About Rich Head Life & pension business analyst, systems analyst, business process analyst, business consultant

Rich Head is a specialist in UK Life & Pension Administration Systems and point of sale systems (illustrations, e-new business & B2C); Rich also takes a special interest in legislative changes. Rich's CV is discussed in detail here...

Rich Head is the owner of Head Business Solutions Ltd, a company providing business analysts to conduct (or assist in) project work undertaken by the UK Life & Pensions industry. To discover more about the company, please see the official Head Business Solutions Ltd web site. This web site is intended to provide information specific to Rich Head, such as his contact details, his downloadable CV and his expanded CV. If you have a requirement for professional business analysis, please do not hesitate to contact him via the contact points below. Rich is happy to discuss any requirements you may have.

Rich Head
 Head Business Solutions Ltd.    6 Beech Close, Thruxton, HANTS. SP11 8NB

Telephone: 01264 771092    Mobile: 07831 227806     Email: rich@richhead.biz

Rich's CV You are welcome to download Rich's CV.
If you are a recruitment agency, Rich asks that you contact HIM to discuss HIS availability and the specifics of the role before submitting HIS cv to your client

Please download Rich Head's CV (last updated 20/03/2011) in PDF or Word format by clicking the appropriate icon below:

Rich Head CV (PDF)       Rich Head CV (Word)

Clicking the icon above will open the CV in a new window, allowing you to save it locally.

This CV is a résumé

For more details, please see the expanded CV page.

To contact Rich to discuss sending his CV to a client, please call him on:

Tel:    01264 771092
Mob: 07831 227806

Or email: rich@richhead.biz

Rich Head's expanded CV

The CV available for download from this site is a résumé, listed below are some more details which are relevant to Rich's experience and support his CV.

Analysis:

Rich Head trained to the industry recognised, Hoskyns Commercial Systems Analysis module 4. He has worked primarily in the Life & Pensions arena (with emphasis on Pensions) and has been involved in all aspects of Business and Systems Analysis including Impact Analysis, Feasibility Studies, Requirements Definitions, Functional Design, etc. on all types of systems (mainframe to PC, administration, financial, point of sale, back office, etc.).

Rich has worked on new systems implementations, bespoke developments, system enhancements and system integration. Whilst Rich trained in formal Systems Analysis techniques, he is equally at home with informal analysis. He has produced Requirement Definition documents for many customers and has used a variety of techniques to obtain the business requirements ranging from Structured Brainstorming sessions, workshops, one-to-one interviews and informal techniques.

Head Business Solutions Ltd have a standard format for their requirements definition document, but they are happy to conform to their customer's own standards should the customer desire. Rich considers himself knowledgeable in many, and expert in some, of the UK's Life & Pensions administration systems; from packages to bespoke systems and from mainframe to thin client.

Design:

Rich Head is technically capable and he is happy to work 'behind the scenes' to obtain solutions to requirements. Rich has many years' experience of Data Modelling and has modelled both logical and physical data and normalised the model to the third normal form.

Rich has a thorough knowledge of Data Flow Diagrams and has used them on numerous occasions in the past, including the production of Data Flow Diagrams from the Context diagram down to Level 4 diagrams with supporting process descriptions and Data Dictionary.

An essential tool in understanding Business Processes, he has used Process Modelling (BPMN) extensively to support Functional Design documentation; and is also expert in use case documents and user stories. The documents are used to represent both the current system and the proposed system.

Reviews:

Rich Head is experienced and competent to chair any structured reviews of any IT development documentation. A structured review requires the input of the document's author, the business users, the IT community and is normally chaired and scribed by two 'independent persons'. A structured review is designed to identify errors or gaps in the document, not to correct these errors or gaps (that remains the remit of the document's author - outside of the review).

Rich is also experienced in peer reviews (both sides, reviewee and reviewer); whilst less formal, but no less important, Rich has participated in many peer reviews throughout his time within the industry. The purpose of the peer review is similar to that of a formal review, although primarily used to ensure adherence to IT standards (whereas the formal review is designed to ensure the proposed change will work to the customer's needs).

Project Management:

Rich Head has experience of project planning to a variety of customer's standards. Most are based around a formal system development life cycle (often Initiation, Definition, Authorisation, Execution & Closure). Rich is proficient in the current project planning (and control) tools (e.g. Project Manager's Workbench & MS-Project). Rich has years of experience of project and resource planning with all plans produced having dependencies defined and the critical path highlighted.

Rich has used the above tools to control projects, incorporating the time expended into the plans and re-planning, re-projecting based upon the critical path. Rich has spent many years in these roles and has chaired many progress meetings and has experience of reporting project progress and issues to our customers (to Board level).

Rich has also undertaken the leadership of various projects (of differing sizes, from small enhancements to one system to large statutory changes to many systems at once) and has also performed the function of Team Manager (reporting to the Project Manager/Director) on several occasions, again with a variety of team dynamics, from teams of Analysts, to mixed teams of Analysts, Developers, Testers and Customers.

Test Management:

Rich Head has many years of experience of planning for the testing of IT developments. Rich is a firm believer in the concept of the "V" model and encourages the creation of a Master Test Plan as early in the development life-cycle as possible; he is expertised in the creation of the Master Test Plan, the System Test Plan, the Test Criteria, Test Data Requirements and Expected Results.

Rich has been involved in many projects both as a Test Analyst and as a Test Manager, ranging from the testing of small enhancements to existing systems, through the implementation of new systems to large scale test projects (such as Year2K). Rich has worked with a variety of test tools (some bespoke and some industry standards), including (but not exclusive to): QA Director, QA Run, Cyrano Robot, Winrunner, etc. and has been involved in all types of tests and can offer consultation on System Testing, Regression Testing, Parallel Testing, Unit Testing and User Acceptance Testing.

Rich also has experience of Automated Testing, using some of the test tools mentioned above and has successfully created test harnesses, and test scripts that can take data from data files and replay tests and perform success criteria checks whilst running unattended. Rich has, on several occasions, developed incident (also known as errors/bugs/defects) logging tools (written in MS-Access) that have been adopted and developed by our customers.

Knowledge:

Rich has worked on many different types of projects and programmes, embracing:

  • Business knowledge:
    • New product developments
    • New business processing (full pre and post sale lifecycle)
    • Crystallisations (protection from LTA, calculation of PCLS & HMRC income values)
    • Accounting (general ledger, policy and fund)
    • Investments, disinvestments and fund trading (current and forward priced)
    • IFA/distributor management (registration for product illustration, commission statements and payments)
    • Reporting (MI, HMRC, FSA, TPR)
    • Client reporting/documentation (policy schedules, valuation statements, personal benefit statements)
    • SIPP administration, including investments
    • Unitised processing including with-profits
    • Income withdrawal (USP, ASP & flexible annuity); including with guaranteed income
    • Pensions premium indexing
    • WOC claim processing
    • Premium scheduling, generation and accounting
    • (Pre A-Day) Inland revenue reporting
    • DWP reporting, payment, recovery, acknowledgement and non-payment processing
    • Servicing functionality (premium holiday, wind-backs, partial withdrawals, etc.)
    • Claims and terminations (death, CFI, NTU, retirements, transfers-out, etc.)
    • Valuation accounting (actuarial interface)
    • Policy based processing (background and batch)
    • Various batch processes (regular premiums/contributions, income payments, charges, commission)
    • Web applications and illustrations
    • Web services
  • System knowledge:
    • BaNCS (TCS)
    • Insight Administration System (Redland)
    • Elixir (Mastek)
    • Amarta  (Liberata)
    • AdminSys (PPML)
    • LISA (Wealth Management Systems)
    • Embassy (Winterthur)
    • LIFE (Paxus)
    • CAPSIL
    • UNISURE Framework
  • Product knowledge:
    • Pensions (accumulation, unsecured and secured pensions including variable annuities)
    • Life products (term assurance, whole of life, unit linked, with and without profit)
    • Investment bond
  • Methodology knowledge:
    • Method 1 Systems Design Methodology
    • LBMS Process Engineer
    • LBMS Systems Engineer
    • Various project management methodologies as used by the various clients
  • Software knowledge:
    • SQL Server 2008 (current)
    • MS-Office Suite 2010 (current)
    • MS-Visio 2010 (current)
    • MS-Project 2010 (current)
    • MS-Access / VBA 2007
    • XML Spy
    • ORIGO Standards
  • Mainframe knowledge:
    • MVS: IBM TSO, CLIST, REXX, ISPF Panels, DF Sort, FILEAID, SDSF, JCL, etc. (current)
    • Unisys: Unisys interactive, ERGO, etc.
  • Formal training:
    • Systems Engineer Workplace Reporting Workshop
    • ABT - Project Managers Workbench for Windows
    • LBMS Structured Techniques
    • LBMS Systems Engineer
    • Cardinal - LINC Development Assistant (LDAIII)
    • Cardinal - Introduction to LINC
    • Cardinal - Introduction to Express
    • Hoskyns - Commercial Systems Analysis (Modules 1 to 4)
    • Hoskyns - Developing Leadership Skills
    • Hoskyns - Method 1
    • Hoskyns - Project Leading
    • Hoskyns - Managing People
    • Hoskyns - Professional Project Management
    • TSB - Interpersonal Skills
    • TSB - Objective Based Appraisals
    • TSB - Improving Staff Performance (Coaching)
    • TSB - Total Quality Management
    • TSB - Project Management Methodology
    • MSP - Data Manager
    • MSP - Data Dictionary

 

Past clients of Rich Head

Below are a some testimonials from past clients that Rich has worked for, or with.

Service Delivery Manager at AXA Wealth (managed Rich): "Rich is an experienced Business Analyst who can work either in a pure business or IT role. He has excellent knowledge of the life and pensions industry and I found him a very reliable and competent member of any team I was involved with. He requires little direct management and is able to take on complex activities. I would gladly employ or work with him on a future suitable project."

Business Analyst at Capita Life & Pensions (worked with Rich): "Richard is a thorough and professional BA who is an asset to any team. He has a wealth of business knowledge and experience, is always supportive of colleagues and can be relied upon to deliver. I would welcome the opportunity to work with him again in the future."

Test Analyst at PPML (worked with Rich): "I would whole heartedly recommend Rich to any employer. Through working with him on a number of projects now, I have always found him to be both thorough and passionate about his work. On a number of occasions, he has been the key in finding (and driving forward) solutions to a problem that would have caused a major stumbling block. His knowledge of the Pensions industry is very respected, and this is reflected in the number of times he has been headhunted to go back to companies where he has worked previously. I hope the opportunity arises to work with him again."

Recruitment Consultant at Highams (hired Rich): "Richard is an experienced Life and Pensions Business Analyst who has an excellent business knowledge and has been re-employed a number of times by our clients when projects need reliable delivery to high standards. We have always received excellent references for Richard's work and highly recommend him."

Project Manager at Lloyds TSB (managed Rich): "Rich was one of those really professional and consciencious people who actually knew what testing was about. very pragmatic and highly valued. A pleasure to work with you"

Legal TERMS OF BUSINESS

As an employee of Head Business Solutions Ltd, the terms of business for Rich Head are the same as those found on our official Head Business Solutions Ltd web site. Rich Head, prefers to work to the following terms and conditions, last updated 14/07/2007, but maintains flexibility to suit specific needs of our clients:

All references below to the consultant refer (in this instance) to Rich Head, all references to the company refer to Head Business Solutions Ltd and all references to the customer refer to any client of Head Business Solutions Ltd.

Brief: The items documented below represent the current terms and conditions of business for the consultant. These terms and conditions specify what is expected from both the customer and the consultant during any period of consultation. These terms and conditions are intended to clarify the relationship between the consultant and the customer. Whenever these terms and conditions change a notice will be posted on the this web site.
Consultants: Due to the nature of the business conducted by the company, it may not be able to guarantee that a specific consultant will be available to fulfil any particular consultancy position. The company will always ensure, however, that any consultant provided would have all the necessary skills to complete any assignment to the very high standard that the company and the customer demand. If, at any stage during the consultancy, the customer is not happy with any consultant provided, then, after a discussion to ascertain the area of dissatisfaction, the company will provide a consultant who has the skills to more closely fit the customer's requirements.
Contract Duration: The duration period of any contract is merely the term over which the clauses of the contract remain in force. By accepting any period of contract, the consultant does not commit any consultancy resources to working for the customer exclusively, nor does the company make any commitment to provide the consultant for any set number of hours per day, or number of days per week. The company does, however, commit to providing the required consultancy in order to successfully complete any assignment on time, usually on a professional working day basis. Any period of time exceeding 40 hours per week, however, is at the sole discretion of the consultant.
Billing and Payment: The company will only issue an invoice after consultancy has been provided, typically invoices will be issued monthly in arrears (unless agreed otherwise). The amount billed will depend upon the agreed price of consultancy and the amount of consultancy provided during that period. If no consultancy has been provided, then no invoices will be issued. If, for internal control purposes, the company require weekly timesheets; the consultant's timesheets will be submitted with invoices. The company require the customer to authorise any timesheet within 2 working days. If there is ever a dispute with a timesheet (to date there has never been a dispute), then the company will be very happy to discuss this with the customer. If for any reason a timesheet is not authorised and the issue has not been resolved then the company will suspend any existing consultancy until the issue is resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Payment on submission of an authorised timesheet and invoice is expected within 10 working days.
Working Conditions: Whilst working on-site the customer must provide a safe and healthy working environment. The consultant should be allocated sufficient desk space to work comfortably and should be provided with sufficient power outlets and network connections for any PC equipment the consultant is expected to bring. The company acknowledges that, for security reasons, the customer may not wish to allow the connection of the company's equipment to the customer's networks. In such as case the customer is to provide adequate equipment to allow the consultancy to take place.
Dress Code: The company prefer to operate a dress code of "business casual" at all times, having found this the best way to break down barriers between the customer and the consultant. Formal business attire (suit) will only be used on an exceptional basis where the company or the consultant believe this to be appropriate, typically if external customer and/or sales facing.
End Customer's Consultancy & Development Standards: The company works to the very highest standards. If, however, the customer has their own set of standards for consultancy or development, the consultant will operate to these standards. If the consultant finds that the customer's standards would result in sub-standard consultancy, then the consultant will either request to work to the company's own standards, or may refuse to continue the assignment. Of course, should this situation ever arise the company will be happy to work with the customer to improve their standards. Although the company pride itself on being very flexible, in terms of the standards to which the consultant will conform when performing consultancy, if the company consider this would lead to providing a sub-standard service to the customer, then the company would find this unacceptable. The company (and the consultant) place very high emphasis on the quality and standard of work that the consultant provides for the customer, and the company will not allow the consultant to compromise this very high quality standard of work.