Software Development

Our main focus is web based software development with the simple reason that web based applications are more easy to maintain, to distribute  and with the latest Internet browser technologies supports most functionality an ordinary desktop application would do. (for more benefits, please refer to http://www.websoftware.co.nz/)

With web based software applications does not automatically mean that they have to be running in the cloud (Internet) available for everyone. It is very well possible to install web based applications on a server at your own premises (so call in-house solutions).

Many of our clients have chosen to run the purchased software on an in-house server system.

A few of our software applications are -

• Job Card and Costing Tracking System
• Document Filing System
• Client and Job Management System

As a software development company we have over 10 years experience in building small business software and especially web applications. Starting with very basic applications back in 1995 (Standard ASP applications for on-line timesheet reporting as well as a Project management system using a MS Access database), we have grown to be very experienced in a wide range of web programming methods and techniques (For example, but not limited to : ASP | C# | .NET | PHP | MS-SQL | MySQL | HTML | Ajax | Javascript | CSS).

Although most of the developed web applications are specifically built directly for small business customers and not for resale, we do have developed 'ready-to-go' applications which are easy to install and also developed in such a way that it can easily be enhanced with customer specific features.

We are specialised in customised software solutions with a focus on web applications. Through the years we have served several companies from small and medium to large with reliable and process driven solutions which work for the client. And that special touch of the close involvement of the client makes the entire solution most beneficial for the end-user. Our experience allows us also to think along with your business processes and how to fit in a proper solution.

Developing a web application is no easy job, it requires a clear outlined specification so that the client knows what it will get. However, our experience is that many clients only exactly know what they require/want once they have something to play with. For that reason we have created our very own special development process to allow this happening in a structured and satisfying manner.

Development Process

In the first stage nothing will be charged to the client and is purely to establish a possible client relationship for launching s project.

• Receiving an inquiry
  A quick response is sent by email with possible solutions.
   
• More information required regarding solutions
  An initial meeting is organised regarding requirements.
  A short document is drawn up with global specifications and possible solutions and sent to the client.
   
• Client approves to go ahead with a possible solution
  An official project start meeting is organised to kick off the project and discuss/agree the project process steps.

Using web software has heaps of benefits and as the abilities of the web browsers and programming techniques increase, the benefits will only become more and probably desirable compared to desktop software applications. To name a few benefits ...

• Distribution and maintenance
  The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for the popularity of web applications.
   
• Reduce costs
  As there is in most cases no limitations of the number of users who access the web applications, and especially if it is running on a local Intranet, there will be less or no licensing costs per user which makes the whole usage far more cheaper than regular desktop software applications.
   
• Extensions
  Programming and installation of extensions can in most cases be done without any interruption in the existing part of the software. Most conveniently new extensions can first be made available for a selective number of people for testing after which it can be released within minutes to make it instantly available for everyone.

We mainly develop using PHP as programming language and MySQL as the database back-end. In both we have more than 10 years experience but we are not limited to that. If you have any questions if we are able to help you, please don't hesitate to contact us.

There are a lot of PHP frameworks. Although using a PHP framework might speed up the development/implementation time,  it does cause the programmer to do with less knowledge about PHP as a lot of this is taken care of by the PHP framework. Another disadvantage of using a PHP framework is that quite often only just a small percentage of the whole framework is used (maybe 10-20%) which causes a lot of overhead and possibly processing speed.

For that reason we have been creating individual PHP and Javascript (AJAX) modules over the years and enhanced them (backwards compatible) that we use every time when we start a fresh project.

Also, many so called Integrated Development Environments (IDE) are available for programming in PHP that can make programming and testing in PHP easier. It depends on the programmer what preferred IDE is used as long as the end result is a tidy piece of software that can be used in whatever IDE is chosen.
Already since the start of time one developer has chosen to use the HTML-Kit 292 as PHP editor which has it limitations but still seems to be able to produce good programming code.
Even though the HTML-Kit 292 can do a good job we finally found a worthy replacement to build great web based applications. It is also free and still actively maintained, this is the Komodo Edit created by AktiveState.

We are also using Beyond Compare to make sure updates in the development environment are transferred into the LIVE web based application correctly without disruption.

As far as the MySQL development concerns, we have found the ultimate MySQL administration program SQLyog that allows any professional MySQL Programmer and Administrator to do it's work.

Another great tool we are using for our developments is the Stand Alone Web Server Server2Go. The reason this is a great tool for development is that it creates a whole Web Server environment on the fly including Database Server (MySQL). So when starting the development we start the Stand Alone Web Server with the specific settings for the project we are working on. This will then use the assigned database and source files and when done for the day (or hour) closing down the Webserver neatly closes the development environment.
This makes sure we are not mixing up projects when a developer is working on different projects at the same time.

Another big advantage is that once the development reaches a milestone we simply can send the client a CD (or DVD) with the full functional web application loaded for review.

Thanks to the in-house developed Web Application framework we are able to quickly develop high-end web applications within a modular environment for easy maintenance and expandability.

In this instance we have transferred a web based IssueTracker for St George's hospital. We had a choice of styling the existing user-interface or completely rebuild the IssueTracker using the A-Vision web development framework.

A quick calculation showed that the time required for a complete rebuild would take about the same time as styling the existing program.

So, here is what we have done ...

The previous user-interface

The new user-interface

By using the A-Vision web application framework we were able to do this in only 8 hours, using their existing data. Next to that we also added some minor functionality using the functionality provided by the framework.

Do you have an application you want to transform? Please contact us now!
This can also be a windows desktop application, with the major benefit of server based web applications now everyone can access the software from their own computer and depending on user rights functionality can easily be enabled or disabled.