Profile
Iain Wilkinson is a software developer, project manager and consultant with 25 years experience of software development, design and management. He has been an IT Manager, Project Manager and Consultant in a range of industries from airlines to education. He specialises in Insurance and Banking.
AFE Consulting Ltd was incorporated in Ireland in January 2015, registered no. 556534
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Career
Iain started his career in the computing department of a civil engineering company in England in 1988. He returned to Ireland in 1990 working for the Aer Lingus IT services company Cara as a programmer and project manager.
In 1995 he joined Rabobank Ireland as Software Development Manager developing bespoke risk management and Management Information Systems for the bank.
From 1998 to 2007 he was IT Manager for UniCredit Italiano Bank (Ireland) where his responsibilities included IT infrastructure, managing third party software and developing inhouse risk and management reporting.
Since 2008 Iain has been contracted by a number of Irish and international banks and insurance companies to develop software and manage projects. In January 2015 he incorporated AFE Consulting Ltd and is its managing director.
Qualifications
- B.Sc. Computer Science (University College Cork)
- Prince 2 Practitioner (project management method)
- Higher National Certificate in Web design & Development (Dublin Institute of Design)
Iain has completed the Higher National Certificate in Web Design and Development from the Dublin Institute of Design.
Specialist Areas
- Bespoke software design and build
- Database design and management
- Data mapping and interfacing
- MS SQL Server
- MS Access and Excel
- OPICS treasury Management System
- Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
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Bespoke software design and build
AFE Consulting specialises in building software to meet its clients' needs. Unlike the usual approach to bespoke software development we don't milk the opportunity or demand highly developed specifications from our clients. We will work with you to determine the scope and complexity of the task and then deliver the very best tool we can. Where possible we recommend breaking software development projects into manageable steps so the project doesn't grow out of hand, we like to involve your staff in the design and development wherever possible, and we document our systems so they can be supported by anyone with the appropriate skills.
In every case bespoke software developed by us belongs to the client and no licence payments are required. Maintenance and support contracts are available should you need ongoing support and we're open to having those contracts for short terms while you get comfortable with the software, or longer term if you'd like us to remain inviolved.
We'll deliver user training and documentation if you wish, though we recommend that clients appoint an in-house superuser to prepare their own user guides (with our help) wherever possible as the resulting documents usually are more useful to your staff than anything we can prepare by ourselves.
Database design and management, data mapping and interfacing, SQL Server
We've worked with database tools from the early PC flat file systems like dBase and Foxpro to the enterpise standard client-server database management systems including MS SQL Server, Sybase and Oracle. Iain has extensive experience of database design, building stored procedures and user defined functions and views. He can also assist with server management, indexing, scripting (e.g. SQL Server Agent) and data mapping and interfacing between systems.
MS Access
Iain has been developing user interfaces with Microsoft Access since the earliest version and now has 20 years experience of creating MS Access front ends, report designer and VBA programming. He uses MS Access in particular where compplex reports or printed output is required as the Report Builder included in MS Access is highly configurable. Depending on the circumstances he may use MS Access to store small to medium amounts of data, or combine an MS Access user interface with SQL Server or Oracle enterprise databases to provide true user data management tools.
OPICS (Treasury Management Software by Misys)
Iain first implemented OPICS in UniCredit Italiano Ireland in 2002. Since then he's worked with OPICS systems for Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, Scotia Bank Ireland, Banca Poplare di Milano and Permanent TSB. Iain has extensive experience with both the OPICS front end and its technical configuration and database and has built MIS and Risk Reporting systems based on OPICS databases for several institutions.
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign
As part of any web design or graphics application we can create or manipulate images using the Adobe suite of software. We can create company logos or background images in any (or all) of the common formats including JPG, GIF, BMP and PNG.
Sample Projects
Fund Documentation Generator
A bespoke MS Access application that stores data relating to unit-linked funds and generates output for the client's website and policy documentation in both PDF and Excel format
Client Correspondence (Life Insurance)
Combining an MS Access user interface and SQL Server back-end this system generates daily customer correspondence for 300,000 life insurance policy holders in PDF format. Letters range from new policy Confirmations to Cancellations, Coupon Payments (unit linked) and Annual Statements.
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Fund Documentation Generator
Technology: MS Access
Purpose: To store data relating to unit-linked insurance products for a life insurance company, and to automatically format that data into several standard documents (PDF) and lists (.xls) for publication on their website.
The system provides the users with a one-click solution for issuing updated documentation, a consistent format, reuse of data where required (eg most funds are offered on more than one product but stored in the system just once), quick and easy updating of the document templates should that be required, and the option to add new templates as required. This system replaced a manual process of editing Word documents and PDFs which was very time consuming and manually intensive. The system replaces that with a one-click technique for creating the required documents.
It was designed, built, tested and documented in just six days.
Client Correspondence Generator for Life Insurance
Technology: SQL Server stored procedures, functions and views. MS Access user interface.
Combining an MS Access user interface and SQL Server back-end this system generates customer correspondence for 300,000 life insurance policy holders. The data is extracted from a mirror image of the client's primary database system on a daily basis and batches of new letters are prepared as compressed files of individual PDFs for electronic transfer to third party service providers who print and post them.
The system produces some 27 different letters for the full life-cycle of both index and unit linked products. Letters include new policy confirmations and cancellations, periodic letters such as coupon payments and annual statements, claims correspondence and bespoke letters sent to groups of customers based on product code, region or sales channel. Data is extracted from the client's primary system daily or on demand as appropriate. Letters are batched in jobs according to type and effective date, authenticated users then choose which jobs to be automatically sent to a print and post service provider and to an optical archive.
The system maintains a full audit trail of the lifecycle of each letter including processing acknowledgment files from the third party providers via SQL Server SIS. Users may monitor workflow via the user interface by running reports on throughput and job status. It includes a user management interface for the client's IT department.
This system was originally intended to just produce the Annual Statements but has been expanded over time to include every letter sent to the client's policy holders.
Regulatory Reporting System - Treasury Banking
Technology: OPICS database, Oracle views, MS Access user interface.
The system combines data from several of Scotia Bank’s Treasury Management systems (including Opics), applies user-defined parameters and adjustments, then projects cash flow and liquidity positions for all traded products. The system issues reports in the XML format required for monthly upload to the Central Bank of Ireland, plus output in Excel and PDF for daily use by Financial Control, Risk Management and Front Office.
Iain also designed and developed a bespoke system to project and report the results of scenarios under the CEBS ICAAP guidelines. This system provides a user interface by which the Risk Management department may define scenarios, change assumption weightings and modify inclusion rules in response to changes to requirements made by bank management and regulator.
It provided a second interface to allow users run those scenarios against live data and generate reports and data extracts for front office and risk management.
Project Management - IT Department Reorganisation
Banca Popolare di Milano (Ireland) chose to bring their IT services in-house when their service provider was liquidated. Iain Wilkinson managed the process including;
- Recruitment of IT staff
- Inventory and handover of equipment, licences, etc
- Configuration of IT security
- Virtualisation of servers
- Preparation of a new Business Continuity Plan and negotiation of continuity services
Clients
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Intesa Sanpaolo Life (Ireland) Ltd
An Italian life insurance company incorporated in Ireland and offering unit-linked life insurance and investment products to customers in Italy and Spain.
ISPL describes itself as;
"Intesa Sanpaolo Life is an Irish company within the Intesa Sanpaolo Vita Insurance Group. We were incorporated in 1998 to offer insurance-related investment products to Italian and international markets. We have specialised, over the years, in Unit-Linked planning capable of satisfying the most demanding customers."
Arca Vita International Ltd
An Italian life insurance company based in Dublin Arca Vita offers unit-linked life insurance and investment products via its brokers in Italy. It was incorporated in Ireland in 1999.
Scotiabank (Ireland) Limited
A subsidiary of the Canadian Scotiabank group Scotiabank Ireland is based in the IFSC and provides treasury banking services including Corporate Lending & Treasury Credit, Treasury & Money Markets, Capital Markets and Structured Products
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited
IBRC was formed when the Irish government nationalised the former Anglo Irish Bank in 2009. It is currently in liquidation but previously provided commercial, retail, wealth management and treasury banking services in Ireland and internationally, including subsuidiaries in the UK, US, Switzerland and Austria.
permanent tsb p.l.c.
A retail bank with a branch network in Ireland. Permanent tsb has an extensive mortgage and loan portfolio, plus a treasury division. Its current majority shareholder is the Irish government.