Experience

COOK Trading Ltd

• United Kingdom
• Food and Beverage Manufacturing
• 100 - 200 Employee

• IT Support Technician

  • Mar 2015 - Present

  1st/2nd line Support Technician providing system support to over 300 members of staff at various locations throughout the UK, troubleshooting either in person or remotely and working with outside vendors when required to resolve issues. Setting up and managing new system users in Active Directory and Exchange. Installation and maintenance of Group Policies. Configuring new PC's, Windows laptops, MacBook's as well as installing and updating software on existing devices. Mobile device configuration and troubleshooting for users. Implemented Office 365 to the company and continue to support users and provide training. Hardware and network installation at Cook sites. Hardware repairs and upgrades. Carrying out amendments to Cook's website. SQL database queries and amendments. Daily Symantec Backup and disaster recovery procedures. Performance maintenance, patching and upgrades of physical servers and approximately 30 virtual servers using Hyper-V. Sophos anti-virus software installation, updates and monitoring. Control and distribution of Windows updates (WSUS). Purchasing and recommendations of IT equipment and solutions and sourcing of new suppliers to provide best value. Exchange PowerShell queries and amendments. Provisioning and troubleshooting of VoIP phones. Configured and implemented a Spiceworks helpdesk system for the company. Repairs and maintenance of office printers. Creation and update of all system documentation. Member of the out of hours support rota.



WEST KENT HOUSING ASSOCIATION

• ICT Support Officer

  • Oct 2012 - Mar 2015

  1st/2nd line support officer working in mostly a Citrix Terminal Server environment. Receiving and logging of all the Associations and partner contractor’s IT and Communication queries via telephone, email or in person on our Spiceworks Helpdesk. Either resolving the query myself or escalating it to outside support all the time keeping users up to date with their query and adding concise closure notes for future reference. Thoroughly testing and implementing Capita fixes. Creating new users and security groups and setting network permissions within Active Directory and Group Policy. Creating new user mailboxes in MS Exchange and managing the permissions of them. Carrying out server updates and maintenance on our physical and approximately 50 virtual Windows servers using VMWare. Performance monitoring of all VM’s and either resolution or escalation of any issues. Daily Backup and disaster recovery procedures. Created Admin/User guides for all our various systems. Setting up of PC’s, Laptops and mobile devices and carrying out hardware and software updates and repairs to them when required. Setting up and configuring VoIP desk phones. Tracing network issues back to routers, Cisco switches or servers and resolving. Repair and maintain network printers or escalate to manufacturer support when required. Travelling around Kent setting up and networking PC’s phones and printers at our area offices.

• Administrator

  • Jun 2010 - Oct 2012

  Working within a team of 11 Call Centre Administrators my day to day duties included, dealing with the identifying and logging of responsive repairs and maintenance from residents and West Kent Officers. Scheduling operatives work using Capita OpenHousing and Opti-Time systems and producing reports. Whilst in this position I was seconded part time to the I.C.T. Department where I was tasked with assisting in the development of a mobile working system for our operatives using handheld tablets and Opti-Time's scheduling system. This system eliminates all paperwork and allows immediate updates of the systems. Opti-Time plans operatives routes and availability based on skill which makes it much simpler for call centre staff to book appointments in the best possible time slots. Stage 1 was rolled out in the middle of June 2012 successfully to Plumbers and Handymen with Stage 2 successfully rolled out at the end of August 2012 for the Gas Engineers



The Orchard Theatre (HQ Theatres)

• United Kingdom
• Entertainment Providers
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Administration Supervisor

  • Jun 2007 - Mar 2010

  Working for a 960 seat Touring Theatre owned by the Local Authority, in charge of a small team within the Theatre, my duties were to ensure that the cash income after each show was logged, checked and banked and the floats were checked and amended to their correct denominations ready for the next show. Administration and reconciliation of the office Petty Cash. Post and invoices were logged on our system and distributed to the correct department, invoices coded, authorised and sent to our accounts payable department for payment to be made. Dealing with payment and invoice queries from suppliers and producers by telephone and email. Franking and distribution of all the Theatres outgoing mail. Ordering of office stationery and cleaning supplies. Budget Monitoring. Monthly processing of staff timesheets and sending to our payroll department as spreadsheet data, created a new system to import and calculate the data.Producing and issuing of all show contracts to producers. Receipt logging and checking of returned venue contracts and chasing of non-returned contracts and Insurance certificates and arranging insurance where necessary. Produced a new database to make more efficient use of the contract and insurance information.Preparation of the final settlement figures for a production, processing of the producers invoice and arranging payment. Calculating advance payments for shows, requesting invoices and raising cheque requisitions.Sweet shop stock control and stock reconciliations. Implemented new EPOS system to increase the speed of sales and back office software to maintain stock levels and produce sales reports. Logging of Theatre maintenance request and ensuring that maintenance is carried out as and when needed. Logging and responding of complaints in a timely fashion in accordance with the theatre's procedures. I was also responsible for all additional administration and IT support duties within the theatre.



Gala Coffee and Tea Limited

• Assistant Management Accountant

  • Nov 2000 - Mar 2007

  My duties at Gala included preparing the weekly sales figures for the Management and for their parent company in Holland, completion of the monthly VAT Return and EU Intrastats, reconciling the companies sterling and foreign currency bank accounts, management of the companies energy usage, making payments by cheque, TT, Foreign Draft and BACS, assisting with Credit Control and producing the weekly cash flow, administration of the daily cash books and preparation of the daily banking, Nominal ledger reconciliation, Journal entries and corrections and the preparation and running of a 4 weekly payroll for 100 members of staff including monitoring sick absence and making DEO's. Weekly stock reconciliations and corrections on our MRP system and stock reconciliations with our outside warehouses. In addition to these duties I also provided cover for the IT Manager in his absence and assisted in the implementation of a new Finance and Manufacturing system in the company and continued to provide support for our users.



NORTH BRITISH HOUSING ASSOCIATION(SCOTLAND)LIMITED

• Construction

• Finance Officer

  • Dec 1999 - Aug 2000

  I was responsible for dealing with ‘sale of share' property sales in the South West of England. Dealing with residents and solicitors, corresponding with all parties to provide the information required for sales to complete and maintaining residents rent accounts during the transfers. Collection of rent arrears before authorising sales was also part of my job.

• Finance Assistant

  • Nov 1997 - Dec 1999

  The main duties of my job were processing purchase ledger invoices, processing urgent hand written cheques, dealing with supplier account queries over the telephone, the administration and processing of NBH's approx. 900 British Telecom LAN line accounts, processing of expense reimbursements, the preparation and processing of journals and other general administrative duties. Also whilst in this role in 1999 I assisted with the £3M development and implementation of the new Academy Housing and Masterpiece Accounting management systems which also incorporated a document management system and provided further support and training to users.



Lancashire County Council

• United Kingdom
• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Countryside Ranger (voluntary)

  • Sep 1995 - May 2000

  Voluntary Countryside Ranger weekends and Bank Holidays, patrolling upland areas, carrying out environmental projects, maintaining cleanliness of environment, providing visitor assistance and reporting incidents. Voluntary Countryside Ranger weekends and Bank Holidays, patrolling upland areas, carrying out environmental projects, maintaining cleanliness of environment, providing visitor assistance and reporting incidents.