time .The project budget was 6 million US$ and lasted for 2 years with 200 employees working on it .

Achievements:
Managed the project successfully, in time and within budget .I had been selected to be the head of the company PMO afterwards .

General Manager at Information Systems Authority -Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • July 1993 to January 1994

Number of staff supervised: 500

Responsibilities:
1-Planning for and managing the yearly operational budget of about 30 million US$.
2-Supervising the software development process of numerous systems and diverse applications e.g. personnel, stock control, and military applications in Egypt Air Force .
3-Overseeing all Air Force departments' demands of hardware& software, arranging appropriate supply in accordance with real needs and available resources.
4-Contribute to the Egypt Air Force policies as an IT expert with the aim of having IT capacities support all Egypt Air Force activities.
5-Continuous evaluation of Egypt Air Force IT staff with the aim of deciding for the need of necessary training or extra resources .

Achievements:
Set up a process for conducting continual assessment of hardware, software and computer skilled human resources and for collecting pertinent measures to maintain proper level of performance at all Egypt Air Force computer sites.

General Manager at Tactical software R&D center -Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • January 1990 to June 1993

Number of staff supervised:100

Responsibilities:

1- Planning, coordinating, and directing activities of subordinate managers and staff.
2-Supervising and participating as a SME in developing and maintaining an airborne early warning information system for Egypt Air Force.
3-Following up on hardware and software upgrade process.
4-Coordinating with the US Navy Tactical Software Development Center on technical and procurement matters.
5-Managing the center daily activities that include resource reallocation, solving technical and administrative problems, handling abnormal requests of higher management .

Achievements :
1-Set and implemented a concrete system of coordination and cooperation between Egypt Air Force software R&D center and U.S. Naval Command, Control and Ocean surveillance Center.
2-Changed the center strategy so that it could be self dependent rather than being depending on US Navy experts.
3-Managed the process of mentoring of a 2nd generation of tactical software programmers to replace the first - high rank - generation .
4-Successfully undertook responsibilities as an Egypt Air Force delegate in the American - Egyptian steering committee that follow on the progress of a joint software project of mutual interest of both countries. 1990-1993
5-Successfully undertook responsibilities as an Egypt Air Force software delegate in status review conferences of an Egypt early warning aircraft program . Conferences have representatives from Egypt Air Force, U.S. navy and Gruman Aerospace Corporation .1990-1993.
6-Successfully undertook responsibilities as an Egypt Air Force software delegate in an American Egyptian joint team to assess sophisticated equipment mounted on Egypt military aircrafts. 1992.

Manager of the software technical support department at Tactical Software R&D Center -Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • August 1988 to December 1989

Number of staff supervised: 20

Responsibilities:
1-Leading and providing technical guidance to a team of software engineers whose job was to design and implement military software applications in assembly as well as high level languages.
2-Investigating of software - hardware interrelated problems and arranging for proper actions.
3-Acting as VAX/VMS system manager responsible for setting up user accounts, managing system resources and analyzing users' complains for proper actions .Besides, I was VAX/VMS system security manager responsible for protecting the system against natural disasters, malfunctions and criminal acts.
4-Defining and planning for the technical objectives of the center .
Achievements :
Designed and developed tactical experimental modules using local sources of tactical information rather than the built-in sources .

Senior Software Engineer at Tactical Software R&D Center -Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • September 1986 to July 1988

Number of staff supervised: 5

Responsibilities:
Developing and maintaining Tactical airborne software . The job entailed maintaining functional operational specifications, program design description and coding besides designing and implementing functional test procedures, integrated test procedures and flight test procedures .
Achievements:
1-Developed a training documentation set to be used by junior software engineers.
2-Supervised the process re-engineering of the Egypt Air Force Tactical software R&D center .

Trainee at Gruman Aerospace Corporation
  • United States
  • March 1985 to August 1986

Training on the development and maintenance of a Tactical Software procured by Egypt Air Force

Manager at Military Technical Training Unit -Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • August 1980 to February 1985

Number of staff supervised: 80

Responsibilities:
1-Specifying training needs of Egypt Air Force Regiments.
2-Designing training programs which entails specifying its objectives, topics, participants, training methodology, duration and the distribution of lectures' time table.
3-Planning and conducting different levels/kinds of training for pilots, engineers and technicians.
4-Following up training schedules, evaluating trainees' levels and coordinating with regiments' squadrons for conducting OJT
5- Designing and supervising conducting an in-house training program for the Unit instructors with the aim of upgrading their capabilities and updating their technical information
6- Following up maintenance and repair of the unit equipment and sophisticated training aids.
Achievements:
Worked as a visiting instructor for electric& electronic equipment and computer related topics at several training programs sponsored by different Air Force units.

Team leader at Military Technical Training Unit -Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • August 1977 to July 1980

Number of staff supervised: 20

Responsibilities:
1-Planning, following up and undertaking maintenance and repair operations of mini-computer type CII-10020 integrated with highly sophisticated electric, electronic and hydraulic equipment in a Military flight simulator assembly.
2-Analyzing problems and difficulties encountered in concluded simulator training programs with the aim of isolating tactical problems away of technical ones.
Achievements:
Set up a maintenance system that makes the computer based simulator assembly 100% up and running during the scheduled training sessions of the regiment pilots .

Computer engineer at Military Technical Training Unit-Egypt Air Force
  • Egypt - Cairo
  • May 1972 to July 1977

Responsibilities:
1-Undertaking maintenance and repair operations of a mini-computer integrated with highly sophisticated electric, electronic and hydraulic equipment in a military aircraft simulator assembly.
2-Running troubleshooting procedures down to the component level and undertaking proper actions to malfunctions.

Achievements:
Mastered the diagnostic procedures to the level needed to make the simulator 100% up and running during the scheduled training sessions of the regiment pilots .

Education

Diploma, Workflow& Document Management Systems Workshop
  • at Institute of International Research, Feb 1998 -Mar 1998
  • March 1998
Diploma, Governmental General Managers Training Course
  • at Governmental Executives Training Institute
  • July 1994
Diploma, Tactical Software Training Course .
  • at Grumman Corporation, May 1985 - Aug 1986
  • August 1986
Diploma, VAX/VMS concepts , instruction set , utilities and commands,system management and internals
  • at Digital Equipment Corporation, Jan 1986 - Feb 1986
  • February 1986
Diploma, American Language Course
  • at Defense Language Institute -English Language Center- Lckland Air Force Base
  • May 1985
Diploma, Engineering Studies & Practices needed for the position of Chief Engineer of an Air Force Regiment
  • at Institute of Air Combat Studies, May 1983 - Oct 1983
  • October 1983
Diploma, COBOL PROGRAMMING & PRACTICAL
  • at Data Processing Lab, Jan 1982 - May 1983
  • May 1983
Diploma, Maintenance of the S/W and H/W of a CII-10020 - A Digital Computer used wiyh Military Equipment .
  • at Air Force Computer Center, Jul 1978 - Dec 1978
  • December 1978
Diploma, Maintenance of Analogue Computer mounted on Military Aircrafts
  • at Air Force Computer Center, May 1972 - Aug 1972
  • August 1972
Bachelor's degree,
  • at Faculty of Engineering - Cairo University, Oct 1966 - Jul 1971
  • June 1971

Specialties & Skills

Project Collaboration
Problem Solving
Microsoft Office
Writing R&D proposals
Process Reengineering
Bids Management
Marketing Analysis
Technical proposals writing
Technical articles writing
Information Architect skills
Building domain specific taxonomies.
Project management
Using NLP to generate knowledge out of data/information.
Designing sophisticated Full text search types
Strategic Planning
Feasibility Studies

Languages

Arabic
Expert
English
Expert