Professional database support and services since 1999.
We build and look after the operational systems businesses actually run on — where an off-the-shelf product doesn’t fit, or where the system you’ve got needs keeping alive, improving or replacing.
Call ☎ to talk it through, or use the links below.
What do you need?
| If this is where you are | Start here |
|---|---|
| It’s down, or nobody can work | emergency database support |
| It’s corrupt, or data has gone missing | database recovery and data rescue |
| It works, but we need someone to look after it | database support and management |
| It’s slow | database performance tuning |
| We’ve inherited it and don’t know what state it’s in | database health check |
| We need a new system building | business software and database design |
| The system can’t do what the business now needs | modernise existing systems |
| It won’t talk to our other systems | integration and APIs |
| We’re moving platform, version or to the cloud | database migration |
| The data’s a mess | data cleansing |
What we work with
[IMG-1] — Skip a decorative image here. Block 2 and this list are the page’s job and anything alongside competes.
Our specialisms
Microsoft SQL Server — current versions through to SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL Database and Managed Instance, and SQL Server Express → SQL Server
Microsoft Access — Microsoft 365, Access 2024 and 2021, and everything before them → Microsoft Access
Also worked with regularly
MySQL and MariaDB — current versions and the older ones still running plenty of business systems → MySQL
PostgreSQL — increasingly where new systems land, and often where people move to from elsewhere
Databases behind modern applications
MongoDB where a document store genuinely fits the data better than tables.
Redis for caching and background job queues.
SQLite inside mobile apps, which is what makes an app work when there’s no signal.
Firebase and Firestore where an app needs it.
We’d rather use the right one than the fashionable one. For most business systems that’s still a relational database, and we’ll say so.
And the ones nobody else will touch
SQL Server 2005, 2008 and 2012. MySQL 5.x. Access 97, 2000 and 2003. Systems on versions that went out of support years ago and are still, quietly, running a business.
We don’t refuse those. Understanding them, keeping them going, and helping you decide when it’s finally worth moving is a large part of what we do → legacy software rescue
When off-the-shelf doesn’t fit
Plenty of businesses are better served by a package, and if that’s you we’ll say so.
Bespoke earns its place when the way you work is the business — when the process that makes you money is one no product understands, when you’d have to change how you operate to fit the software, or when you’ve bought three packages and you’re still typing between them.
What we build: job and works management, stock and product databases, supplier and contractor management, quoting and ordering, compliance and checks systems, asset tracking, scheduling — usually two or three of those joined together, because that’s how businesses actually work.
business software and database design
More than the database
A database on its own doesn’t help anybody. What makes it useful is everything around it.
Reporting people actually look at → reporting and business intelligence
Web access for staff who aren’t at a desk → web applications
Mobile apps for people out on site → mobile apps
Portals so customers can answer their own questions → customer portals
Integration with accounts, email, barcode and everything else → integration and APIs
Cloud, where it makes sense → Azure and cloud
Why people call us
[IMG-2] — The credibility image. Person at a desk, or the Aizlewood’s Mill office.
Alt: CDE Systems, database specialists, Sheffield
Over 25 years on databases. Not a general IT company that also does databases.
We take on systems we didn’t build. No documentation, original developer gone, nobody left who knows how it works. That’s most of what we do.
You speak to the person doing the work. No ticket queue, no script, and the same people next time you ring.
Public and private sector. Business, local government and central government since 1999, including NHS organisations.
We’ll tell you when to do nothing. If the system’s fine, or the fix is cheaper than the project you’ve been quoted, that’s what you’ll hear.
how we work · about CDE Systems
Business Software & Database Design
New systems, designed around how you actually work.
Find out more...
Business Software & Database Design
New systems, designed around how you actually work.
Find out more...Case studies
Aire Valley Catering: four mobile apps, an Access business system, and engineers with no signal
Engineers working on customer sites across the UK can't count on having a signal, and the job still has to be recorded. Four production apps across both app stores, an Access and SQL Server business system behind them, and a roadmap that keeps offline working rather than trading it away.
View case study →Recovering audit and customer data across multiple corrupt SQL databases
Several customer databases became damaged and wouldn't open, putting audit records, operational data and customer information at risk of permanent loss. A structured recovery programme rebuilt usable datasets from the corrupt files and returned multiple customer systems to service.
View case study →ACC Worldwide: a faster SQL Server platform, noticed on day one
A business-critical system was working but slow, and staff felt it every day. Work on the SQL Server environment behind it delivered an immediate speed increase, and left ACC's own IT team with the logging and monitoring tools to keep developing it.
View case study →
Tell us what you're running
What the system does, who built it, and what's wrong with it — or what you need that you haven't got. We'll tell you what we'd do and what it costs, including when the answer is to leave it alone.
Send us the details → Call 0114 249 1036 →