Our Recent Project Management Software Projects

Here are some examples of the sorts of work we have done with our customers across a variety of project management related projects, highlighting the features we built and challenges we faced along the way.

Contents - Click to jump to an entry

• NEW: Infrastructure projects specification and procurement system
• Adding timesheet/clock records to an existing database
• Solar Power - Managing Projects and Linking Data and Maps
• Projects Blog - Index

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NEW: Infrastructure projects specification and procurement system

We took on the conversion of an Access ADP-based system over to an Access database with SQL server back end here, following Microsoft's decision to discontinue compatibility of ADP files with later versions of Access. This was a challenge that most developers would not take on and instead insisted that it couldn't be done.

The work is now complete and our client has asked us to build onto their converted system significantly, with new modules for enabling management of the procurement process, for linking in industry-standard data, and facilitating easy production of comparator reports for variances to budget and similar.

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Adding timesheet/clock records to an existing database

One of our clients is in the packaging industry. We created a simple system for them many years ago for tracking and reporting their job costs and they have been using this system successfully since 1999.

Earlier this year, they decided to incorporate the functionality of a separate system they have been using into our existing one. This function is their clocking/timesheet recording system. As the labour recorded in this separate system formed a large part of the costs for each job, this integration removed the need for a manual data transfer process that they were carrying out each week. It made sense, therefore, to combine the 2 systems!

One particular challenge for the project was to help keep the transition to the new integrated system as simple as possible for the users who input the information normally. We needed to make sure that the new system's interface looked familiar and worked similarly, whilst at the same time incorporating interface improvements identified by the users. This we succeeded in, and the move was swift and straightforward.

Another improvement we incorporated at the same time was to integrate the production of the monthly Excel reports that previously flowed from the old time recording system and the original job costing system - but manually. Now, in the new integrated system, these are produced - still in Excel - at the click of a button.

Features:

• Stores time (clocking) records alongside the other database information
• Interface designed for quick keyboard navigation and data input
• Combines Access and Excel
• Integrates several previously separate functions

Benefits:

• Time savings
• Removal of repetitive tasks and therefore potential for error
• Easy, accurate reporting

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Solar Power - Managing Projects and Linking Data and Maps

This system uses an MS Access database to manage solar panel sites in varying stages of progress from prospective sites through to sites at the installation stage. The sites in the database are also displayed on a GIS (geographic information system) to help manage the process and also search for potential new sites.

The Access database holds details of sites; their owners and tenants, etc.; solar data; and milestones relating to the projects' process. It provides tools for proactive management of the progress of the projects and automates emails, letters, forms and reports along the way. One such report is a document sent to prospective clients that is exported to pdf and contains images taken from the GIS and various calculations and data from the database. Creating a report like this manually used to take someone around 1-2 hours per report. Now they can be created at the click of a button.

The GIS contains many other useful facilities, including the ability to measure roof areas and the direction they face (azimuth). It links directly to the database, both sending information into the database and displaying information from it.

Features:

• Straightforward, comprehensive project management tool
• Uses Microsoft Access combined with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and MapGuide
• Creates documents to the exact required layout
• Contains many contact management (CRM) and project management facilities

Benefits:

• Time savings
• Powerful visual information
• Enables a small team of people to handle a large number of sites
• Manages the process so that sites progress through as quickly as possible