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Author (of AZMAT System)
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If you are interested in using AZMAT System for commercial use and would like a presentation arranged via the internet or if in London, in person, or have any comment please either use the form on the Comment page or contact us via e-mail azmat@azmat.com  with the words "AZMAT System" in the Subject field (entered automatically if this e-mail link is used) and please do not send any file attachments.  

Micro Minerva Consultants was originally formed as a partnership in November 1983 and was incorporated into a private limited company on 8 May 1990.  The author of AZMAT System, representing Micro Minerva Consultants, has over a period of 17 years designed and developed 34 major PC financial systems including 26 using Microsoft Excel for various international organisations such as: Goldman Sachs International; HSBC Midland (Midland Global Markets); Guinness Peat Aviation; and London Stock Exchange. Some of these systems are still being used round-the-clock in the dealing rooms of the financial markets of New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and many other cities in Europe, Asia and the Far East. The author, who has a BA degree from the Open University in the United Kingdom, has also designed and developed various computer courses and taught more than 500 people in four adult-education institutes in London on a part-time basis, over a period of two academic years.

AZMAT System represents the essence of the author's 17 years’ specialist knowledge and experience. The practical design and the techniques used in the development of AZMAT System have all been very carefully thought out at each and every stage of the development.

The author has designed and developed quite sophisticated, user-friendly, menu-driven and powerful multi-user systems incorporating full security features, audit-trail and password controls at various levels, for dealers and sales personnel in the Capital Markets of various international organisations. For example:
*   Dealing-room systems for Eurobonds; Stocks and Warrants
 *   Risk Management and Management Accounts
 *   Traded Options and Technical Analysis
 *   Aircraft Lease Pricing and Future Pricing

 The author would like to give some practical examples from his 17 years' work experience in the computing field.  However, in order to protect confidentiality of the organisations concerned, no names will be mentioned anywhere.  Furthermore, he would like to emphasize that the few organisations' names mentioned elsewhere on this Web site are not the only organisations where he has worked.  He has also worked as Excel Consultant at several other organisations, including other international investment banks and in large local government offices. 

He has developed fast, efficient and real-life working solutions to whatever problems his clients faced.  The majority of those clients were large multi-national organisations.  In most cases they had already tried to find an acceptable working solution themselves, using internal staff, before engaging him on the project.  In several cases, the clients had originally thought the solution would be temporary.  However in almost every case, his clients found the systems very useful, efficient and extremely cost-effective.  For example:

1.  After he completed a 'temporary' project in four and a half months for a company, they decided not to proceed with their own planned £500,000 permanent project any more.  They realised that the 'temporary' practical solution developed by him was providing 90% of what they had wanted from their planned project; they saw no reason to spend that large amount of money for the extra 10% functionality. 

2.  After he completed a 'temporary' project over a period of 18 months without any written program specification, for another company, they decided not to proceed with their own planned £9 million permanent project any more.  They realised that the 'temporary' practical solution developed by him was adequate for their immediate needs; there may have been other reasons, but the existence of his working and highly popular system was certainly one of the main reasons.  Instead, they decided to add on more functions to the 'temporary' system developed by him. 

The first working version of his 'temporary' project was ready after five months.   The second version after 12 months and the final version after 18 months.  It is worth pointing out that the system was in full use after the first version was complete.  The second and third versions involved the addition of more and more functionality to the basic system as the user base grew from 20 to more than 200, in almost every branch of that company all over the world.   Whenever staff travelled on business, they wanted the latest version of the system on their portable computer - they just couldn't live without it! 

3.  That kind of user appreciation and loyalty simply can not be bought; it is earned by hard work and by giving users what they want.  It is the system developer's job to anticipate and visualise what the users would want from a system, and then develop a system that is capable of doing just that. 

When designing a system, the author has always found it is easier to understand users' requirements by putting himself in a typical user's position and by imagining what could happen in almost every conceivable situation.   He then proceeded with the development of the system and ensured that all those ideas were incorporated within the system. 

He is generally asked to commence work as Excel Consultant on a project when the clients realise that they really do need external help with the project.  Since the project really should have been completed several months ago, time becomes a precious commodity as any further delay directly translates into several hundred thousand pounds loss, mostly.  Consequently, in order to ensure that the project is completed as soon as it is physically possible, the author is asked to work long hours.  Even on new projects, development time is crucial; the company can generate extra profits if the new system is available as soon as possible. 

Whenever discussing a new project with a client, the author quickly assesses various aspects of the project in his head.  If he can do the project, he convinces the client that he can provide the answer to their problems; he has plenty of previous working solutions to back up his claim.  He never promises more than he can deliver and does not mince his words.  While developing a system, he has not yet come across a problem which he could not solve in Excel. 

However, he expects complete control of the technical aspects of the project; his view is simply that he is being hired for his technical expertise and his ability to provide a working system.  Once he begins work on a project, the clients are rest assured that the project will be completed as soon as possible.  However, he does not compromise the accuracy or any technical aspects of the system design just to complete the project quickly.  He also expects complete trust from the client; he has never once betrayed that trust.  On most projects he has worked regularly 12 to 15 hours per day, seven days a week, for several weeks at a time.  In order to work such long hours, you have to be both physically fit and mentally alert; it requires strict discipline affecting your whole way of life, and strict management of your time. 

4.  In one instance he worked 12 to 15 hours per day, seven days a week for seven successive weeks - developing very detailed risk management systems for an organisation with offices all over the world.  The senior management of that company really needed the systems as soon as it was physically possible. 

Before he started work on that project, he was told that the company had a computer system which daily produced about 200 mm thick printed report of the company's dealing position as late as 4.30p.m. the following day.  Then someone had to look through that huge printed report to extract the required information manually and then present it to the senior management.  Thus the company was always one whole day behind with the dealing positions; a situation that could be very costly in turbulent markets. 

After asking a few questions about their business, he told them 15 minutes later that he could develop a system which would provide the company's dealing positions which would be only 30 seconds late.  He envisaged that that report would be constantly updated on the computer screens of senior management as the day went by.  After seven weeks' almost non-stop work his system reported figures for dealing positions that were only 20 seconds late; that was a huge improvement on their old system which was giving them information almost a whole day late.  The new system meant that the company could take hedging positions, as and when required. 

5.  At another company there was a system developed by internal staff, which produced a detailed daily report that took 18 minutes.  The senior management were fairly concerned about the time the report was taking; in the financial field 18 minutes can make a difference between profit and loss amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds.  The senior manager was under great pressure to find a solution quickly. 

The author was working on a different project at the time but had complete autonomy as far as work was concerned.  He wanted to do what he could to help the senior manager.   The author decided to look at the programming code for that report, and within 15 minutes came up with a solution that he estimated would cut the report time from 18 minutes to 3 minutes.  He also estimated the development time for his new report program would be about two 10-hour days.  For several years that company had been using that report and it had always taken 18 minutes. 

When the author approached the senior manager and told him that he (the author) could write a program that would produce the same report in 3 minutes, there was total disbelief.  That program was being used in all the offices of that company all over the world for several years and it had always taken 18 minutes.  Although the senior manager was aware of the author's experience, he wanted to know in detail how the author could write a program in two 10-hour days that would produce their report in just 3 minutes.  When the author explained, the senior manager agreed that yes it was feasible and gave the go-ahead for the work.  The author was going to employ techniques and ideas which he had developed himself and perfected over the years.  

That conversation took place late on a Friday afternoon; at that time he had no plans to work that weekend.  The author did work on both Saturday and Sunday; thus the programming work for that report did not interfere with his main project.  On Monday morning he had the report program ready; the new report took 2 minutes and 45 seconds. 

6.  At the same company there was another system developed by internal staff, which produced a daily calculation report for dealers that took 3 minutes after the prices were entered by the dealers.  Until that calculation report was produced in the morning, the dealers could not begin trading.  

The dealers obviously would have liked a faster system but as they had not known any other system, they accepted it as a fact of life that the calculation report always took 3 minutes.  The author examined what they were trying to achieve, looked at what they were doing and suggested that he could do better.  The senior manager had no doubts whatsoever in the author's ability to produce fast and really efficient working systems, after his earlier work where he cut the report time from 18 minutes to under 3 minutes. 

It was another weekend's work.  The senior manager was also very interested and curious.  He couldn't wait till Monday morning and actually came on Sunday evening to see how the work was progressing.  It must be stressed that the working relationship was such that the manager was not checking to see whether the author was working; there was mutual respect and total trust between them.  The author simply would not work anywhere if he even suspected that the trust was not there. 

The author was in the middle of testing the new program.  He 'ran' the new report program and the senior manager exclaimed that there must be something wrong as he had never seen that report printed so fast in his life before!  The author had designed and developed the new system that took 7 seconds, instead of 3 minutes, to prepare the calculation report.  The dealers and of course the senior management were all very happy indeed; the new system enabled the dealers of that company to start trading just 7 seconds after they had entered their prices.   Being ahead almost 3 minutes in the hectic financial markets, when competing with rival dealers all over the world, can make a huge difference to the profitability of a company. 

7.  At another company there was a team of highly educated personnel; two people had 1st class MSc in Mathematics, another two had PhD degrees and the fifth person had two PhD degrees.  That team had developed a very good set of calculation routines (programs) in 'C' programming language over a period of several years.  However, less than half a dozen dealers in the London office of that company could make use of those calculation routines. 

That was because the users also had to be highly educated in order to understand the relevant calculations, and a great deal of technical knowledge was also required before they could use those routines in their spreadsheet models.   Furthermore, once such spreadsheet models were constructed by such users, in their absence nobody else could make use of those spreadsheet models; only the person who had constructed a particular spreadsheet model knew how to use that model.  Also, certain calculations were carried out according to each person's knowledge and ability to transfer that knowledge into a spreadsheet model.  Thus the company did not have a uniform method of calculations in spreadsheet models. 

The author joined that team and began his work on a system that people of any ability could use, and one that would make use of the existing calculation routines.  There was no written program specification and he had to use his own initiative and imagination.  In the financial field as anywhere else, such a situation is fairly common; a system developer can not simply rely on the users to tell him or her what the system should do.  The users might describe in very broad terms what they want, but a good system requires a lot more than that; it is like an iceberg - there is a lot of background design and programming work which is necessary but is usually not seen by the users.  The systems which fail are usually the ones which do not take care of this background work in both system design and programming areas. 

The author, using his own method of working, did eventually provide the users with a system that was fast, flexible and user-friendly.  He designed and developed the system which used the original team's calculation routines but one that could be used by almost anyone with minimal knowledge of spreadsheets.  The system did not require from the user knowledge of how calculations were carried out.  The system also ensured that the company had a uniform method for all spreadsheet calculations.  When finished, his system was being used by several hundred people in that company all over the world. 

This practical example shows that the author managed to do what the original team of highly qualified personnel clearly could not, over a period of several years.  Thus, you do not need to have a PhD degree to develop a good financial system.  Indeed, if you do have a PhD degree it is not alone sufficient to enable you to develop a financial system.  You do need other skills, and not just programming skills either. 

8.  The author started work at another company; the problems which the company faced were explained to him in about 25 minutes.  The company had a very large spreadsheet calculation model developed by dealers themselves over a period of several years.  That spreadsheet model was the focus of their working day as it was used round-the-clock in London, New York and Tokyo; the company's global business had become totally dependent on that one exceptionally large spreadsheet calculation model.  There were also some macro programs written. 

However, the spreadsheet had become so large that the calculation time had become unacceptable and although the spreadsheet program could in theory handle much larger spreadsheets, in practice that spreadsheet was testing the limits of both the operating system and the spreadsheet program.  What brought matters to a head was the fact that the company was going to employ more dealers in less than a month and their existing spreadsheet calculation model could not cope with any more dealers.  As the new dealers' jobs were very highly paid, the company simply could not have a situation whereby those dealers were unable to work.  The author was hired at that stage to provide a working solution.  It was another typical project for the author though; he was quite used to working under pressure.  What made it more challenging and interesting for him, was the fact that the system had to be developed while it was being used round-the-clock in the financial markets of London, New York and Tokyo.  Normally a system is developed and tested in the background, before it is installed on the users' computers.  The author did not have that luxury in that project; it really was a very challenging project. 

As deals worth millions of dollars were being carried out using that spreadsheet calculation model, everybody had become almost afraid of (doing something wrong to) that spreadsheet.  For example, the author spotted a very obvious mistake which he pointed out to them.  He was told that they were aware of the mistake, for the past 18 months, but nobody felt confident enough to do anything about it; they were really afraid that they might get the blame if something unexpected happened to the spreadsheet, as a result of their effort.  So they all worked allowing for that mistake; that spreadsheet certainly had an aura about it.  The author later corrected the mistake in a few minutes while the system was being used.  

The author began work and analysed the client's spreadsheet calculation model for the very first time.  Within two hours he came up with 3 possible solutions and explained to the client pros and cons of each of his three solutions.  He also mentioned which of the three was his preferred solution and why, but left the final decision up to the client.  The client agreed with the author's choice.  The author designed and developed a spreadsheet calculation model which was half the size of the original spreadsheet but could handle twice the number of bonds.   It could also calculate in half the original time.  Thus the new spreadsheet calculation model was 4 times more efficient than the original and it could cope with any number of dealers. 

The author then began work on program code.   Originally, there were more than a dozen program routines which had to be carried out by the users in a certain order and at specific times during their working day.   The author could see how confusing it was for the users.  If a single program was either missed or 'run' at the wrong time it really messed up quite a few things, since millions of dollars worth of business was being carried out.  The original system also depended heavily on the presence, knowledge and experience of certain individuals. 

The author observed the users and their original system, and began to work on the design and development of a new simple system.  He quietly began programming work to simplify the whole working procedure.  His final solution had only 3 commands; two in the morning and one at the end of each working day.   The new system could be used by any user confidently; the dealers really were very pleased with it.  The author had taken the complexity of their original system, out of their daily working life and ensured that his programming code and spreadsheet design took care of it.  Furthermore, as the original system was in use for several years the dealers had no idea that their complex system could be replaced by a system which was so simple to use.  The new system was immediately put into use in London, New York and Tokyo dealing rooms of that company.  

9.  AZMAT System has been designed and developed by the author, working 12 to 15 hours per day, seven days a week, for nearly three and a half calendar years. This is equivalent to more than eight man-years' work.  At various stages during its development he showed AZMAT System to practising dealers and other personnel working at several international financial institutions, and incorporated their comments, suggestions, feedback and 'wish-lists'.  Thus AZMAT System represents, at almost every level, what a typical user would want in such a system. 



Early Career 
The author studied Civil Engineering initially and while working full-time as a Civil Engineer, he began studying part-time with the Open University in February 1979.  On a week's summer school as part of the Technology foundation course, he was introduced to computer programming - the actual computing element of that initial course was no more than a few hours.   However he became so fascinated with computers and computer programming that he began to spend all his free time in the computer centre - writing and testing various programs till 1a.m. almost every day.  That fascination has lasted to date. 

In December 1981, the author got his BA degree from the Open University in UK where he studied mainly Mathematics and Computer Science subjects.  Then in May 1982, he changed his career from Civil Engineering to Information Technology. Within Information Technology he has specialised in financial systems design and development. He has also designed and taught various courses in computing and computers to over 500 people, at four Adult Education Institutes in London, on a part-time basis over a period of two academic years. He has 17 years' work experience in Information Technology, including 14 years in financial systems design and development.



If you are interested in using AZMAT System for commercial use and would like a presentation arranged via the internet or if in London, in person, or have any comment please either use the form on the Comment page or contact us via e-mail azmat@azmat.com  with the words "AZMAT System" in the Subject field (entered automatically if this e-mail link is used) and please do not send any file attachments.  


To be continued . . . .



Author 
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