Mark P. Farrell's e-Resume
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  • Awards (click here)
    • Computerworld
    • NKU Outstanding Student
    • Nu Kappa Pi / Alpha Sigma Lambda - Honor Society
    • Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society
    • U.S. Postmaster General Award
    • CSO/VP Thomas Day Sustainability Award
    • VP Tom Day - Certificate of Appreciation (2013)
    • E-Idea Award
    • Certificate of Appreciation
    • APPS Certification
    • Certificate of Appreciation
    • International Dean's List Society
  • Work Experience
  • Computer Skills
  • Android Apps
  • Sustainability
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Awards and Recognition

Computerworld

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The magazine Computerworld awarded me with a gold medal in June 2012, which was provided at a black-tie ceremony in Washington, DC.  The magazine Computerworld is the largest weekly IT magazine for professionals in the U.S.  I was among 200 people who were selected for the Computerworld Honors, from a total of over 500 applicants in 25 countries.  This is due to a program that I developed for the USPS, DECOPRA (link to online description at Computerworld's website), which is being implemented at every one of the US Postal Service's NDCs (Network Distribution Centers -- extremely large facilities, which are several acres under a roof and handle all the standard and Priority parcels, bulk business mail, and standard letters) across the nation. 

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NKU Outstanding Student 2013

In April 2013, I was selected as the Outstanding PACE Student for the year at a ceremony at Northern Kentucky University.  See the second page of NKU's newsletter (found at the above link) for a description of what the award entailed.

NOTE: You can click on most images on this page for a larger version.
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US Postmaster General Award
Received US Postmaster General Award as Team Lead from US PMG Megan Brennan, February 2016

This award was for LEAP (Logistics Email Automated Program).  The project resulted in an application to automate non-compliance notifications for contractors.  Others were also recognized for their work with the project, as it was a team effort.  It is used by Transportation, and saves a lot of waste and hours while significantly improving efficiency and costs. 

​The application takes records from different sources via query results, analyzed them, determined if there were deficiencies (late trips), combined results, sent out automated emails with metrics in a coherent manner to corresponding companies based on deficiencies (e.g., late trips), and updated a created database to retain records for future analysis.


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U.S. Postmaster General Award


Received Sustainability Excellence Award from US Postmaster General John Potter in 2010 as the Team Lead for a program that I developed, Intranet Based Current Data Site Sharing Application, October 2010.

The application utilized a user form for convenience and pulled data from our UNIX-based servers and transmitted the data in HTML format in regular intervals automatically via the intranet through VB.  Others were also recognized for their assistance and help in the implementation process of my program, which is now used by every NDC in the nation and is currently maintained by the engineering department.
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This web-page screenshot is one of several that were designed for various sorters, and provides much more information related to sorting characteristics than is shown here.  It is derived from a UNIX-server, with the data provided to Windows-based desktops.  It is now maintained and updated by the Engineering department, and is used for every NDC in the nation.

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Enterprise Analytics - Director's Award
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​While working as a project manager, in conjunction with an incredible development team, received recognition for creation from the ground-up of PATH (Processing Architecture Translation Hub) application.  It was developed to replace back-and-forth spreadsheets and provide greater visibility of changes, September 2017.

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Enterprise Analytics - Employee of the Month

Received recognition as the Employee of the Month for the Enterprise Analytics group, which has hundreds of members in HQ and across the US, February 2018.
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Letter of Commendation

Received letter of appreciation from VP Officer Thomas Day in 2011 as the Team Lead for a program that I developed to improve Delivery Confirmation issues at NDCs.  Others were also recognized for their assistance and help in the implementation process.  In 2012, I also received another letter of commendation from VP Day for another program I developed, PASFAR (Program for Automatically Sending Flagged APPS Requests), which was designed to help customers requesting that their mail be pulled out of circulation due to issues (e.g., recently moved, but old address still on file).  In 2013, I received another letter of appreciation from VP Day for programming efforts.  In 2014, I received an award from the Ohio Valley District Manager of Operation Program Support for some developmental work I did for Delivery Programs.  See some images of the awards received.  Most can be clicked on for a larger image.
Certificate of Appreciation from VP Tom Day
Team Lead - DECOPRA (Deliver
y Confirmation Problem-Resolving Application) program.  The logic and code of this program is currently being instituted at every NDC in the nation by maintenance engineering.
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Certificate of Appreciation from VP Tom Day
Team Lead - Intranet Based Routing Tables.  This program provided a graphical representation of where mail is routed within a Network Distribution Center's Parcel Sorting Machine.
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Eastern Area Idea Award
Team Lead - Production Planning and Control Center.  This program queried the Oracle databases for Transportation at regular intervals, providing color-coding based on the contents to help avoid delays.  Several other NDCs also adopted this program for their use.  It incorporated the Kaizen pull-concept through the use of Kanban (on screen color-coding to signify when done, prioritizing trucks to be pulled or loaded next) and Andon (visual warning representation when a trailer wasn't unloaded within the expected time-frame).

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Certificate of Appreciation from Ohio Valley District MOPS
Received for developing/implementing several high-level reporting tools to better track the district's performance indicators so as to determine where improvement guidelines should be focused.

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Certificate of Appreciation from VP Tom Day
Team Lead - PASFAR (Program for Automatically Sending Flagged APPS Requests).  This program was helpful in monitoring and improving service performance on the APPS, and allowed for packages to be more easily captured if there were indicators of looping mail or by customer request.
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Letter of Commendation/Award from NDC Plant Manager W. Garry Tottress II.  Received award for assisting NDC operations in various capacities, and with reporting matters as needed.
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Certificate of Appreciation from NDC Plant Manger David Caproni

Personally received Certificate of Appreciation from the Cincinnati NDC Plant Manager for programming efforts.  Developed numerous high-level reports for monitoring transportation, productivity, and other performance indicators, with many such programs currently being used today.
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Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society

Inducted into society for maintaining good grades in 2012.
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Nu Kappa Pi / Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society

_Inducted into society for maintaining good grades in 2012.
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International Dean's List Society

Accepted into the International Dean's List Society for maintaining academic excellence.
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APPS Certification Award

Participated in a group effort that resulted in our facility becoming the first NDC in the nation to attain APPS certification in 2007.  We were awarded a plaque for our facility and other recognition.  Subsequently, we worked together to try and assist other facilities in becoming certified.
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E-Idea Award

Personally received award for the creation of a Production, Planning, and Control Center in 2005.  These programs regularly and automatically queried our facility's Oracle database, and provided data with color-coding to help better ensure that the trailers were unloaded in a timely manner.  Assisted other facilities across the U.S. with the implementation of these programs.  Read below how it helped the site.  (Click on the images for a larger image.)
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 Drops - this computer screen was set-up to highlight trips when they arrived.  The program color-coded the lines in an Andon-like system so that management could quickly discern which trips needed priority to ensure unloading the trailers that needed unloaded first, as different items on the truck (such as perishables) would warrant unloading before others.  There were similar screens made for Originating and Destinating trips, as well as for the different dock areas.  They queried the Oracle servers every few minutes and showed the calculated changes.  The program color-coded the different lines to highlight any differences from plans, as well as providing some calculated columns. 

Additional screens were also developed for other purposes.  One screen showed unloads by tour and by area to encourage competition by shifts. Another was shown in the driver's lounge and rotated through the trucks being unloaded and highlighted the trip when ready so that the drivers would immediately see when their expected trip was ready, following a kanban-like framework.

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This picture shows how some (not all) appeared in the tour office.

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Soon after the installation of the screens, late trips became frequently less common due to management constantly being shown when trips were late. 

The best part of the process was that it was done entirely with Excel VBA, which made the screens full-screen and automated the queries and the resultant calculations.  Thus, it was done internally, with me programming the screens, at no real additional cost (aside from the monitors, which had been planned in any case). 

The system was later adopted at several other sites across the nation.

Certificate of Appreciation

Personally received a Certificate of Appreciation in May 2000 for work that I did to improve safety procedures at the Cincinnati NDC from the A/Plant Manager Ray Stetson.
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Management Employee of the Month

Received in 2008 and 2005.

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