The Department of Social Protection (DSP) provides financial and supportive services to millions of customers in Ireland and manages large-scale IT systems. As an Executive Officer on the Business Object Modelling Team, the author worked as a .NET developer using C# and Entity Framework. Their main project involved developing the user interface for the 'Pre 1979 Insurance Contributions' project, which converted paper records of customer identities and histories into digital formats. Through this and other projects, the author gained experience in agile development methodologies, testing, documentation, and enhancing coding and problem-solving skills.

1. The Departmentof Social Protection(DSP) providesfinancial andsupportive services tomillionsof
customers inIreland,assists customers withjobsearching,placementandemployability
opportunities,schemeincentivesandtraining, provides supporttofamilies,andmanages the Irish
governmentPublicService IdentityCard(PSC) program.
To supportthese operations,the Departmentmanageslarge-scale clientandpaymentmanagement
IT systemsaswell asinnovative online identity (www.mygovid.ie/www.mywelfare.ie) andweb self-
services (www.welfare.ie).
I was an Executive Officer(EO) onthe BusinessObjectModelling (BOM) Teamandmy role wasas a
.NET applicationdeveloper.Iworked mainlyin the programminglanguageof C#usingEntity
Framework,NakedObjectsFramework (www.nakedobjects.org)inMicrosoftVisual Studio
connectingto SQL databases onDSP’s strategicbusinessplatform. Itisthe responsibility of the
modellingteamtosetthe CodingDesignStandards. The modellingteamare alsoinvolvedin inthe
deliveryandmaintenance of awide range of businessrequirementsdrivensoftware applications
usinga combinationof the latesttechnologies.
The majorityof systemapplicationprojectsinthe DSPinvolvethe modellingteam, from
requirementsgatheringandanalysis, modellingreviews, toprototyping,testinganddeploymentof
projectsintoproductionenvironmentsviathe applicationof continuousintegrationandagile
methodologies. Applications have tobe adaptive because they are constantlyevolvingand
improvingdue tothe nature of the businessand continuous changesingovernmentlegislation.
I workedinthe DSP assistingwiththe additionof new functionalitytoitsBusinessObjectModel
implementation(BOMi) system.The aimisforBOMi to become the mainbusinessframework inthe
DSP throughwhichall scheme informationiscaptured,data-accesscontrolled/auditedand
paymentsissued.The majorityof customerpaymentsare paidelectronically.
Havingworkedalongside the ReleaseEnvironments Management(REM) andCentral Testing(CT)
teamsI have gainedvaluable experience. The DSPuse the agile approachas opposedto,forexample
the Waterfall Model,because systemsare constantlyevolvingandprojectsmustrepeatedlyadaptto
these changesto meetrequirements.
The main projectIhave been codingthe userinterface (UI) foristhe ‘Pre 1979 Insurance
Contributions’Project. Priorto1979, a customer’sidentity,contributionhistoryandclaimhistory
were recordedonpaperusingonlyan Insurance Number.These paperfileswere firstlyconvertedto
microfiche files forpreservation.More recently,theywerescanned andindexed ontoaserverwhere
theycan be reviewed byanofficerforcaseswhenthe insurance contributionsneed tobe recovered
whenapplyingforpensions. Ihave workedonthisprojectfromstart-to-finishandhave gained
experience in the following:
 BusinessAnalysis
 CreatingUnitTests
 DevelopingIntegrationTests
 DebuggingCode - connectionproblems,cache problems, simple errorsetc.
 Workedon QualityControl (QC) andAuditing–forexample:Whenanofficerviewsacustomer’s
details,suchactionsare audited. Underthe Data ProtectionActs 1988 and 2003 and

2. Official SecretsAct,itisobligatory fordataholders includinggovernmentbodies, toprotectall
customers’ information. Unauthorisedactionsmaycarrysanction pendingoutcome of
investigations.
 Createdmanuals, userstoriesand cataloguesforprojects using(MS) WordandExcel
 Preparedandtestedthe testdata forthe User Acceptance Testing(UAT) usersusingExcel and
Team FoundationServer(TFS).
 Experiencedthe Agile methodologyconsistingof constantcommunicationwiththe usersinthe
formof regularmeetings,conference calls,web-camchats,emailsetc.Aspart of the Agile
methodology the teamworkinSprints,withthe use of KanbanBoardsand SCRUMmeetings to
distribute workitems anddiscuss pendingtasks,identifydependencies, resources andprogress
throughthe projectefficiently.
 Createddemovideosforthe systemprototypes usingActivePresenterandshowcased the
videostobusinessendusers.
 Self-thoughtandupskilledin NakedObjectsFramework(versions7and 8) usingtraining
presentationsand usermanual documentationandappliedthe learningby codingwithNOF7
and C# via MicrosoftVisual Studio acrossmultiple projects.
 Learnedhowto run PowerShell scripts andcreate migrationscriptstotransferdatafromone
servertoanotherin SQL ManagementStudio.
 CodedinC# usingTransact-SequentialQuery Language (T-SQL),JSON and NakedObject
Framework (NOF)
 Enhancedmy communication,problemsolving ability,andcodingskills.