Frequently Asked Questions about Custom Software
Why custom software?
How much
does it cost?
What else do I need?
How
does the process work?
What about
after-sale support?
What
other services do you offer?
Why custom software?
As a business owner or manager, you have spent countless company
resources developing procedures and training employees to maximize
productivity. Custom software will leverage that
investment, enhancing your in-place procedures, making your
employees more efficient and accurate. Off-the-shelf software
generally will force your company into a mold created by people that
know nothing of your business processes, procedures or
requirements. Implementing a custom software solution is
usually much less traumatic for the employees because it enhances
their existing procedures, it does not replace them.
Off-the-shelf software implementations on the other hand can be
extremely disruptive to work flow as employees must learn new
procedures even as they are attempting to remain productive.
How
much does it cost?
We have a huge assortment of well-tested code modules representing
over 20 years of software development in database-centric
applications. This means almost nothing needs to be created
from scratch, which is expensive and time consuming. And this
means you save a lot of money on software from us. Our rates
will be based on how long it will take to modify our existing
software to meet your needs. Because of our huge code library,
almost any large-scale multi-user database application can be ready
for installation and testing in just a few weeks. Our rates
are $1500 per week or $5000 per month. However,
you may choose to pay a small amount up-front, then a monthly
licensing fee per copy or per work group. Typically, this
would be $2000 up front and $200 per month for each work group using
the software, or $100 per month for each copy. At the other
end of the spectrum is an outright purchase of the software package
with copyright. This allows you to run the software on any
number of workstations you choose. The software will display
your graphics and logos and your copyright notice on the splash
screens.
What
else will I need?
Our custom software uses a 'thin client' paradigm.
All the real work is done on the database server. That means
virtually any standard Windows PC will run our software, even
laptops. If your custom software solution is a database application,
you will need a computer server running a database engine. We
are specialists in the Microsoft SQL Server database system.
We have a huge code library developed for SQL Server, which
accelerates development time keeping your costs down.
How does the process work?
If you think custom software may be the answer to your
business needs, the next step is a free consultation. This
generally occurs at your company location, and may include product
demonstrations, interviews with your lead employees, and observation
of your business processes. Next we develop a software
plan for your approval. This plan defines the specifications and
functionality of the software, the timelines for development,
testing, implementation and the cost. After you approve the
plan, we would typically have a product ready for review of the user
interface elements in a few weeks, followed by initial installation
and testing at your location a few weeks
after that. At this point we instruct the lead users in
the software's use and make any final modifications requested or
required.
What about after-sale support?
All software comes with a 30 day adjustment period after final
delivery. This period ensures the software performs as you
expect as more users begin generating data. This period would
generally see minor adjustments to the user interface, changes in
reports or changes in data input filtering. All software also
comes with a 6 month bug-fix guarantee. Finally, all software
comes with a 1 year Crash Protection guarantee. If, for any
reason, your custom software crashes, we will make what repairs are
necessary at no cost to you. These issues are typically the
result of Microsoft Service Pack updates to Windows or similar
situations (driver updates, Windows security patches, etc.).
What other services do you offer?
Writing database applications software requires an in-depth
knowledge of computers, database systems, operating systems and
networking. As a result, we are uniquely qualified to
act as database administrators, network administrators and help
desk. In many cases, we can act as your company's one-stop IT
department. Although much IT support is done using
remote access technology over VPN, an on-site presence is
still occasionally required. For that reason we limit our
service area to mid-coast Maine - Portland area to Augusta.
Our rates for DBA, Network Administrator or Help Desk are $75 per
hour for remote support, $100 per hour for on-site support.
We also offer support to existing IT departments in the form of
specific contract work. This can be a complete custom software
package to specific tasks outside the capability of on-staff IT
employees. Large scale data conversions, data warehousing
projects, even special hardware projects are all within our
capability.
