Not specific access question, need help please

[Tim]

Hello

Me and my brother run a small business and we have decided to have a
database developed specifically for our business. The question is what do we
need? We have approached several companies offering to build a bespoke system
for us based on SQL Server 2003 (as I understand, correct me if I'm wrong).
Another company that seems quite useful uses Visual Fox Pro. Now I've looked
at both these websites. I realise they are both Microsoft programmes. Would
someone tell me what the difference is between the two?
Our business is in the building services industry on the mechanical side;
that is we install heating systems, air conditioning, ventilation and
building controls and we operate around 25 operatives and have around 5
office staff and the business is getting very stretched. The only thing that
is semi automated are our accounts which are done on Sage Line 50 v10.
We do not have even a simple employee table, mobile phone table, etc. An
important area for our business is job costing, adding material costs +
labour costs, and this is something we would be very interested in.
The companies we have spoken to that offer bespoke services whether be by
SQL or Visual Fox Pro say that once a core module is built e.g. An employee
module, other modules could be bolted on at a later stage so that they would
interact.

I would very much appreciate someone who would just spend some time
clarifying some of the points I have made. If I haven't been specific enough,
I would be happy to give you further details.

Thank you in advance

Regards


Tim

P.S. I have posted this to SQL discussion board but it doesn't seem as
active as Access + as I understand there are links between SQL and Access

 

[Bill McKnight]

Hi Tim,

I am willing to open up a dialogue with you regarding your question(s). But
I need a couple of weeks. I'm moving to Phoenix, AZ this week and need to
settle in and activate new cell phone and internet services. Should be all
set by Monday the 12th.

About me, I am an ex-accountant of ten years who has managed information
systems for the past seven. My experience is within construction and
manufacturing industries and includes implementing ERP systems within these
environments (including job costing).

In a nutshell the primary difference is scalability, capability and
flexibility going forward. Many database back ends will suffice (Oracle,
DB2, SQL Server, MySQL). The database needs to store the data securely,
efficiently and maintain integrity. With any of these database engines
design and architecture is the key.

Your focus needs to be on business process analysis. Defining the who,
where, when, why's of how and what you do. This melding of systems,
programming and business analysis get you what you want. It sounds like you
need integration between the GL, AR, AP, PR and JC modules.

To share my experience and knowledge with you, contact me at
(e-mail address removed) and give me ten days to get back to you.



Bill McKnight

 

[Tim Ferguson]

I just have this feeling you are asking the wrong questions:

Me and my brother run a small business and we have decided to have a
database developed specifically for our business.

[snip loads of stuff about software platforms...]

Our business is in the building
services industry on the mechanical side; that is we install heating
systems, air conditioning, ventilation and building controls and we
operate around 25 operatives and have around 5 office staff and the
business is getting very stretched.

[snip current software that you own...]

An
important area for our business is job costing, adding material costs
+ labour costs, and this is something we would be very interested in.

Okay: what is left sounds like the _start_ of what you need to be asking.
Expand enormously on what you actually need a system to do -- recording,
calculations, sending quotes, recalling bad payers, stock and inventory,
automatic ordering, automatic invoiced etc etc etc. How exactly do you
arrive at a quote -- what calculations do you do, what would you want a
new system to do? Details, details, and _particularly_ functional
details. What stuff do you need to see online; what reports can be made
routinely on a daily/ weekly/ monthly schedule. Etc.

Questions about you: how much can you afford to pay? Up front? Year on
year? For maintenance? For escrow? What about insurance: if the computer
screws up and you intall a system that freezes the client, who pays?

Questions about the companies/ people you talk to: have they done this
sort of thing before? In your industry? Are their clients still talking
to them? To you? Will they still be in business in five years' time? In
fifteen? Next Monday?

Even before any of these, of course, you should have been looking at off-
the-shelf packages. Why pay for the whole SA-R&D cycle yourself, when you
could be sharing it with hundreds or thousands of other users? What do
your competitors use? Does it work? The pay-off is that you may have to
adjust your working patterns to fit the new system, against the security
of a known and already-working solution. Compare using Word versus
programming a brand new word processor.

If at last you really need a custom solution, and you have found a
provider you trust to meet your requirements; then who gives a blue fart
if they do deliver it on a platform of Perl and MySQL running over WINE
on an X-Box? Your problem is the bottom line, not the physical stuff.

Just a thought...

B Wishes


Tim F