Every successful software project starts with a solid database design. Get the data model wrong and you spend the next ten years working around it.
We’ve designed and built custom systems for business, local government and central government since 1999, using the power, security and versatility of Microsoft SQL Server.
Design before development
The systems that cause trouble later are the ones built straight from a list of screens somebody wanted.
We start with how the work actually moves through your business, then design the data model around it: normalised where it should be, denormalised where performance demands it, with the keys, constraints and indexes decided deliberately rather than added when something gets slow.
That work usually turns up two or three things worth changing before any code gets written. It’s also where you find out what it’ll cost.
The kinds of system we build
Bespoke business systems built on SQL Server, including:
- Job and works management
- Stock, product and parts databases
- Supplier and contractor management
- Quoting, ordering and invoicing
- Scheduling and resource planning
- Compliance and checks systems, including display screen equipment (DSE) assessments
- Asset and equipment tracking
- Reporting and management information
Each one individually planned, designed and built rather than configured from a template. Systems are designed to evolve, because the business will.
Application back ends
SQL Server is often the engine behind something else: a web application, a mobile app, an Access front end, a reporting layer, or all four against the same data.
We design the database to serve all of them properly — a single source of truth, with sensible APIs over the top rather than four applications each doing their own thing to the same tables.
SQL Server integration and APIs · web applications
What we build with
Most of what we build runs on Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Access, often both together. That’s where 25 years of experience sits, and for most businesses it’s where the money goes furthest.
Core platforms
- Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL — for systems with real concurrency, reporting demands or security requirements → SQL Server
- Microsoft Access, current versions — for single-site systems with a manageable number of users, where Office is already licensed and you want something working in weeks → Microsoft Access
- Access front end with a SQL Server back end — familiar screens for users, a proper engine underneath. One of the most common and most cost-effective things we build → Access migration and upgrades
- MySQL, where an existing system or hosting arrangement calls for it → MySQL
What we build around them
- Back end: C# / .NET, Node.js and NestJS, TypeScript → bespoke database and business software
- Web: React and Next.js → web applications for existing systems
- Mobile: React Native for cross-platform, native Swift and Kotlin where the hardware matters — scanners, cameras, offline working → mobile apps for existing systems
- Cloud: Azure — App Service, Container Apps and AKS, with infrastructure defined in Terraform so environments are repeatable → Azure and cloud
- Integration: REST APIs, webhooks, message queues and background job processing → SQL Server integration and APIs
Still supported
PHP, classic ASP.NET, VB.NET and Java. Plenty of working systems are built on these and we’d rather keep yours running than tell you it needs replacing → legacy software rescue
What you get
- Fixed scope and fixed price for the build, agreed before we start
- Your data, in a format you own, hosted in the cloud or on your own hardware
- Documentation of the design, so you’re not dependent on us to understand your own system
- Testing with the people who’ll use it, before go-live
- Someone to ring afterwards who remembers building it → SQL Server support
That last one is the point. Most of the systems we get called out to were built by someone who’s no longer reachable.
Related case studies
D&M Packaging: quality management, supplier control and production planning
A specialist packaging manufacturer needed its quality management system to handle root cause analysis, supplier non-conformance and complaint investigations properly, alongside capacity planning and shift rotas. Development runs continuously rather than in annual releases, so changes land while they're still relevant.
View case study →Dearson Winyard International: case management, reporting and a client portal
An immigration and right-to-work consultancy runs on documentation, deadlines and client visibility. Ongoing development and support keeps the case management system, management dashboards and client portal working, with staff onboarded in a day and issues resolved before they hold up a case.
View case study →Lilleker Engineering: replacing a legacy job costing system, built around how the business runs
A Rotherham fabrication business needed to get off an ageing job costing system without losing the way it works. The replacement covers jobs, materials, purchase orders, enquiries and invoicing, and most of its best features came out of what users found during testing.
View case study →Tell us what the business needs to do
Not what screens you want. We'll design the data model around how the work actually happens, and tell you what it costs before you commit.
Send us the details → How we work →