Business application development
Bespoke databases for data that has outgrown a spreadsheet
When operational data matters enough to protect but still lives in a shared file, the risk is not theoretical. A proper database makes it safe, queryable and shared.
The situation
Data too important to leave in a spreadsheet
Spreadsheets are excellent tools that make poor databases. The trouble usually appears at exactly the point the data becomes valuable.
- Several versions of the same file, each slightly different
- No record of who changed what, or when
- Formulas that break when a row is inserted in the wrong place
- Access controlled by who has the link rather than by role
- Reporting that means copying the data somewhere else first
- A file that has grown slow, fragile, or both
What it covers
What a database build covers
Data modelling
A structure reflecting how the business actually relates its information, designed to survive the next five years of change.
Validation and rules
Constraints that make bad data hard to enter, rather than a cleanup exercise later.
Interfaces
Forms and screens so people can work with the data without needing to understand the schema.
Access control and audit
Roles, permissions and a record of changes — necessary as soon as the data is personal or financial.
Reporting and export
Queries and reports built in, so an answer does not require a developer or a spreadsheet.
Migration
Existing records moved across, with duplicates and gaps surfaced for a decision rather than carried over silently.
How we work
How a database project runs
Understand the data
What is held, who uses it, what decisions depend on it, and what it is expected to become.
Model and design
Design the structure, the rules and the access model before anything is built on top of it.
Build and migrate
Build the database and interfaces, then move existing data in a rehearsed migration rather than one risky cutover.
Hand over
Documentation, training and support, so the system does not depend on whoever built it.
Outcomes
What you are left with
- One authoritative version of the data rather than several files
- Validation that prevents errors instead of reporting them afterwards
- An audit trail showing who changed what, and when
- Access controlled by role rather than by who holds the link
- Reporting from live data, with no export step
- A structure that can be extended as requirements change
Platforms and tooling
What we build with
Relational
- SQL Server
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- Oracle
Other stores
- MongoDB
- Redis
- Elasticsearch
Hosting
- Microsoft Azure
- AWS
- Private cloud
- On-premise
Named as platforms we work with, not as formal partnerships.
Common questions
Questions we are usually asked
Yes, and that is usually where the project starts. Migration is where most of the risk sits, so it is rehearsed rather than done once at the end, and inconsistencies are surfaced for a decision instead of being silently imported.
No. The database is the foundation; what people use is an interface designed around their task. If a user has to understand the schema, the interface has not been finished.
A properly configured one usually is, and is generally more secure than a spreadsheet on a shared drive. Access control, encryption and audit are part of the build. We will work to your data protection requirements, though we do not give legal advice on compliance.
They will. That is what the design stage is for — a model built around how the business relates its information tends to absorb change, where one built around today's report does not.
Yes. A database nothing else can reach just creates a new island, so integration is normally part of the scope rather than a later project.
Backup, retention and recovery are agreed as part of the build and then tested. An untested backup is a hope rather than a plan.
Talk to someone who has built this
Not a salesperson working from a form. Tell us what the problem looks like and someone who has delivered this kind of work will come back to you, usually within one working day.
Book a free consultationRelated
Where this usually connects
- Bespoke business applicationsSoftware shaped around how you work, when nothing off the shelf fits.
- Data migrationMoving data between systems without losing its history.
- Bespoke CRM systemsA customer database built to your process, with no per-user licence.
- Systems integrationMaking the systems you already own talk to each other.
- Operational systemsThe systems that run the day-to-day work of the business.
- HostingManaged hosting for the systems we build and the ones you already run.