Professional
Dr Andre Oboler holds a PhD from Lancaster University and Bachelors and first class Honours degrees from Monash University. In 2007-2008 he completed a Post Doctoral Fellowship in Political Science at Bar-Ilan Univrsity in Israel. He has worked in the Higher Education sector since 2001 in both Australia and the UK. In addition to his experience he completed teacher training (stage 1 certificate) with the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching at Lancaster University.
Dr Oboler has published a number of academic articles in the fields of computer science, software engineering, empirical research, knowledge management, and the internet. He is a member of the IEEE and currently serves as the Chair of the Computer Society Chapter of the Victorian section of the IEEE. He also has experience with management and governance through a number of non-technology related activities.
Management & Governance
- Chair, IEEE Computer Society Chapter of the IEEE Victorian section, 2010-present
- Vice Chair, IEEE Computer Society Chapter of the IEEE Victorian section, 2009
- Board of Directors, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (Registered charity 1062746 and SC037786), 2004-2006
- Management subcommittee and charity trustee, National Postgraduate Committee (Registered charity SC033368), 2004-6, 2007-2008
- Management Committee and charity trustee, Lancaster University Chaplaincy Centre (Registered charity 500891)
- Workshop Chair The First International Workshop on Improving Research Productivity in Computing, 2007
- Member of the Court, University of Lancaster, 2004, 2005
- Member of the Senate, University of Lancaster, 2003-2004
- Chair of the Steering Group, Lancaster District Diversity Festival, 2004
- Lancaster University Students' Union Council, 2003-2005
- Member of the Faculty Board, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, 2002
- Director of SARWare - (an IT start-up), 2002-2003
More on the community involvement page
Major projects include CaMML, SARBayes, USECSR, SERE, Zionism On The Web, and a year working in both empirical research and web technology for NGO Monitor in Jerusalem. Descriptions of these and other projects follow.
Work History (non-academic)
Company: NGO Monitor
Answering to: The Executive Director and the CEORole: One year fellowship which included research, development and system administration.
This position at a Jerusalem based NGO combined an empirical research role (examining third sector accuracy and accountability) with system administration, software development, and the involvement in the hiring, training and supervision of a new webmaster. The role included planning the IT infrastructure needed for a movement to a new premises, administration of the organisation's web server and various online resources, and the development of a sophisticated relevance system connected to the existing custom build PHP content management system. Th relevance system was optimized to improve SEO in addition to aiding users find useful information. Various improvements to the website were also developed including a custom built RSS feeds, search facilities, and management reporting facilities.
Company: Lancaster University (Graduate College)
Answering to: Contract job, signed off by the Graduate College PrincipleRole: Database Design, Interface design, Construction, Support
Originally constructed in 2003 to automate a manual system of building management, this tool dramatically improved efficiency and allowed the same number of staff to cope with 250% growth in the number of rooms and students they had to manage. The system was designed to specifications gathered from the users (college porters) followed by an extensive interface redesign over a number of months to improve user efficiency and reduce the learning curve for users with little or no IT skills. The system is still in use and been continually running for 3.5 years with only minimal changes (resulting from a changing environment). The system manages a central mail collection point (including creating and clearing lists for registered post and packages) along with the standard items such as rooms key management, forwarding addresses and movement of residents between rooms.
Company: Cummins Engine Company
Answering to: The Quality Assurance ManagerRole: Analysis, Design and Construction
A database system in VB for monitoring and assisting with the calibration of machinery. The system was completed under a very tight schedule and released on time to over 60 workshops around Australia.
Company: Monash Unicom
Answering to: Head Librarian, John Medley LibraryRole: Analysis, Design, Construction, Maintenance
A Microsoft Access database for the collection of statistics relating to CDs, LPs and other media requested in the library. This system went through about 4 annual revisions as requirements and facilities changed
Company: Oblo Jewellery P/L
Answering to: Managing DirectorRole: Analysis, Design, Conversion, Construction, Maintenance, IT Provisioning, Documentation and Training
This involved the upgrading of a system from mostly manual with a single IBM 286 machine running Lotus and DB2 programs to an integrated end to end business solution including conversion to access of the old system's components, automation of many manual tasks, creation of a network to run the system on and continual review and updating of the system. The final system will handle import / export documentation, stock control, costing, label generation, production automation, customer relations management, promotional advertising generation and other functions. The system has been under development since 1996 and is still expanding to meet the business needs.
Company: First Cash P/L
Answering to: DirectorRole: Analysis, Design, Construction, Version Conversion
This involved the creation of a system for managing the core business of a new company set up to administer personal loans. The system has to be designed to meet both business needs and legal requirements. The system handled all paper work relating to the loans including the creation of loans, generation of statements, repayment processing, and repayment schedules. Part way through development the system was converted from Access 97 to Access 2000.
Company: M Oboler & Son (South Africa)
Answering to: IT ManagerRole: Design, Construction, Documentation
This work involved the creation of a new customs documentation program to replace a Cobol system prior to Y2K. The system integrated with the old Cobol pricing system (with the use of data conversion software created in C) and then used an Access front end with more C code as a backend for the generation of both lists and composite photos of items. The old system (brought in decades before) set the standard that the customs office then required by law. The new system has proved as popular with both company staff (due to a reduction in effort and the removal of a photographic phase that used to take days) and with customs staff (who now have one document rather then cross linking documents and photographs).
Company: CSSE, Monash University
Answering to: Project Manager, CaMML ProjectRole: Analysis, Design
This was a summervac position that involved the design in OO terms of an existing peice of software in the field of AI. The Analysis was conducted by reviewing Journal articles on the existing system and consulting with the Project Manager and users of the system.
Company: CSSE, Monash University
Answering to: Project Manager, SARBayesRole: Design, restructuring and documentation of SORAL
This was a summervac position that involved reworking previous code to improve maintainability and adaptability for the future. The resulting design was highly successful and the code underwent FTR become being documented and released. SORAL is a library for optimal allocation of resources for missing person search and rescue. It grew out of the AGM project mentioned above.
University Projects of Note
SAR AGM
This project was a resource allocation program for land based search and rescue. The project was completed by a team of three, I was the Quality Control manager. The software was demonstrated to Victoria Police's search and rescue unit. The an open source license to the software was later purchased by a US company.
MI5-E
This was an analysis and design project. I was the project manager for a team of 4. The team included a diversity of people and involved significant management and issues. The project was completed to the satisfaction of all team members.
SCAMM Technologies
This project was a design and implementation project. The team consisted of 5 people, I was the project manager. The project involved the design and coding of a flight booking system in Java. The project involved approx 192 man hours a week for three months.
Security
This project was a complete security review of a large organisations IT division. The confidential review covered everything from physical security and procedures through to system configuration. The recommendations of the report were adopted by management.