In 3 short months ASB Marketing now sits proudly on the first page of searches and more importantly, we have been equipped with the skills to manage and understand the maintenance required to ensure this standing.
Access Databases
Access databases have long been the mainstay of our former business, o’neill.software, and insilicoTM continues to provide custom development services for Microsoft Access as well as the complete range of Office applications and Visual Basic for stand alone programs.
One of the benefits insilicoTM can offer with regard to Access databases is over 10 years experience, having started working with Access on version 1.0!
In that time, we have encountered just about every possible use for a database and been asked for every conceivable extension, including:
- Reading Outlook emails received from a website contact form and putting the contents into a database for future follow up,
- Producing invoices as PDF documents which can then be emailed to the customer automatically,
- Exporting accounting data in files suitable for importing into MYOB,
- Creating reports in Word or Excel directly from the database using Word and Excel Automation allowing for much greater flexibility in report design and layout,
- And much more…
All the databases we build also come with comprehensive data validation that is designed to be “user friendly”. Consider the following simple customer relationship management form:
If you missed out some data, or got some things wrong would you prefer to see this:
Or this:
And to top it off, each field with a validation error is highlighted and the error appears as a tool tip so you know exactly what is wrong:
…with tool-tips telling you what is wrong!
We can even retrofit our validation routines to your existing database!
(Developers: if you’d like to use this code in your databases, please email us for licensing details)
These days, we still call them “Access databases” but more often that not we are using Microsoft’s Developer Edition of SQL Server “MSDE”.
MSDE has all the power of SQL Server but is designed specifically for the desktop.
It also does away with many of the limitations of Microsoft Access such as database size and number of rows.
It uses “stored procedures” which run faster if you make the same requests of the database.
insilicoTM also possesses a suite of tools designed to make changes to your database simple and painless. These tools have been honed over the last few years and enable us to reliably and repeated apply structural changes to your database, safe in the knowledge that the change scripts have been well tested before being used on your valuable live data.
To top it all off, we can build your “front end” program in either Microsoft Access if you need the power of Access’ fantastic report engine, Visual Basic if you want a standalone program that cannot easily be decompiled (perhaps because you have some sensitive algorithms to protect), or even a web interface if you want your staff and clients to have access from anywhere in the world without installing any software.
If any of this sounds like it could solve some of your current business technology issues then call us at insilicoTM for a free, no obligation meeting to discuss your particular requirements and plan a way forward.
We have built databases to:
- manage recurring leases of shipping containers and equipment,
- manage stock and inventory imported from overseas
- produce invoices as PDF’s which are automatically emailed to the customers’ accounts department,
- record enquiries from a customers website contact form so that leads can be followed up and tracked
- built a mobiel business solution that synchronises data with Head Office via an Internet-based database,
- recurring maintenance database, with UBD street directory integration, and
- produce form letters in Microsoft Word from an Access database.
We have built systems for:
- a large construction company,
- an insurance company,
- plant and equipment hire companies,
- a stone and tile importer
- a garden maintenance business,
- a national group of companies,
- a company registration business,
- local government departments, and
- state government departments.
