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Buy Custom Technology Essay

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:29:36 +0000

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Microsoft Dexterity: Upgrading Custom Logic for Dynamics Gp

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 05:34:21 +0000

Great Plains Software Dexterity platform was designed in earlier 1990th to be a foundation for Great Plains Dynamics and Dynamics S/C+. Dex was built on the principles of operating system “independence” (C programming language was in time believed to provide shell recompilation, including graphical components) and database platform independence (nobody could say which DB platform will win: MS SQL Server, Sybase, Btrieve, Oracle, IBM DB2). When Microsoft acquired Great Plains Software and formed ERP subdivision, Microsoft Business Solutions, these principles lost their initial focus, as you can suppose, Microsoft turned Great Plains to get advantages of Microsoft Windows OS source code and MS SQL Server as Microsoft database. Every action or decision obviously has pluses and minuses. Dex lost platform independence, but it gained the potential to increase its performance. Let’s take a look at these potentials closer:

1. SQL Aggregation as performance boost. In Dexterity we see Dex native cursors, these constructions allow you to abstract Dexterity sanscript code from low level DB query, but we know that cursors are similar to for statement in procedural programming languages (C, C++, C#, VB, Fortran, etc.). When the fate of GP database was determined, and Microsoft SQL Server was chosen to be the platform for the future, Dexterity programmers were encouraged to use select statement and call SQL stored procedures from Dexterity code. You can argue, that this option was available in the past, however if you think about GP ISV partners, they had to balance SQL and non-SQL Server platforms, such as Pervasive SQL and Ctree and supporting multiple platforms were easier in native Dexterity cursors. If you are Dexterity developer and you work for the company, deploying Great Plains as ERP, please feel free to review your Dex modifications and switch Dex cursors to SQL stored procedures

2. eConnect horizons. eConnect was specially designed for e-commerce application developers, allowing them to create, delete and modify GP master records and work transactions. Initially these options were only available to Dexterity programmer, and with eConnect MS Visual Studio.Net developers got some control over GP logic. If you have legacy Dexterity custom dictionary, please think about eConnect first as an option to upgrade your custom logic and port it into eConnect application. Dex has advantages of being seamlessly integrated with GP user interface and security model, however eConnect enables web applications to have some GP business logic

3. COM Objects and Web Services. In 1990th Dynamics had just a few compromises from OS independence principle – VBA would be one of theses. With acquisition by Microsoft, Dexterity gained new MS and Windows features: COM objects support, for example (Great Plains Dexterity 7.0 and later versions)

Scm Custom Extensions For Microsoft Dynamics Gp Great Plains

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:44:48 +0000

Supply Chain Management often is Barcode driven and includes inventory replenishment, and also Sales order execution with high level of processes automation. If you are mid-size organization, engaged in Warehouse Management, Merchandise Automatic Replenishment, advanced Barcode automated Order Execution (Order Assembly, Picking and Packing, Finished Goods Returns and Disassembly), you may expect certain level of custom programming in implementing Supply Chain Management Solution for Microsoft Dynamics GP. We already described in several publications specifics of Great Plains Warehouse Management, Barcoding, Consignment, integration with Retail Application, Inventory Cycle count. In this paper we will try to give you generic SCM approaches and options, especially when you came to the conclusion, that existing out-of-the-box Dynamics GP SCM packages do not provide required functionality:

1. External Application integration with Dynamics GP versus extending Great Plains screen in Supply Chain Management application. This is probably one of the first questions or topics for your homework. There are great SCM self sufficient systems out there on the Corporate ERP software market and if you think that reasonable integration to Dynamics GP is OK, you can decide to take that route. In Dynamics GP there are several integration tools to consider. In the simplest and probably the most recommended scenario, consider GP Integration Manager module, where you can integrate CSV or tab delimited text files as well as via Advanced ODBC query – whatever could be exposed via ODBC bridge (including cross platform DB queries: Oracle, DBII, PHP/MySQL/Linux, Pervasive SQL). You can also explore Dynamics GP eConnect to move records from SCM system to GP. In the case of eConnect you have more control, including real time transaction integration triggering options (eConnect libraries could be included into your MS Visual Studio C#, VB application, where you program your custom integration)

2. Extending native Dynamics GP Screens and business logic to achieve Supply Chain Management goals. Microsoft Dynamics GP itself has very rich business logic, especially in such modules as Inventory Control (items transfer between the sites, cycle count, cost and price control), Bill of Materials (for light discrete manufacturing, including production on demand or order execution), Purchase Order Processing (especially with Purchasing Configurator – this module might be the core of your SCM Inventory Replenishment), Sales Order Processing (where you can capitalize on order execution steps, including order or invoice line allocation/fulfillment, backorders) – to give you several reasons to consider. You may pose the question for your management team – we already bought Dynamics GP Business Ready licenses, where a lot of our SCM required logic is already included – we just need to enable Barcode automation to make Great Plains friendly for your Warehouse workers. If you decide to take Dynamics GP existing business logic extension route, here are the tools for you to consider: Microsoft Dexterity (this is Great Plains architecture with its own scripting language Sanscript and Integrated Development Environment, you have no limits with Dexterity, except probably the fact that Dex requires experienced programmers, who are preferably familiar with Dynamics GP Source Code). Second tools could be Modifier with VBA – it is not .Net compliant but still does wonderful job or extending Dynamics GP screens with new editable fields, push buttons, etc., where you would need to animate these new objects with VBA scripts. VBA allows you to push data to Dynamics GP tables via ADO technology

3. Barcoding Focus. In Dynamics GP every screen where you have editable fields could be subject for Barcode integration (or where you would like to upload barcode scanner batch). The reason to consider custom add-on programming here is simple – each Corporate ERP application screen has several types of editable fields: Drop Down List, Check Box, Radio Group, Edit Field and plus these fields should be filled in determined sequence. Barcode scanner is capable to fill scanned code into Edit Field, and it requires custom logic to automate the rest of the Screen business logic

4. International SCM focus. Microsoft Dynamics GP is localized in most of English speaking countries: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South Africa, plus it is localized to some extent in Spanish speaking South and Central America and Caribbean basin, It is also available in French in Quebec/Montreal. Dynamics GP is also translated to Arabic. In the countries and regions where GP is not localized: Brazil, China, Russia, Japan, Continental Europe, Korea – we recommend SAP Business One

5. How to get further help? Please call us 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com

Custom Sales Order System Integration With Great Plains Microsoft Dynamics Gp

admin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:54:28 +0000

If your company is established business, which uses one or another in-house developed Business Management System and you are now in situation when you are moving the business to the new phase, where you need industry strength ERP system behind, or how now they name it accounting backoffice, you may be interested to read on how Microsoft Dynamics GP Great Plains can do the job for you. Of course, and this is not a big secret, GP integration needs to be designed and programmed by GP consultants, who will work in concert with your internal IT professionals. Let’s take a look at typical scenarios:

1. Sales Order Processing and Vendor Drop Shipping. If you have strong presence on the web as eCommerce reseller, there is the chance, that what you actually do is transfer customer sales orders to vendor drop ship purchase orders. If this is the case, you will need to integrate your SOP system with Microsoft Great Plains. The first and the most reliable tool to choose from and consider on the first place is GP Integration Manager. In IM itself, please review eConnect connectors to integrate Sales Order Processing and Purchase Receipt documents. eConnect route is definitely faster, in order to see the difference you should know that traditional IM connector uses Great Plains workstation as OLE server to do the job, basically filling up fields in the form and so, validating business logic

2. Direct eConnect programming. This option should be faster in comparison to Integration Manager way, as IM eConnect connector has to do all the steps in business logic validation, while in eConnect MS Visual Studio.Net c# or VB programming you can choose the steps to perform in business logic validation. However eConnect “atomic” stored procedures might still be less efficient as they had to validate the logic of Microsoft Dexterity

3. SQL Stored Procedures approach. SQL is definitely the fastest tool to try, however you should be proficient in SQL scripting and understand the impact of various SQL expressions on GP data extraction and manipulation performance: Select versus SQL cursor is good example. This is not the only warning – when you use SQL update, delete or insert query, you can damage GP DYNAMICS or company database tables

4. Integration Mapping. Your employees or traditional IT department contractors might be giving you the signal that they’ll integrate Microsoft Dynamics GP with your legacy Sales system. Microsoft as successor of Great Plains Software, knows that GP is mid-size ERP package and being such it requires consulting partner network to sell MRP software and do certified GP ERP installation and implementation. Of course your people could ultimately and theoretically be done with the GP implementing job, however you should understand the risks and learning curve cost impacts

5. Diving to Technology Ocean. GP technologies include: Microsoft Dexterity, SQL Server 2005 and 2000, GP ReportWriter, GP Modifier with VBA, Crystal Reports, eConnect and XML Web Services, GP Integration Manager with eConnect connectors. MS Sharepoint and GP Business Portal at this time are in market attacking mode, so if you need such practical modules as Electronic Document Delivery, Requisition Management (successor of eRequisition), Order Management (successor of eOrder)

6. Pervasive SQL or Ctree integrations. There are chances that your company had hard time in earlier 2000 and you lapsed to pay Microsoft Great Plains annual enhancement program. In this situation, if you plan to get new GP version, currently GP 10.0 license keys, you will have to undergo GP enhancement reenrollment procedure

Great Plains or Dynamics Gp Ecommerce Custom Integration

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:35:03 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP version 10.0 and 9.0 is open to ecommerce web programmer through its SDK eConnect. If you are C# or VB .Net Microsoft Visual Studio software developer, you should be able to program integration with such Dynamics GP objects as: customer, inventory item, employee, vendor, GL account (and more) and also be able to integrate transactions: Sales Order, Quote, Invoice, Return, Purchase Order, Purchase Receipt, Payroll transaction, AP voucher, AP payment, AR customer invoice and customer payment to give you the idea. eConnect is under substantial expansion and you may expect new objects to be covered in the future Dynamics GP versions. If you are starting ecommerce project from scratch (when you do not have legacy ecommerce application and the history of the business or franchise), then you should probably look for out-of-the-shelf products (and we would be happy to recommend you existing ecommerce add-ons). However, if you have to respect legacy ecommerce website and shopping cart, you should take custom programming approach and we offer you here technical highlights:



1.       Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing connector. Great Plains Sales Order Processing module is one of the most popular and especially popular in eCommerce integrating scenarios. If you are doing Invoice and payment taking from ecommerce, we recommend you to map these transactions to SOP Invoice and Customer deposit against the invoice

2.       Dynamics GP ecommerce catalogue. Catalog is the set of Great Plains Inventory control items. In GP you can have inventory items as material items (inventoried items), service and miscellaneous charges (if your business charges membership services for example) and other types

3.       Catalog Price Lists. In direct eConnect you can manipulate standard Dynamics GP inventory control module price lists. If you need customer specific price formulae, please consider developing simple custom application, and then combine eConnect functionality with SQL custom stored procedures

4.       eConnect Batch Posting. We recommend you Alba Spectrum Posting Server to schedule automatic batch posting directly from ecommerce web application

Great Plains Custom Development: Dexterity, Econnect, Sql, Vba and Modifier

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:17:46 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP programming and software development is typical as GP ERP system itself is for wide variety of businesses: manufacturing, shipping & receiving, warehouse management & logistics, project organization, non-profit to name few popular. Great Plains has large number of horizontal and vertical solutions, often referred as third party modules or add-ons, however in some scenarios to tune standard logic or develop small in-house modification to GP is more feasible. To give you a flavor of what GP customization is, let’s review tools and scenarios:

1.       GP Dexterity modifications. Dexterity is the architecture of Great Plains Dynamics today and also at the time when Dynamics was just born – earlier 1990th. Dex has its own programming or scripting language – Sanscript and it has Integrated Development Environment, where Dex programmer do their software coding job. Dex customizations were very popular since the introduction of Great Plains and they are equally popular nowadays. Dex mods are seamlessly integrated into GP user workstation and security realm. If you are Microsoft Visual Studio C# or VB .Net programmer, then you should review eConnect and its customization options, as we assume that learning curve to get Dex programming skills might be too long and less desirable

2.       eConnect. At the SQL Server side, eConnect is in essence the collection of encrypted stored procedures, in one or another way imitating original Dexterity logic. This technology allows GP integration to be designed and called from eCommerce application, for example: creating master records (customer, vendor, project, GL account, etc.) and so-called work transactions (SOP invoice, POP receipt, Payroll transaction for instance)

3.       SQL stored procedures. This approach was typically extending Dexterity in the past, prior to eConnect introduction. When eConnect was introduced around 2004, then SQL programmer was encouraged to call eConnect stored procedures versus developing new ones from scratch. However there are a lot of areas where direct SQL coding is feasible, especially if it is very simple integration, or where eConnect logic is not available (yet).

4.       VBA and Modifier. This is traditional tool, related to OLE technology days and still popular and powerful today. It works like that – you add new buttons or fields to existing GP screens with Modifier and then you append VBA scripts often with ADO logic to access GP tables to add business logic to new object

Great Plains Dynamics Gp Reseller News: Custom Ecommerce Integration

admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:16:25 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP or former name Great Plains Dynamics ERP has large number of installations in USA, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Asia. Modern market forces companies to go online and expose their stock through B2B or B2C e-commerce stores. If you are starting from scratch, then you should pick existing e-commerce add-on for GP, however if you ecommerce web store has long history and works as you need, then you should map custom integration to and from Great Plains. Obviously each case is unique and each company has different criteria and business procedures, in this small publication we will try to give you just general highlights in custom eCommerce programming

1.       GP modules, exposed to integration. Likely these are Sales Order Processing module, receiving either customer orders or directly invoices. Also, Inventory Control module, which exposes inventory items, as well as pricelists and pricing schemas. Often you need to expose custom catalogues, depending on the customer class or individual customer. In this case, you need to build this catalog on the fly, based on customer login credentials.

2.       Integrating Phases. Assuming that you already have ecommerce up and running, probably without or with minimal integration to Great Plains, the first phase should just send sales documents as they were generated autonomously in ecommerce to Great Plains SOP module. When this first phase is implemented and proved to be stable, then you could try to move the source of your items and pricing to Great Plains Inventory Control module

3.       Integration tools. To try the simplest approach, which is not real time integration – try to either export your ecommerce orders to text file, or create advanced ODBC integration for GP Integration Manager. In the case of advanced ODBC source, your integration could look back to your ecommerce database and in After Document Commit script you can program ADO connection to your ecommerce database or GP orders integration status tracking table and mark order or invoice as integrated. If you need real time integration, then consider programming integration in eConnect, especially if you have good C# or VB .Net programmer with strong SQL architecture understanding. In certain cases you can create and deploy SQL custom stored procedures, however in this scenario you will be exposed to higher possibility of business logic violating bugs and their fixing

4.       GP automatic batch posting. If you need your ecommerce application to post Sales Order Processing invoices all the way through GL directly from ecommerce and without GP operator approval and even involvement, then you will need Alba Spectrum Posting Server

Custom Software Development Checklist

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:30:05 +0000

Custom database software development is facilitated by the use of a checklist of standard questions to be answered before a system is created, and before analysis begins. This checklist is provided to assist in the Analysis/Requirements phase of a new custom software development project.
If you are interested in having 21st Century Technologies, Inc. create a new system for you, then the following checklist and the associated answers will facilitate the analysis process. The answers can be e-mailed or faxed to us at the email address and fax number at the bottom of the page.
BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS
1. Desired delivery date or proposed project schedule.
2. Business reason for, and urgency of project.
3. What are the cost constraints?
4. Use cases – description of how each group of users will be using the system.
a. General business process – web user will buy a product, web user will add a customer, web user will add contact information, etc.
b. Input/Output – web users will enter data into forms, data will be imported, administrator must run many management reports, administrator needs to export to Excel and text, etc.
c. Frequency of activity – many times each day, once daily, weekly, etc.
d. Cycles of activity – weekly sales reports to all sales managers on Monday morning, close books at end of year, etc.
NATURE OF APPLICATION
1. Do you have a desired development tool or technology in mind? You may want to split the application into some parts that can be run on a Windows workstation computer, while other parts (like reports, or timecard entry screens) are accessed via a web browser on your local intranet. Web applications and reports can be viewed on all computer types and operating systems that are capable of viewing web pages. Some tools currently available to build the system are listed here:
a. C#/VB.NET
b. ASP.NET
c. Active Server Pages or Cold Fusion for robust database driven Web applications
d. ColdFusion
e. Visual Basic
f. SQL Server
g. MS Access
h. JavaScript – for cross browser compatibility,
i. VBScript – for server scripting, and client scripting if Internet Explorer is the only client browser
j. Dreamweaver – for higher ended client functionality
k. SQL Server Reporting Services
l. Crystal Reports – for Windows and Web based reports
m. ActiveReports
n. Excel
o. PowerPoint
p. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Systems – dial 1 for English, 2 for Spanish…
2. If other applications are involved (MS Word, MS Excel, QuickBooks, etc.), what version will be used?
3. Desired screen resolution (800×600, 1024×768, etc.),
4. Screen Size (15″, 17″, 19″, 21″)
5. Preferred Font and size (Arial 10, Times New Roman 12, etc.)?
6. Target Windows version for each client computer in the system (98, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003 Server, etc.),
7. Web Server – MS Internet Information Services (IIS), Apache, etc.
8. Target computer Operating System if not a Windows Platform – Apple, Unix, Linux, etc.
9. Target workstation hardware for all client stations,
a. Clock speed -1333, 1500, 2000, 3000, etc. MHz,
b. Hard drive space – 100, 200, 400, etc. Gbytes,
c. RAM – 128Mb, 256Mb, 512Mb, 1Gb, etc.
10. If a network application, which network and version? -Windows, Novell 3.1, Novell, etc.
11. What are the drive letters for the networked back end databases if a network application? F, G, H, etc.? This reduces the deployment effort by developing in the same environment as the target workstations.
12. If available and pertinent, please provide a network configuration diagram with paths to server (where database will reside) and all clients, security/user groups, etc.
13. Is 24×7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) uptime required? If so, please explain the business need. We will discuss this further. The cost goes up as more uptime is required. More resources are needed – various personnel on pagers, redundant computers or components like power supplies RAID or mirrored hard drives, etc.
14. Is Internet/Intranet data access desired?
a. For data entry?
b. For report reviewing only?
c. To disseminate existing documents?
d. To email notification of pre-determined business trigger events (project milestone met and approved, employee appraisal ready for approval, etc.)?
15. Is Security desired?
a. Extremely high network (Internet) security – firewall, proxy server, etc.
b. Database level security – MS Access has security, but SQL Server has a much tighter security model tied in with the Win 2000/NT operating system.
c. Application level security
d. Minimum (pseudo) security algorithm – low cost
e. Please specify User Groups that may have special Security needs requiring different levels of security:
i. Administrative Assistants
ii. Analysts
iii. Engineers
iv. Managers
v. Company Owners
vi. System Administrators
16. Are Backup Scenarios currently in place? Backups will be an integral component of the system. The importance of this cannot be over emphasized.
a. Daily, Weekly, Monthly onto tape
b. Daily, Weekly, Monthly onto CD or other optical drive
c. Onto another computer
d. Regular backups located at a remote site
17. Are Anti-Virus protection and policies in place? It is an important part of ensuring that a system stays up and running.
18. Will remote troubleshooting be desired? The addition of Error Processing and Logging software will facilitate remote support and troubleshooting.
19. Desired Documentation?
a. None
b. Installation
c. User
d. Administrator
e. Software
f. On-line help
g. Special
h. All of the above
20. What is the proficiency level of all users for the target tools and environments – Windows, Excel, etc.?
21. Will interfaces to other systems (accounting, payroll, another database, GIS, truck routing, etc.) be required? This will affect the data model and system configuration, so early planning for these interfaces is critical to their successful inclusion into the system.
22. Is an audit trail function desired for changes to existing data? What parts of the system will need to be audited?
23. Is government reporting or data security required – Sarbanes Oxley, HIPAA, etc.
24. Number of reports. A sample hardcopy or at least hand drawing of each will significantly help in determination of report prices and commonalties (company headers, formats, etc.). Important items are:
a. Number of sections including sort groups,
b. Definition of the source data for all fields in each section and their calculation method,
c. Summaries,
d. Desired output format:
i. Windows screen preview
ii. HTML
iii. E-Mail
iv. PDF
v. Delimited Text
vi. Excel spreadsheet
vii. Other outputs
25. Is an ad hoc user-defined reporting, data retrieval, or analysis (On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), Data Mining, etc.) capability desired?
26. Is an installation program needed for distribution of an application to many users?
27. Is an automated network or internet installation desired?
28. Are custom point to point communications needed? This may also include automated faxing.
29. Special Considerations:
a. Unique business rules, calculations, desired warnings, etc.
b. Significant text parsing
c. Known or possible issues and problems that may be alleviated with testing
d. Voice driven capability
e. Multiple databases (Access and SQL Server, Oracle, etc.)
DATA AND VOLUME
1. How many users are expected on the system in the near (first 6 months) and long (1 – 3 years and past) term?
2. How many users are expected to use the system at the same time during peak periods in the near and long term?
3. What type of data traffic will be on the network for the near and long term – numbers, text, images, video, multi-media, etc.?
4. What is the expected volume of traffic for the near and long term?
5. What is the estimated number of data records to be stored for the near and long term?
6. Do we need to import data from existing files or systems? Note that Characters like ‘ ” # have special significance in data processing and conversion, and require special code handling. Names (D’Joy) and other data fields may contain these characters.
a. No. Example data will usually be provided in database, text, or spreadsheet format. This helps significantly in system testing and allows for error discovery and error trapping before the system is delivered.
b. Yes.
i. Is all or part of the existing data needed? What parts?
ii. Can use of the existing data be stopped while we convert the data into the new system?
iii. Is this a one time data conversion, or will we have to import data from existing systems regularly?
iv. Are some fields mostly blank?
v. Are some desired fields missing?

Custom Software Development During The Credit Crunch

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:23:11 +0000

If your business depends on technological systems for its survival, the last thing you should be doing is suspending crucial development work that could give you the competitive edge. Or if you’re a newbie with a bright idea, holding fire on your dreams could mean someone else beats you to the punch by the time you decide to act. This article examines how business survival depends on evolution and those that decide to wait out the credit crunch could find themselves obsolete.

So your turnover is down, and your customers seem to be window-shopping rather than buying.

What can you do? Batten down the hatches and wait for the economic storm to pass? That might be your natural instinct, but the chances are that by the time you re-appear from your self-imposed exile, your competitive edge may have gone, and rather than re-emerging into a post credit-crunch world where economic recovery offers you fresh opportunities for business prosperity, you could find yourself obsolete.

Survival depends on evolution. Hold still and the world will pass you by.

That’s why if your business depends on technological systems for its survival, the last thing you should be doing is suspending crucial development work that could give you the competitive edge. Or if you’re a newbie with a bright idea, holding fire on your dreams could mean someone else beats you to the punch by the time you decide to act.

So how do you steer your company through an uncertain economic market to the safe shores of a brighter tomorrow?

Firstly, bear in mind that a tough economic market doesn’t stop innovation – on the contrary, history informs us that adversity fuels innovation.

If you’re an innovator, the chances are that the factors that came together to spark your bright idea in the first place may be there for others to draw the same conclusions from. Innovation very rarely happens in a vacuum and, referring to history again, it’s the first person to capitalise on an idea that wins (take, for example, the invention of the light bulb – Thomas Edison succeeded in making the first practical prototype, but he wasn’t the first, or the only person working on the light bulb).

However, without cash flow to grow your idea into something tangible, an idea is all it will remain.

With banks and lending institutions making it very difficult for companies to raise the capital necessary to undertake large custom software projects, it is perhaps understandable that some businesses may be tempted to put their software projects on hold until the market recovers – or to settle for an off-the-shelf substitute that ‘makes-do’ for now. As attractive as this may seem, the risk is that an off-the-shelf solution could ultimately hamper your business objectives if the system isn’t right for you, which could result in having to make business sacrifices later on.

It’s also worth remembering that a tough market can give customers a better hand than in times of plenty. As a potential client, you can negotiate more ‘bang for your buck’, so offsetting the cost of undertaking the project.

And if you do decide to go ahead, it’s important to keep control of your software development project. To do that, the solution is to outsource the work to a reliable software house with a good track record – but you need to be careful and do your research.

Big software houses can be expensive, as well as impersonal. Small software houses can lack resources or developer expertise. Look for a consultancy somewhere in the middle. Look at their website for contact information. Chances are that if the phone number is difficult to find, they’re not the best communicators, which could spell trouble ahead.

Spend some time getting your idea right. Make sure you know what you want your idea to do and what you expect from a software developer. If you’re clear on how you want the software to function, chances are so will the software developer.

Remember also that if you’re serious about developing your idea, it’s always a good idea to run it past a software consultancy before you embark on spending serious amounts of cash. A consultancy can assess the technical feasibility of your plans and provide that extra, independent analysis of the business risks associated with your idea, so that you can move forward with confidence. Some developers will provide free initial advice, so you can see what’s involved. You’d be surprised at how many ideas fall at this crucial first hurdle.

Choosing a custom software company

Before approaching a software development company, work out your exact requirements in the form of a basic analysis. This includes the requirements from an end user point of view and a rough design specification. Here’s what UK-based custom software company, Blueberry Consultants (http://www.bbconsult.co.uk) advises:

Top ten questions to ask your developer:

Good Answer: The customer owns all copyright once the project is paid for. If the developer uses internal libraries, a royalty-free, perpetual, transferable licence is granted.

Bad Answer: The developer retains copyright and provides the customer with a licence to use the system.

Blueberry advises: If you are paying to have software written, the developer should hand over (assign) all copyrights in the system at the end of the project. A few disreputable companies try to get customers to sign a contract where they only pass over a licence to use the software. The developer is then legally entitled to ask for further fees in the future, even though the customer has paid for the development.

Good Answer: No, the system will be all new code built with standard tools and libraries.

Bad Answer: The system will be built on top of our fantastic XYZ platform.

Blueberry advises: Some developers try to reduce costs by building systems on top of third-party or in-house ‘platforms’. The problem with such an approach is that it leads to problems with maintenance and licensing. The developer is unlikely to release source code to his wonderful platform, so if there is a serious problem it is difficult to get another company to take over. You should ensure that all source code to the whole system is available.

Good Answer: Yes, but we will ensure that you can buy licences to such systems, and these costs are clear.

Bad Answer: I’m not sure… maybe.

Blueberry advises: There are many powerful libraries available to developers, and these do save a lot of time. However, such libraries may be licensed to the developer, not to the end customer, and this either presents a future additional cost, or a maintenance issue. Similarly, the system may be designed to work with external systems like MS SQL Server, which have associated costs. The developer should make sure the customer understands all such costs.

Good Answer: Yes. All code written by our developers is placed into a central source code control system, which is backed up off-site nightly.

Bad Answer: What is source code control?

Blueberry advises: When software is being written by a team, the team members need to share code between each other. A source-code control system makes this easy, and is a very standard tool. All professional developers should use source-code control. There is a possible argument that source code control is not required if the project only has one developer, but we would still recommend it be used, because it ensures that code is backed up to a central location. The source code should be backed up nightly to another location, otherwise there is always a risk that it might be lost.

Good Answer: A senior manager with development expertise talks to the customer to understand their requirements.

Less Good Answer: Our salesper
son talks to the customer first, and then brings in the development expert later.

Blueberry advises: Obtaining the correct requirements from the customer is absolutely crucial to the success of any project. Whilst the best salesperson may be trained to do this, our experience is that using a person with development expertise makes this process more reliable and far quicker, because it eliminates communication errors. Of course, the development expert must have the business and communication skills to build a rapport with the customer.

Good Answer: Yes, we have an in-house systems administrator, who can help with any necessary firewall or other systems configuration.

Less Good Answer: Your IT department should do this, or we can maybe recommend someone.

Blueberry advises: The IT department in most companies usually has very competent people, but they are often extremely busy, which can result in unnecessary delays during deployment. The skills required to install a new system can involve multiple people within the IT department, e.g. one person to configure the firewall, another to work with the database. If the development company has in-house people to do this, it can save quite a lot of time.

Good Answer: Ideally, at least three years. More is better, but are they up to date with new technologies?

Blueberry advises: Obviously, a company that has been in business longer is likely to be more stable than a new start-up. The first three years of any business are the toughest, so look more carefully at companies younger than this. However, there are disadvantages to older businesses, particularly in technology, as they might not be up to date.

Good Answer: Ideally, at least 6, but not more than 30.

Blueberry advises: A company with less than 6 developers is likely to have tighter resource constraints than a larger firm. Development projects are often extended beyond their original deadline, and with a smaller company this can often mean that new projects cannot start on time. A smaller firm will also have less people to draw on to solve technical problems.

Good Answer: C#, .NET, VB.NET, C++

Bad Answer: Visual Basic 6, Microsoft Access, Delphi

Blueberry advises: The right language for a project depends on the project requirements. However, Visual Basic 6 is no longer supported by Microsoft, and absolutely should not be used for new projects. Microsoft Access is very popular for workgroup systems, and is effective at this level, but it is not suited for larger projects. Code Gear’s Delphi – which was Borland Delphi – is a very strong tool, but it’s difficult to find people to update the code.

Good Answer: Yes, our software writes detailed logs.

Bad Answer: No, we rely on debugging the program before we give it to you.

Blueberry advises: All programs will have bugs – this is unfortunate, but true. Programmers have very powerful tools to help remove bugs, but these tools generally only work on the programmers own computer. This is unfortunately no help in solving bugs that happen on the customers’ computer. The best solution to this problem is to add code to the software so that it writes detailed logs on exactly what happens. When a problem occurs at the customers’ site, the program should send the log to the development team, who can then fix it. Unfortunately, writing logs takes extra effort, and many programmers don’t do this routinely.

Custom Development Company in UK

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:08:03 +0000

Custom Development Companies in the UK are helping you grow in your business by offering the best software products and services as per the needs and requirements of your business. These companies in the UK are expert in the development of custom software applications, such as custom programming, client-server application development, database design and Internet/Intranet software application development.

With a group of competent software developers, outsourcing professionals and project management team, the custom development companies in the UK are known worldwide. The professionals of these companies have years of experience work experience developing custom software that caters to the varied needs of business and organisations in different sectors and industries. In terms of quality and reliability, these companies in the UK are beyond comparison.

They work on all the latest programming platforms, such as .NET, ASP.NET, VB.NET, C# XML and many more. Their years of experience of working in various major custom software development projects with different clients have turned these UK developers the first choice in the industry. They work for their own clients and on behalf of other IT companies of the worlds as well.

UK custom development companies conduct a thorough research and analyse various feasibility studies to find the requirements for the software solution to be developed. After completing all the studies and observations, these companies then develop the software. The UK custom development companies primarily focus on three major aspect of software development, such as custom application development, migration and porting, testing and maintenance.

At each phase of the software development, these custom development companies in the UK seek the close association of their clients. At every step of the custom software development, they follow the best industry practices to ensure world class quality standards and reliability of the product and service developed. Their work does not limit to the development and installation alone, they also ensure proper maintenance and monitoring of the software to bring in the required level of efficiency in the product. They also offer round the clock customer support service to their clients