Every project starts with a blank piece of paper. In some respects, our database design approach is no different; although your company may bear many similarities to others we have worked with, we never assume that yours is the same. Blank paper. What’s different is that we have years of experience working with many types of businesses and organizations, and we will bring that knowledge to bear whenever it’s appropriate. We start by asking you to dream big. More often than not, we can achieve what you want to do (and we probably already have). If we can’t do something, we will let you know.
This part of the process is called the “Discovery Phase,” and it is the most important part of the whole project. This is when we not only learn all about your business, but get to know you and, maybe, a little bit about how you think. It starts with blue sky – “Wouldn’t it be cool if the system did this?” – all the way to “Okay, so when we push this button here, all of these things happen…” This gives us a functional spec, a good idea of delivery time, and of course, an understanding of what it’s all going to cost – all essential elements of good database design.
From there, we move on to getting you an early release of the system to start playing with. You can tell us how close we’re coming to the bulls-eye, what you would like to see done differently, etc. We want to engage you in the process early, so that you are along for the journey from imagination to reality.
The process continues through this cycle until the finished product is ready for real-world testing, training, deployment, and ongoing support. That’s right, we’ll be with you for the long haul, to answer questions, solve problems, and add new features to the system as they become necessary. Think of it as a partnership in which the shared goal is making your company just that much more awesome. Our filemaker programming and custom software development are able to create the database solutions with all the functionality your company needs to increase efficiency and ROI.