Quality Assurance Technical Support
Resume:
Edward Oppenheimer
President
Thought Matrix Consulting, LLC
Reston, VA 20191
I. SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS
Mr. Oppenheimer has thirty (30) years of professional experience, Twenty six (26) years
within the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) industry and 4 years of military computer
simulations. Before founding Thought Matrix Consulting in March of 2005, Mr.
Oppenheimer worked 10 years as consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton focusing on the
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) implementations nationwide. EBT is a debit
application for needs-based electronic payments systems used by State Governments.
These implementations consisted of both magnetic and smart card applications for the
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps). Before working with Booz Allen Mr.
Oppenheimer worked in the EFT industry where he designed, developed, tested, and
implemented numerous on-line and batch applications for all areas of the EFT industry
including EBT, credit cards, debit cards, checks, travel and entertainment cards, and
private label card systems. Mr. Oppenheimer has 4 years experience managing computer
engineers developing real time on-line financial applications.
II SPECIALIZED QUALIFICATIONS
1. Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC)
Currently Thought Matrix Consulting (TMC) has several WIC engagements with the
Federal Government (through a Booz Allen subcontract) TMC worked in Wyoming
starting in April 2007 for The Wyoming Department of Health, Community and Rural
Health Division, Women, Infants and Children Program and Supplemental Nutritional
Assistance Program (from Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS)). TMC won
the quality assurance contract in August 2005 and since then Mr. Oppenheimer has:
Reviewed the detailed design for the WIC certification system
Reviewed the detailed design for the EBT platform (from New Mexico)
Reviewed the detailed design for the Mountain Plains State Consortium (MPSC)
functionality with the EBT platform
Reviewed the specifications for the planned smart card
Reviewed the specifications for the WIC clinic card reader (VeriFone Vx570)
Reviewed the transition plan
Wrote numerous memos giving the results of the reviews and opinions on matters
affecting the successful conversion of the current WIC EBT platform
Wrote a project plan (Microsoft Project)
Wrote a test plan
Wrote a regression test plan
Wrote the User Acceptance Test report.
Did the QA for the conversion of the SNAP Card to a magnetic stripe platform
Currently TMC has a subcontract with Booz Allen and Hamilton. Under that subcontract
and for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA Food and Nutrition Services
(FNS) division Mr. Oppenheimer has:
Provided technical support for the on-line Michigan WIC EBT system
Provided technical support for the on-line Kentucky WIC EBT system
Provided QA services for Nevada on-line WIC implementation
Provided Technical review and QA services for Chickasaw Nation WIC EBT
Provided technical support for the X9 committee creating the ANSI specification
for on-line and off-line WIC EBT transactions
Provided ad-hoc support for various WIC EBT technical issues
TMC just completed a two year (22 month) assignment with Maximus, Inc. providing
QA services to the States of Virginia and West Virginia for their WIC EBT project. Some
of the tasks completed during that assignment include:
Helping to integrate three web based applications sharing data in real time
Creating automated tools to evaluate result data (usually VB and macros in Excel)
Leading the UAT and providing reports on the results of the test tools
Determining origin of defects
Determining priority of defects
Investigating causes of logged error messages
Remotely reviewing data received from daily test runs
Communicating with system managers describing defects and how to recreate
them
Creating complex parsing and data analysis routines
Helping to build consensus among the three independent contractors on test
methods and expected results
2. Previous WIC Experience
With 10 years of consulting experience at Booz Allen Hamilton, Mr. Oppenheimer gave
technical support for the implementation of WIC Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT)
nationwide. He has provided user acceptance testing, stress testing, and contingency
testing for Texas, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Additionally he has reviewed and
provided modifications for WIC EBT system designs, State certification interfaces, test
plans, and security plans. He has provided technical support for off-line EBT systems
(Texas, Wyoming, Ohio) and on-line WIC EBT systems (Nevada, the New England
Partners project, Michigan and the Chickasaw Nation. Mr. Oppenheimer was the
principal or contributing writer for many FNS guidelines including the WIC 901
handbook, WIC eligibility system requirements for EBT, WIC EBT implementation
Guide, and WIC EBT conversion guidelines. He was a technical contributor to FNS and
X9 EBT standards committees. He has given talks to FNS regional offices on user
acceptance testing, capacity planning, and card security for EBT applications. Mr.
Oppenheimer has reviewed the designs for all State WIC EBT systems and participated
in design reviews of eligibility systems with the States, the processors, and the Federal
Government. He also planned and reviewed questionnaires and their responses for the
WIC EBT eligibility system readiness guide. Mr. Oppenheimer helped establish new
standards for store and forward processing for WIC EBT; these types of transactions give
increased acceptability of WIC EBT to large supermarket.
3. Related Work
Mr. Oppenheimer has provided retail electronic payment system solutions commercially
to large retail oil companies and discount chains. Solutions include the development of
new point of sale hardware and integration with foreign ISO 8583 specifications. Mr.
Oppenheimer participated in the American Bankers Association X.9 A11 committee
developing new specifications for an 8583 standard for EBT (which became X.93 parts 1
and 2). He is also participates with the EBT committees for National Automated Clearing
House Association (NACHA) and the Electronic Funds Transfer Association (EFTA). He
has helped frame standards for the WIC and Food Stamp EBT messaging protocols, and
contributed to the NIST standard for a civilian agency smart card conforming to
Presidential directive.
Mr. Oppenheimer has experience with a variety of different hardware platforms including
Data General, Sun Microsystems, Personal Computers, and Hewlett Packard. Mr.
Oppenheimer is also familiar with WINDOWS, DOS, UNIX, SOLARIS, and AOS/VS
operating systems.
III. RELEVANT EDUCATION
B.A., History, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, 1979.
IV. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EMPLOYMENT
Thought Matrix Consulting, President, Reston, Virginia.
March 2005 to Present.
Mr. Oppenheimer created the company to serve the social services information technology
needs of State and Federal Governments. He led the test team supporting the Michigan
WIC on-line EBT Federal User Acceptance Test. Thought Matrix Consulting (TMC)
currently has two subcontracts in place with Booz Allen for on-going technical support for
EBT and State eligibility systems with FNS; Mr. Oppenheimer leads the technical support
for these projects. Additionally TMC received a contract for QA on Wyoming’s new EBT
system which included a WIC smart card system and a SNAP on-line application. TMC
designated Mr. Oppenheimer as key personnel and he led the assignment. Mr.
Oppenheimer also provides technical services to commercial firms relating to biometric
solutions. Thought Matrix is now a subcontractor participating in the Virginia and West
Virginia WIC EBT Quality Assurance project.
Booz Allen & Hamilton, Associate, Falls Church, Virginia
1994 to March, 2005
Supervisor: Debra Banning
At Booz Allen & Hamilton, Mr. Oppenheimer provided support to the USDA Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) under the Secure Electronic Payments and Card Technology
Team. Mr. Oppenheimer supported the USDA by evaluating and analyzing the
implementation and operation of EBT systems. Mr. Oppenheimer has provided support to
the states of Texas, Pennsylvania, Montana, New Mexico, the US Virgin Islands, and
many other states for their EBT systems. Additionally technical support has been given to
the Northeast Coalition of States, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and
Rhode Island, on a wide range of topics specific to EFT and EBT.
Mr. Oppenheimer technically assisted and still supports the migration of a State Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC) program from a voucher process to an automated process
employing card technology. Mr. Oppenheimer has identified and designed the functional
system requirements, including card requirements, transaction processing, equipment
requirements, and other operational requirements.
Mr. Oppenheimer worked with commercial clients and has supported creation of a
wireless payment solution for a large retail gasoline chain, integrated a retail domestic
chain with foreign payment systems, and provided technical support for a firm purchasing
a payment network.
Mr. Oppenheimer was instrumental in the development of a secure transaction-processing
laboratory for FNS. The lab used Internet, Intranet, smart card, biometrics and other
hardware and software to demonstrate various secure solutions to the movement and
monitoring of electronic money. This task allowed for the integration of fingerprint
verification into point-of-sale system with a smart card reader for user identification and
authentication.
Mr. Oppenheimer has reviewed and provided modifications for EBT system designs, test
plans, and security plans. Many of the tests he developed have become standard FNS tests
for Federal user acceptance of EBT systems. He has been able to identify vulnerabilities
and suitable countermeasures for existing EBT systems.
Mr. Oppenheimer evaluates and developed technical configurations to support the
nationwide deployment of Anti-Fraud Locator Using EBT Retailer Transaction (ALERT).
He provided recommendations for system deployment, addressing technical feasibility,
business risk, architecture, capacity, telecommunications, time and cost.
McDonnell Douglas/British Telecom/MCI, Senior Systems Section Manager
Reston, Virginia
1984 to 1994
Supervisor: Eddie Stoops
As a Senior Systems Section Manager, Mr. Oppenheimer worked for a development unit
creating on-line and batch applications for various financial applications. This unit was
bought by McDonnell Douglas in 1984, subsequently sold to British Telecom in 1987, and
then sold again to MCI in 1994. During these corporate ownership changes, Mr.
Oppenheimer rose from being a Programmer/Analyst to a Senior Systems Section
Manager.
Major EFT applications that Mr. Oppenheimer designed and wrote or otherwise
significantly contributed to their development include the following:
Transaction Switching and Processing System (TSPS) - This host system was
developed to receive all financial transactions and route it to the proper application.
It included shared memory, internal routing routines, diagnostic functions, error
recovery, network access, LAN access, and logging.
Financial Network Collector - This host system received all records of financial
transactions recorded in the 140 node Tymnet WAN processed them and forwarded
them to a billing subsystem. The system had a secure man/machine interface that
allowed operators full control over routing and files functions and allowed operator
monitoring of crucial real-time data.
Network System Monitor - This host system worked interactively with all Tymnet
financial nodes. It built two circuits to each node, one for continuously receipt of
log messages, and one for interactive manipulation of the nodes. All data was
collected and displayed on demand to human operators. Human operators were
allowed to control the network topology and perform a variety of other functions.
Host Monitor - PC based system that would allow human operators control and
diagnostic capability of the TSPS system
Hertz private label processor - On-line processor that could receive Hertz private
label cards, bank cards, travel and entertainment cards, or checks. This application
would determine any discounts associated with the cards, approve the transaction
and return a multi-line response to various types of POS devices.
Telecheck Assured Pay program - On-line system that would allow merchants the
capability of immediately receiving funds for dishonored checks in their accounts
without receiving the returned check from the processing bank.
Debit Card reconciliation system - Batch process that would reconcile all debit
transactions with the issuing financial network and individual merchant batches. An
interactive monitor was provided that would allow appropriate personnel an easy
method for tracing and resolving all transaction anomalies.
Settlement System - Reviewed and corrected errors in system that submitted
Automated Clearing House (ACH) format files to bank for settlement. Streamlined
processing and corrected anomalies related to debit card processing.
SUN transaction and processing system - Designed and implemented a test
transaction processing system for a Sun workstation
EBT system - Led the technical response team for the response to South Carolina’s
EBT request for proposal
Electronic Draft Capture - Implemented numerous changes in system to improve
processing speeds
Worked on various other on-line applications including external and internal
authorizers, settlement, and network access devices on an as needed basis to fix
bugs, improve performance, or trace anomalies.
Security Systems - Wrote numerous applications to prevent unauthorized personnel
from using network interactive tools. Tracked and traced illegal accesses when
required.
Network Anomaly Research - Traced and determined causes for numerous Tymnet
failures to build circuits to host machines. Traced and determined causes for point
of sale (POS) device failure to reach host machines.
Customer Interface support - Talked with various customers and determined
functional requirements for specific interfaces.
Historical Evalutation and Research Organization, Staff Member
Dunn Loring, Virginia
1980 to 1984
Supervisor: Col. Trevor DuPuy
Wrote computer war game simulations based on actual historical, geographical, and order of
battle factors. The simulator was licensed to many US Federal agencies and foreign
government.
V. SECURITY CLEARANCES
None
VI. CURRENT EMPLOYMENT STATUS
Thought Matrix Consulting, LLC. Full Time
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