Category: Career

Web Development Stack from Browser to Database

Web Development Stack from Browser to Database

What Full-Stack Developer Actually Means

What Full-Stack Developer Actually Means

Project Management Soft Skills Overview

Project Management Soft Skills Overview

PRINCE2 7 Process Model, 2026 – 7th Edition

In 2026, the PRINCE2 7 (7th Edition) remains the current global standard for the methodology. The core diagram, known as the PRINCE2 Process Model, illustrates how the 7 processes interact across the four management levels: Corporate, Direction, Management, and Delivery. 

The PRINCE2 7 Process Model

The diagram typically visualises the project lifecycle from a “Project Mandate” to “Project Closure” through these processes: 

  • Starting Up a Project (SU): The pre-project process where a mandate is converted into a project brief.
  • Directing a Project (DP): The Project Board’s high-level oversight, running from project start to finish.
  • Initiating a Project (IP): Establishing firm foundations, including the Project Initiation Documentation (PID) and the Business Case.
  • Controlling a Stage (CS): The daily management of a stage by the Project Manager.
  • Managing Product Delivery (MP): The link between the Project Manager and Team Managers to ensure products are built.
  • Managing a Stage Boundary (SB): Occurs at the end of each management stage to plan the next one and review the current.
  • Closing a Project (CP): The final process for a formal decommissioning of the project. 
PRINCE2 7 Process Model, 2026 – 7th Edition

PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured, process-based project management methodology

PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured, process-based project management methodology used globally to manage projects of any size and complexity. It focuses on dividing projects into manageable stages, ensuring accountability, and maintaining a clear business justification from start to finish. 

Core Framework (PRINCE2 7)

The latest version, PRINCE2 7th Edition (2023), centers on five integrated elements: 

  • 7 Principles: The “guiding obligations” that must be followed for a project to be considered PRINCE2 (e.g., Continued Business Justification, Learn from Experience, and Manage by Exception).
  • 7 Practices: Essential aspects of management (formerly “Themes”) applied throughout the lifecycle: Business Case, Organizing, Plans, Quality, Risk, Issues, and Progress.
  • 7 Processes: A step-by-step guide from Starting up a Project to Closing a Project.
  • People: A major addition in Version 7, focusing on the human side of change and team dynamics.
  • Project Context: Emphasises the need to tailor the methodology to suit the specific project environment. 

Certification Levels:

Qualifications are typically sought through PeopleCert Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs): 

  1. Foundation: Introduces basic concepts and terminology; no prerequisites required.
  2. Practitioner: Focuses on applying and tailoring the method to real-world scenarios. Requires a valid Foundation-level certificate or an equivalent (like PMP or CAPM).
  3. PRINCE2 Agile: A specialised version that blends the structure of PRINCE2 with agile delivery frameworks like Scrum and Kanban. 

Comparison and Value

  • Geographic Dominance: PRINCE2 is the de facto standard in the UK public sector and is widely used across Europe and Australia. In contrast, the PMP (from PMI) is more prevalent in the USA and Canada.
  • Cost: In the UK, Foundation courses typically range from £549 to £1,000, while Practitioner courses cost between £599 and £1,100.
  • Renewal: All current PRINCE2 certifications must be renewed every three years. 

PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured, process-based project management methodology.

May 2011 – Registered PRINCE2 Practitioner with ILX

mark whitfield mark_whitfield_prince2_registered_practitioner
PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured, process-based project management methodology

Education Summary – 1980 thru 1990 – Mark Whitfield

1988 to 1990 : University of Bolton (previously BIHE, Bolton Institute of Higher Education)
Deane Road, Bolton, Lancashire, UK. BL3 5AB

Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computer Studies –
DISTINCTION – overall first over the 2 years

1985 to 1988 : Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College)
Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX

2 ‘A’ Levels – Computer Science and Biology

1980 to 1985 : Park High Secondary School
Park Road, Hindley, Wigan, Lancashire, UK. WN2 3RY

8 GCE ‘O’ Levels –
All grades ‘C’ and above including Computer Studies, Maths and English

Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computer Studies – Certificates:

mark_whitfield_hndcertificate1
mark_whitfield_firstyearhnd
mark_whitfield_bothyearshnd

HPE NonStop Tandem NonStop – Guardian Principles Course – 1993 – High Wycombe

HPE NonStop Tandem NonStop – Guardian Principles Course – 1993 – High Wycombe

Secure ATM Transaction Flow from Card Dip to Cash Dispense

Secure ATM Transaction Flow from Card Dip to Cash Dispense

Secure ATM Transaction Flow from Card Dip to Cash Dispense

Betfred, Westgate House, Totepark, Chapel Lane, Wigan – 2014 – 2016

Betfred : 2014 – 2016

Betfred, Westgate House, Totepark, Chapel Lane, Wigan – 2014 – 2016

Career, Insider Technologies Limited, ITL – 1995 to 2013 as HPE NonStop Tandem specialist and Product Manager

Career, Insider Technologies Limited, ITL – 1995 to 2013 as HPE NonStop Tandem specialist and Product Manager

Capgemini – Campus – Serge Kampf Les Fontaines, Chantilly, France – Advanced Engagement Manager Course – November 2017 Class

Capgemini – Campus – Serge Kampf Les Fontaines, Chantilly, France – Advanced EM Course – November 2017 Class

November 2017 – Advanced Engagement Management Course – Level 2 Exam

ITL, at the San Jose International TANDEM User Group (ITUG) in 2003…

ITL, at the San Jose International TANDEM User Group (ITUG) in 2003

1988 to 1990 : University of Bolton (previously Bolton Institute of Higher Education – BIHE) – now University of Greater Manchester since 2024

1988 to 1990 : University of Bolton (previously Bolton Institute of Higher Education – BIHE) – now University of Greater Manchester since 2024

Bolton Institute of Higher Education, BIHE in 1988

May 2011 – Registered PRINCE2 Practitioner with ILX

May 2011 – Registered PRINCE2 Practitioner with ILX

December 2022 – C&CA UK’s Communications & Engagement Award Winner – Cloud & Custom Applications – Capgemini UK

December 2022 – C&CA UK’s Communications & Engagement Award Winner – Cloud & Custom Applications – Capgemini UK

Translating Military Skills to Project Management Success

Translating Military Skills to Project Management Success

Base24-eps and UPF integration

Base24-eps and UPF integration

Integration between BASE24-eps and the Universal Payments Framework (UPF) is a core part of ACI Worldwide’s strategy to bridge legacy payment systems with modern, real-time payment capabilities. The UP Framework acts as a bridge, allowing financial institutions to orchestrate diverse payment types and channels while protecting their existing investment in BASE24-eps infrastructure. 

Key Aspects of the Integration

  • Investment Protection: The UP Framework allows existing BASE24 customers to continue using their current systems for some functions while incrementally adding new payment types and volumes through the UP Framework. This approach eliminates the need for a complete “rip and replace” of legacy systems.
  • Modernization and Flexibility: The integration with UPF allows banks to rapidly introduce new payment methods, adhere to new network schemes (like real-time payments), and integrate with new partners through configuration rather than custom coding.
  • Unified Retail Payments: UP Retail Payments is ACI’s comprehensive solution that combines the strengths of BASE24-eps (a market-leading retail payment platform) and the UP Framework (which orchestrates all aspects of payments processing) into a single, end-to-end platform.
  • Data Protection & Compliance: The UPF is used in conjunction with data security solutions (like Comforte’s SecurDPS) to tokenize sensitive cardholder data before it is passed to BASE24-eps applications or stored in logs, helping institutions meet PCI DSS compliance requirements.
  • Role-Based Expertise: The integration is an area of specialized technical expertise in the payment industry, with job roles focusing on the implementation, customization, configuration, and support of both BASE24-eps and UPF modules. 

In essence, the UPF provides a flexible, open architecture that extends the life and capabilities of BASE24-eps, enabling financial institutions to manage traditional and emerging payment demands within a unified ecosystem. 

What is BASE24-eps?

BASE24-eps is a comprehensive solution for acquiring, authenticating, routing, switching, and authorizing card- and non-card-based financial transactions through various channels.

BASE24-eps is designed to:

  • Increase the profitability of payment processing by enabling a set of common transaction services to support multiple channels and different types of transactions
  • Offer organizations greater flexibility with built-in support for all major card types, devices, national and regional switches, international payment schemes and host systems
  • Create a comprehensive view of customers and ensure consistent, high-quality customer service across different points of contact
  • Reduce organizations’ total cost of ownership through complete platform independence
  • Give organizations the options to deploy on premise, in their own private or public cloud, or in a secure, cloud-based environment managed by ACI

https://www.aciworldwide.com/solutions/base24-eps

COBOL85 programming language on HPE NonStop systems (formerly Tandem NonStop)

“COBOL85 nonstop” refers to the use of the COBOL85 programming language on HPE NonStop systems (formerly Tandem NonStop). The HPE NonStop platform is known for its fault-tolerant, continuous availability architecture, often used for critical, large-scale transaction processing. 

Key aspects of COBOL85 on NonStop include:

  • Platform-Specific Implementation: HPE provided a specific implementation of the 1985 COBOL standard tailored to its unique Guardian operating system and hardware architecture.
  • Mission-Critical Applications: COBOL programs on NonStop are commonly used in industries such as finance, retail, and government for applications requiring high reliability and constant uptime (the “nonstop” nature of the system).
  • Fault Tolerance: NonStop systems achieve fault tolerance through mechanisms like process pairs, and the COBOL runtime library can interact with these features. For example, a PARAM NONSTOP OFF setting in a PATHMON configuration can prevent a COBOL85 server from running as a process pair if that behavior is not desired.
  • System Integration: Programmers can call Guardian procedures and use embedded SQL/MP statements within their COBOL85 programs to interact with the system’s robust file system and database.
  • Development and Maintenance: The combination of COBOL85 and HPE NonStop utilities is a specific skill set for developers maintaining these critical legacy systems.
  • Tools and Manuals: Documentation and tools, such as the INSPECT symbolic debugger and the FUP (File Utility Program), are specific to the NonStop environment and assist with development and maintenance. 

For detailed information, users can consult the official documentation, such as the HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs or other manuals available on the NonStopTools website and HPE Support portals. 

My NonStop COBOL85 programming experience.

Transaction Application Language – TAL on HP HPE Nonstop mainframes (previously Tandem)

Transaction Application Language

Programming language

Tandem TAL - Visual Studio Marketplace
TAL User Defined Language for Notepad++ | sybond/project
Transaction Application Language – TAL on HP HPE Nonstop mainframes (previously Tandem)

Transaction Application Language or TAL is a block-structured, procedural language optimized for use on Tandem hardware. TAL resembles a cross between C and Pascal. It was the original system programming language for the Tandem Computers CISC machines, which had no assembler.

Source: Wikipedia

Transaction Application Language or TAL (originally “Tandem Application Language”) is a block-structured,[1] procedural language optimized for use on Tandem (and later HP NonStop) hardware. TAL resembles a cross between C and Pascal. It was the original system programming language for the Tandem Computers CISC machines, which had no assembler.[2]

Transaction Programming Language (TAL)
ParadigmBlock-structured procedural language
DeveloperHewlett-Packard Enterprise (originally Tandem Computers)
First appearedmid 1970s
PlatformMIPS, Itanium, x86-64
OSNonStop OS
LicenseProprietary commercial software
File formatsunstructured, Enscribe, NonStop SQL/MP, NonStop SQL/MX
Dialects
TAL, pTAL, epTAL
Influenced by
ALGOL, Pascal, C

The design concept of TAL, an evolution of Hewlett-Packard‘s SPL, was intimately associated and optimized with a microprogrammed CISC instruction set. Each TAL statement could easily compile into a sequence of instructions that manipulated data on a transient floating register stack. The register stack itself floated at the crest of the program’s memory allocation and call stack.

The language itself has the appearance of ALGOL or Pascal, with BEGIN and END statements. However, its semantics are far more like C. It does not permit indefinite levels of procedure nesting, it does not pass complex structured arguments by value, and it does not strictly type most variable references. Programming techniques are much like C using pointers to structures, occasional overlays, deliberate string handling and casts when appropriate.

Available datatypes include 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and (introduced later) 64-bit integers.[3] Microcode level support was available for null terminated character strings. However, this is not commonly used.

Originally the Tandem NonStop operating system was written in TAL. Much of it has since been rewritten in C and TAL has been deprecated for new development.

In the migration from CISC to RISC, TAL was updated/replaced with pTAL – compilers allowed TAL to be re-compiled into Native RISC Applications. Later, the epTAL compiler was introduced for Itanium processors.

sp/ARCHITECT-BANK – developed by a Runcorn-based software house called The Software Partnership (later acquired by Deluxe Data in 1994)

“sp/architect nonstop tandem” refers to SP/ARCHITECT-BANK, an electronic banking software that ran on the highly available, fault-tolerant Tandem NonStop servers (now part of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or HPE, NonStop product line). 

SP/ARCHITECT-BANK Software

  • Function: Developed as an electronic banking software package, it enabled functions like desktop access to company accounts, inter-account transfers, and bookkeeping, which was considered cutting-edge in the early 1990s.
  • Developer: The software was developed by a Runcorn-based software house called The Software Partnership (later acquired by Deluxe Data in 1994).
  • Users: Various banks, including TSB, Bank of Scotland, Rabobank, and Girofon (Denmark), used the software. 

Tandem NonStop Servers

The NonStop servers, originally from Tandem Computers Inc., are known for their extreme reliability and scalability, making them suitable for mission-critical applications in finance, telecommunications, and retail. 

Key architectural features include:

  • Fault Tolerance: The systems use redundant components (processors, storage, controllers, power supplies) with a “shared-nothing” architecture to ensure continuous operation even if a component fails.
  • Operating System: They use a proprietary, message-based operating system, the NonStop Kernel (NSK, originally Guardian), which manages fault detection and failover automatically, without human intervention.
  • Current Status: Tandem was acquired by Compaq in 1997, and Compaq was subsequently acquired by HP in 2002. The NonStop product line is now offered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). More information is available on the HPE website. 

The Software Partnership (later acquired by Deluxe Data in 1994)