Work Portfolio

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

Account Management

An application currently existed that allowed members to select how they wanted their Explanation of Benefits (EOBs) delivered: either by e-mail or by paper. An extension was required to this application to also allow for other electronic communication such as newsletters. Working with another developer who wrote the backend web service used to store the members’ options in a database, I developed a front end addition to my previous password management application that added the EOB functionality, replacing the previous EOB application entirely.

Health Benchmarks Single Sign-on

I developed a single sign on system between our website and Health Benchmarks Inc (HBI) which allowed provides to seamlessly transition from our website to HBI’s. It utilized SSL connections, security tokens, AJAX calls for a better customer experience due to load times and a web service in Java that would be accessed by a .NET client. The single sign-on application used an iframe to help HBI’s site integrate seamlessly into our own without the need of product branding on their end or needing to open the application in a new window. The application is part of the current BlueCross transparency initiative.

Password Management

I developed a new account management application written in Java to replace a previous set of ASP scripts. The application allows for users on the website to change their existing password and reset forgotten passwords and unlock accounts.

Security Manager Upgrade

The primary security manager on our web servers was undergoing an upgrade. I assisted system administrators in redesigning our applications to work with the new version of the security manager and developed a Java application that would generate all the settings and encrypted values used to connect to secure servers.

Provider Account Manager

A project I inherited from a developer who had left the company was an account manager for providers written in Java. It replaced a previous ASP/VB6 application on the main website. I continued development on the application, bug tested it, added modifications to it and eventually placed it into production. I also updated the web service it used as a backend.

BluePort / ActiveDirectory Group Builder

In preparation for moving to a new Intranet website called BluePort that was based on the IBM Portal architecture, I assisted a system administrator by developing a Java application that connected to an Active Directory server and would create groups for BluePort communities based on a set of rules. The rules were dynamic allowing multiple nested configuration files, inclusive rules and exclusionary rules.

Teamsite

I’ve been sent to Interwoven Teamsite training for both development on and administration of a TeamSite server. Teamsite is used for content management on our development and production websites. I serve as one of two system administrators for our Teamsite server.

Riverbend Government Benefits Website Redesign

For the Riverbend website redesign, I designed two Java WebSphere applications: Training Request and MDS Calendar. In addition, I inherited, examined and completed several projects from another developer who took a leave of absence. The applications included HCPC Codes, Reason Code and Medi-Letters. I finished all the applications and added the Struts Tiles Plug-in so the applications would match the website theme provided by our web content design team. I supported the application after they went into production. These were the first production applications I wrote for the e-Bussiness team at BlueCross BlueShield.

Tennessee Valley Authority

Desktop System Specialist

While at TVA, I worked in the Information Technology Service center with a team of interns and seniors to provide desktop support to TVA employees, contractors and outside vendors throughout the Tennessee Valley. We used HP Service Desk software for problem tracking and documentation.

TigerTranz

TigerTranz provides services to merchants including credit card and check processing. While employed there, I maintain servers and desktop computers, wrote software to generate reports and compile check databases, drafted documentation for procedures and maintained network security. The following is a list of some of the projects I designed and implemented:

Secure Website

The original company website was designed by an independent contractor before my arrival. It contained content, layout and graphics. I took the existing framework and added a secure login and a framework for designing complex modules for both employees and clients using a unified web interface. The site was written in PHP and used a MySQL and LDAP backend.

Comet – Commission Report Generator

Come is designed to handle data from various revenue sources and calculate the net profit (based on income and expenses) and apply the appropriate percentages to sales representatives for their commissions. The reports are generated on the secure website using PHP5 and the data entry front end is written in Java using JDBC to interact with a MySQL backend. Data is also imported into the MySQL database from a variety of sources including Microsoft Access Databases (using mdb-tools), Coma Separated Value files and flat files.

Call Center / Debt Collection Computers

Based upon previous work experience as a lab administrator, I designed a Linux install specifically for call center terminals. Based on Fedora Core 4, the machines were secured so that debt collectors could only access the recovery software and a check imaging server via the FluxBox window manager. The machines were setup with firewalls, automatic security updates and could be installed using a custom unattended installation CD, allowing a new machine to be added in less than half an hour. Updates to existing machines could be pushed out using Secure Shell (SSH) and distributed public keys.

Nomix Check Imaging Server

The check imaging server provided by the creators of the debt recovery software was designed for Windows and, although it did work in a windows emulator in Linux, it was prone to constantly crashing and was riddled with memory violations. I reverse engineered the windows application using packet sniffers and created an image server written in Java called Nomix. It provides the same functionality plus some added functionality allowing users to rotate and zoom arbitrarily on check images.

Time Clock

I created a simple time clock for all hourly employees which was based on how long a user was logged into the debt recovery software. Since the software only allowed for a user to be logged in once and used a standard Linux shell account, I was able to read data directly from the /var/log/wtmp file to create an accurate time clock based in PHP with a web interface.

XDAP – Check Verification Generator

Although we maintain a very large database of bad checks, our clients only require regular updates of checks that have been added and deleted from the database on a daily basis. XDAP is written in PHP5 and MySQL. It generates check update files for our merchants and is modular allowing it to have different plug-ins for clients that require the data in a different format or based off a different primary key.

Centralized Authentication

When I first came to TigerTranz, the company was using several different authentication mechanisms and password databases. I migrated the company to OpenLDAP for authentication as well as designing a system that allowed a user to simultaneously change their password both LDAP and older legacy systems using a convenient web interface. I also established a Domain for all Windows XP Professional computers using OpenLDAP and Samba3 adding security and roaming profiles to the network.

TTU Computer Science Department

While at Tennessee Tech, I was given the opportunity to administer high performance Linux lab. It consisted of twenty-seven dual Pentium III computers as well as a department server and web server. I maintained these systems, ran security updates, worked lab hours, helped other students with Linux projects for classes and handled time sheets for other lab workers.