Director, EAI
UAE University
Total years of experience :31 years, 8 Months
• Responsible for a 27-person team managing design, development and maintenance of enterprise applications and in house custom applications development.
• Manage and maintain Banner ERP (HR, Finance, Student Information System), Blackboard (eLearning system), Millennium (Library Automation System), Sharepoint Portal, xTender (Document archiving system), ODS (Operational data store) for reporting, Hybrid Mobile application for staff and students and custom applications development including web based applications using ASP.NET, Java and Oracle.
• Actively participate as a member of the senior management team providing input, assessment and direction from the perspective of EAI.
• Assess all other Departments’ needs and develop programs to support these needs affecting the day-to-day operations and procedures of the University.
• Plans, directs and coordinates activities in the selection, implementation, management and maintenance of enterprise applications technology projects to ensure project goals are accomplished by performing duties personally or through subordinates.
• Develop effective relationship with stakeholders, clients, vendors, developers, and contractors.
• Budgeting / Project estimations.
• Develop project proposals with goals, time frame, funding limitations and procedures for accomplishing administrative computing projects, staffing requirements and allocation of resources.
• Consult and formulate recommendations to senior management in academic and business departments to identify business needs to run their operations, assesses their impact on University resources, and ensures the effective integration into the computing infrastructure.
• Implement tools and best practices in applications development life cycle across all enterprise platforms.
• Establish standards and procedures for project reporting and documentation.
• Establish direction including policies and procedures necessary for the department to provide stable enterprise mission critical applications, an appropriate presence on the World Wide Web, and related services to the University.
• Interact with external industrial and academic institutions in order to maintain state-of-the-art knowledge in emerging technologies.
Accomplishments:
• Evaluate and identify the best available mobile application development platform. The acquired platform is IBM Worklight.
• Managed the university mobile application to provide services to students and staff. The mobile application is available in four major stores (iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows). The application can be searched as “UAEU”.
• Managed and rolled out university wide portal based on MS Sharepoint. This is one stop shop for all services for students and staff. The portal is integrated (single sign on) with the Banner eServices and other custom applications.
• Developed IT governance framework.
• Developed mobile development guidelines.
• Managed the implementation of Blackboard collaborate to enhance teaching and learning.
• Developed 3 years Master plan to convert manual processes to electronic. It includes more services to be available on smart phones as well.
• Managed the implementation of CurricUNET (curriculum management solution).
• Evaluated and implemented the digital signature solution.
• Managed the in house Banner upgrade to the latest 8.x version.
• Managed the in house upgrade of Blackboard eLearning system to release 12.
• Manage the IT centralization for resources and applications.
• Developed the goals, strategic plan and KPI’s for the department.
Responsibilities:
• Responsible for a 15-person team managing design, development and maintenance of enterprise applications and custom applications development.
• IT Business proposals preparation
• Licenses proposals and negotiation
• IT Business process re-engineering
• Develop effective relationship with stakeholders, clients, vendors, developers, and contractors.
• Budgeting / Project estimations
• Identify, Analyze, Design, Implement, and support cost-effective technology solutions for all units of the Institution.
• Manage and maintain all IT activities of 6 campuses of IAT and Logistics Academy, Aviation Academy, Fatima College of Health Sciences and VEDC (Vocational Education Development Center)
• Implement IT policies, procedures, best practices and processes.
• IT Strategic plan for the institution and other related entities.
• Plans, develop, implement, budget and manage the organization Information Technology Infrastructure.
• Provide strategic leadership regarding the use and implementation of information and communication technology.
• Advice upper management on information technology issues, and serves as a resource to Academic and Administrative units.
Accomplishments:
• Oracle ERP for IAT and academies (EBS R12) (HRMS, Finance and Supply Chain Management).
• SIS - Banner Student Information system for I.A.T and academies.
• Millennium Library System for I.A.T and academies.
• Manage and maintain existing ERP (Microsoft Great Plains).
• Revamp I.A.T website http://www.iat.ac.ae
• I.A.T Portal (Microsoft Sharepoint) for all staff to provide single point of access for all enterprise applications and resources.
• IT Strategic Plan - 5 Years IT Strategic Plan.
• 1 to 1 project implementation (complete Apple Mac infrastructure for all IAT campuses). This is the largest Apple Mac implementation in the region.
• ISO 9001 implementation. Complete documentation of all IT policies and processes.
• Portal for SACS accreditation. The institution has received SACS accreditation.
• IT infrastructure Design for the new campus of Fatima College of Health Sciences in Al Ain, U.A.E.
• IT infrastructure Design for the new campus of Fatima College of Health Sciences in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
• IT infrastructure Design for the new campus of IAT Girls in Al Ain, U.A.E.
• Infrastructure Upgrade - Plan the upgrade for Labs and Classroom technologies to bring excellence in teaching and learning. Core network upgrade to avoid single point of failure and bring redundancy to avoid operational threats.
Responsibilities:
• Responsible for a 12-person team managing design, development and maintenance of enterprise applications, custom applications development, IT infrastructure and communication network.
• Plan and develop IT Strategic plan for the University.
• IT Business proposals preparation
• Licenses proposals and negotiation
• Manage and maintain university ERP (LOGOS on Oracle).
• Plans, develop, implement, budget and manage the University’s Information Technology Infrastructure.
• Provide strategic leadership regarding the use and implementation of information and communication technology.
• IT Business process re-engineering
• Develop effective relationship with stakeholders, clients, vendors, developers, and contractors.
• Budgeting / Project estimations
• Identify, Analyze, Design, Implement, and support cost-effective technology solutions for all units of the Institution.
• Evaluate and recommend ERP system for Student Services, Human Resource and Finance departments of the University.
• Advise University Council on information technology issues, and serves as a resource to Academic and Administrative committees.
• Implement IT policies, procedures, best practices and processes.
Accomplishments:
• IT Strategic Plan - 3 Years IT Strategic Plan for the University.
• Implement portal (Microsoft Sharepoint) for the university.
• ERP (Student, HR and Finance) - Evaluate and recommend ERP system for the University. Evaluated Banner, People Soft, SAP and MS Great Plains.
• Student Email System - Implemented the emails for all students free for life using .
• ISO 9001 - All required IT documentation for ISO 9001.
• Identity Management System - To provide single point of access to all staff and students for all available resources.
• VOIP - Implemented voice over IP to lower the cost of communication.
Responsibilities:
• Responsible for a 14-person team managing design, development and maintenance of enterprise applications and custom applications development.
• IT Business proposals preparation
• Identify, Analyze, Design, Implement, and support cost-effective web based technology solutions for all units of the organization. The technologies used are ASP, ASP.NET, Oracle, MS SQL Server, JavaScript, and XML.
• Responsible to prepare RFI’s and RFP’s to interact with the vendors.
• To plan, coordinate and direct IT-related activities of the organization, and to provide administrative direction and support for daily operational activities of the IT department.
• To ensure the operation of the IT Department is in-line with the business objectives of the organization.
• Implement IT policies, procedures, best practices and processes.
• Develop effective relationship with stakeholders, clients, vendors, developers, and contractors.
• Budgeting / Project estimations
• Participate and recommend in the IT strategy, evaluations, and architecture committees.
• Recommend new technologies and platforms in the area of business
• Licenses proposals and negotiation
• IT Business process re-engineering
• Develop and execute training program and documentation for end users.
• Member of IT steering committee to recommend IT strategic direction for the system.
• Member of Educational Technology Committee to determine the core IT requirements and recommend solutions for the system.
Accomplishments:
• Received Innovation Award from Higher Colleges of Technology (U.A.E) in 2006 for the design, development and implementation of system wide (16 colleges) Internet Portal and Web Based Talent Management System.
• Banner ERP Implementation (HR, Finance and Supply Chain Management).
• In house developed Talent Management System (HireInsight) to help hiring staff. It has brought down the hiring time considerably.
• HCT Corporate Website - http://www.hct.ac.ae - Received Pan Arab award.
• Microsoft Sharepoint Portal - HCT Systems portal
• In house developed Textbook Ordering and Tracking System
• In house developed Quality Assurance System.
• e-ducation Without Borders - In house Complete Conference Registration System.
• Online Admissions Approval process - systems integrated with NAPO (National placement) student’s database.
• In house Additional Duties System.
• In house Pool Car Reservation System.
• In house Online Workshop Assessment.
• In house Technical Support Tracking System.
• In house Academic Information System - Academic portal of HCT.
Responsibilities:
• Manage a team of 2 programmers for the development of IT systems
• Manage IT services to be provided to clients
• Liaise on with the clients and gather the required information
• Communicate with the clients on the progress of the projects
• On time delivery of projects to the clients
• Develop training plans
• Develop end user and technical documentation
Accomplishments:
• HORIZON - Library Automation system written in MODULA II Language and later converted to C language with Sybase backend. Received 2 months training from the parent company in United States as it was a joint venture.
• AL-MAKNAZ - Document imaging system written in C language with Oracle backend.
• Al Maknaz - Application Generator written in C language with Oracle backend.
• MEDAD - CD-ROM Retrieval system written in C language with Oracle backend.
Responsibilities:
• Develop system software for the clients
• Research on new technologies like cross compilers and digital signal processing
• Testing of new and old systems
• Weekly reports to the technical manager on the progress of projects in hand
Accomplishments:
• Automatic Paging using DTMF using the existing Paging network written in 8031 assemble language.
• Remote Car Security System using paging network using the existing paging network written in 8051 assembly language.
• Telex System written in 8051 assembly language and used C language for front end.