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'New
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| Kate retired from the Civil Service after 27 years, having worked as a Local Office Manager in the latter years of her career but her experience spans many different facets one of them being in staff training. This was where she was first introduced to IT back in 1975 when unemployment benefit changed from being calculated manually with giros being hand written to computerising the whole system. Kate says "when I took early retirement I had no idea I would end up fulfilling my days as I do now, all the experience and training I undertook in my old government department has proved crucial to the work I undertake now. I can remember a past colleague telling me that civil servants were not 'made' but were' born'. After leaving school I had no intention of becoming a civil servant it just happened. I was unemployed for a short time in 1969 and after 'signing on' as one does, I was offered a junior post in the Department of Employment with the intention of staying a couple of months until I found something more interesting. It took me 27 years before I needed to find something more interesting". Immediately after retiring Kate bought herself a state of the art PC (which has since been replaced a number of times by more up to date models), and attended college to learn how to operate Microsoft products with the intention of using these items in her capacity as secretary of various organisations and has put that knowledge to good use ever since. All this was just a hobby at the time but as people discovered her knowlege and expertise quite often out weighed theirs her time was spent helping friends. This resulted in one arm of MIS Ecosse being born. MIS Ecosse Ltd provide desk training in Open Source and Microsoft office products and will advise on how office procedures can be made more efficient and productive, plus undertake group training. All this proves that the modern day 'silver surfer' is of great value to commerce. Due to a combination of their expertise and experience Charles and Kate are a formidable force when it comes to problem solving in the IT Industry. For further information please visit their website ©scotland4me.net |
| Management Information Solutions Ecosse Limited or MIS Ecosse Ltd for short, was originally set up by its founders Charles Litster and Kate Condie in October 2000. Both Kate and Charles had retired from their previous permanent employment in 1996 with the intention of enjoying lazy days and long holidays. However, this was not to be, as both people had a keen interest in Information Technology and with Charles's background of working in IT in private industry with companies such as ICI and Meccano then in Local Government, this set the stage for a future of exciting projects to work on and long nights. Charles has infact spent most of his life since 1972 working in the IT industry in England before heading for local government work in Scotland where his knowledge base was expanded due to the intricacies of how local government operates. This was to prove an asset in later years as most of the work he now undertakes in a 'Project Manager' role involves clients in both local and central government. Itchy feet brought Charles from the borders area of Scotland to Edinburgh where he found there was a requirement for his expertise in Project Management. One of the first projects undertaken by MIS Ecosse was helping the Public Guardians Office, which is part of the Scottish Court Service, put into operation the computerised mechanisms for the introduction of the 'Adults with Incapacity Scotland 2000 Act'. The next project offerred to the company was in London where Charles worked on an 'Income Management System' for one of the local authorities. The main IT supplier was not successful in delivering a workable product so Charles re wrote part of the software programme, which was not his remit but proved his commitment to provide his customers with a system that works. His reputation as a 'Mr Fixit' quickly spread with numerous councils bidding for his expertise. He has also worked on many projets involving 'e-Government' covering council partnerships in England and resulting in the partnership having a workable easily navigated website. |