Rod Gill Profile

Rod Gill

Rod is the founder of ACE Project Systems which was a spin off from ACE Training: New Zealand's largest independent computer training company.

Rod and ACE Project Systems have trained and consulted in most of New Zealand's industries. Key roles are:

Whilst moving from Civil Engineering to software development to business consulting a common thread for all Rod's work has been project management. His most valuable learning came from a series of mentors, many from the school of common sense project management.

Given his skills in software development and project management Rod has developed a niche for helping clients develop project management methodologies and project management information systems to support then.

Rod is an experienced trainer in project management and Microsoft Project. He specialises in advanced workshops for its effective use and best practices.

Qualifications

Rod gained his Engineering degree from Lancaster University in the UK. As a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft Project, he is recognised as one of the world’s leading experts on the use and effective application of Microsoft Project.

Experience

From Civil Engineering to software engineering to software project leader to business consultant and trainer, Rod has experience in many industries and areas of expertise. This lead to the creation of ACE Project Systems in 1994. Since then Rod has developed and continues to update his training in project management and his workshops on the advanced use of Microsoft Project.

As an experienced project manager and user of Microsoft Project, Rod is uniquely placed to help you solve project management problems and help you add value to your project management and reporting processes.

Rod's experience as a Software Engineer and in advanced uses of Project make him a very productive developer of custom solutions using Project, Excel, Access and Word VBA to automate processes, reports and more.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

1994 - present
Director of ACE Project Systems Ltd

  • APS provides project management and Microsoft Project consultancy and training and develops companion products for Microsoft Project. APS has provided consulting services to many of New Zealand’s leading companies.
  • My role is as a facilitator of projects and a developer of project management methodologies for clients. I have also developed a workshop on best practices for Microsoft Project.
  • As well as developing and delivering project management training courses I created and developed Project Program Manager (PPM) PPM is a project management information system that provides resource management, time sheet functionality and Microsoft Project administration capabilities.
    Recent work includes implementing Microsoft Project Server and developing custom reporting solutions for it.
  • In 2006 I published a booked titled: VBA Programming for Microsoft Office Project.
  • I have been involved with a number of Project Server implementations.
  • 2009 completed an 11 month contract helping to plan the upgrade of Marsden Point Oil Refinery, a 1.2 million hour project.
  • 2011 completed an on again off again 1 year contract to schedule a complete IT infrastructure project.

1990 - 1994
Senior Trainer, ACE Training

  • As senior trainer, I was one of six people sharing the management of ACE Training. My specific responsibilities were for the computers, course development and the overseeing of training for Microsoft Project, Access and Excel.
  • This period also involved consulting work for many organisations in Project and in the advanced use of Access and Excel.

1985 - 1990
Contracting

  • 1986-1990: Contracts With Software Engineering, Powercorp and Telecom
    These contracts saw my work move from software engineering to business consulting. I project managed and developed control systems and utilities written in C. I also developed some PC interfaces to an AS400 based BPCS system.
  • 1985 - 1986 Software Engineering contracts. Test engineering in Machine tool industry.

1980 - 1985
Software Engineer
Full time employment as Software Engineer in UK
Three jobs saw a move to software project leadership in software engineering projects.

1977 – 1980 Civil Engineer
Full time Employment with WA Dawson Ltd in UK and Middle East.
Day to day management of sheet steel piling contracts for sea wall defences and foundation projects.

EDUCATION

1974-1977 Lancaster University, UK

BSc Eng Honours degree in general Engineering with a specialty in Civil Engineering.

ACCREDITATIONS

  • Microsoft MVP for Project. I have been a Microsoft MVP since 1998. MVP’s get recognition because of their knowledge, support and competency on the Microsoft news groups. See www.support.microsoft.com/mvp/
  • 2007 – Secretary of the newly formed New Zealand chapter of the Microsoft Project User Group, a worldwide user group for Microsoft Project.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Author of VBA Programming for Microsoft Office Project published in 2006.
  • Special Edition Using Microsoft Project 2000. I wrote the two chapters on using Project’s Visual Basic for Applications macro language.
  • I wrote the VBA column for a monthly newsletter Woody’s Project Watch (www.woodyswatch.com/project/) (Stopped publishing in 2004)

PERSONAL

Date Of Birth: 7th December 1955
Nationality: Kiwi (moved to New Zealand In 1986)
Family status: Married with two children
Hobbies: Sailing and walking
Community Work: I am currently a skipper for our local Coastguard rescue boat based at Sandspit.


Scheduling Made Easy - an effective new course from Rod Gill