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Customised Solutions
"Our core business is developing custom applications for individual
companies with unique business needs."
Why Access?
Microsoft Access provides a very cost-effective, flexible and stable
option for application development. It also makes it easy to start off
storing your data in an Access database and migrate later to a server-based
database platform (we prefer MySQL and SQL Server).
All of our systems can be operated by multiple users simultaneously,
which is a capability that spreadsheet-based systems cannot hope to
implement reliably. The number of concurrent users will determine the
appropriate database platform for your data storage (aka "back-end").
There are many good reasons to use Access as a development platform
for customised business systems, including:
- You may already have it as part of an MS-Office Professional package.
- It can run on older versions of Windows and Office.
- It's easy to integrate with other MS-Office applications, including
Excel and Outlook.
- It can easily integrate with a range of server-based back-end database
platforms.
There are a few reasons not to use Access:
- If your business can't cope without the system for a day or two.
- If you need to impress someone with the size of your IT budget.
Access is very stable as long as the operating system or Office version
is properly configured, but it can still be badly affected by hardware
and operating system failures. Daily backups can reduce the risk here,
as can moving to a server-based back-end platform. Click here
for details of how best to configure your Access environment.
It should be noted that Microsoft don't recommend using Access in cases
where there are going to be more than 10 users accessing the data at
the same time, and where the database grows to over 2GB. Moving the
back-end to SQL-Server or MySQL removes these contraints.
If the front-end is copied to each client PC, and the application is
designed properly, then the user and size limits are dependent only
on the back-end database and hardware platform, which are scalable up
to large corporate sizes.
Can I store the data on another database platform?
Yes. We recommend and have experience in MySQL and SQL-Server back-end
platforms, but any platform that can be accessed with ODBC should be
ok. We always design applications to be friendly to ODBC data sources
regardless of the initial back-end platform.
Migration is then easy if required in the future. You can even link
some tables to your server-based databases and keep some on Access.
This works well when you want to refer to centrally maintained company
data such as employees, customers, departments, locations, etc, but
the main data you are working with is specific to your business unit.
Our systems automatically re-link to the appropriate tables in the appropriate
databases when updated. In addition, they also modify Access back-ends
to add new fields, tables and relationships. For other databases, the
system creates an SQL file that can be used to update the back-end,
and reports the details so you can do the changes manually if needed.
This means that in most cases, you will only need to interrupt your
business for a few minutes when installing a front-end update.
Can you fix our existing database?
This is probably the most difficult issue for clients who have had
custom software developed. In short, the answer is probably "No".
We frequently encounter clients who have a developer who no longer wants
to work on their system, or who has disappeared entirely. This behaviour
is not usually malicious, but the result of some unfortunate or unwise
choices in the initial design, difficulty in maintaining
the system as a result, or perhaps a change in career priorities (e.g.
they get a better job).
Good database design lasts. It's an enduring strategic asset to your
company, and should transcend software developers, hardware platforms,
operating systems, database systems, applications, and even your business
processes.
Good application design is flexible, and changes with your business
processes. Well designed applications can be easily modified to accommodate
changes in your business, and involve minimal risk to the business.
Poorly designed databases and applications require an ever-increasing
effort to modify and every change entails significant risks to the business.
While we will give fair consideration to working with an existing system,
we usually find that if any of the above symptoms are present, the system
is probably "beyond economic repair" and needs replacing.
Can I get another developer to take over later?
Sure
with a few conditions.
Unlike many other developers, our standard terms and conditions for
customised systems explicitly convey to the client the right to further
modify the system for use within their own business. We will even help
transfer the knowledge to the alternative developers or internal resources
if required.
The only condition we apply to this is that the new developers are not
permitted to copy and use the common system components we have developed,
for use in their own software development business, and they cannot
claim copyright of the system in its modified form.
What if I need to integrate with other systems?
We build file import/export or process-to-process interfaces to other
systems using all of the integration features of MS-Office that are
provided within MS-Access, but without the complexity. By programming
the specific interface that the business needs, we can usually make
these complicated interfaces easy enough for non-technical staff to
use every day.
In particular, we have built interfaces to Outlook and Excel, and a
direct email send feature that is independent of the mail client.
Click here
to find out about our project management methodology.
Click here to request a free consultation.
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