Independent Computer Services can develop unique software applications to provide your business with a competitive advantage.

In those instances where there are no commercially available programs to fit your business, Independent Computer Services can design, develop, install and support a complete application to your specification. A number of steps are taken to ensure that the final product meets with your operational requirements.

Often (although not exclusively) incorporating applications from Microsoft Office and Sage Accounts, the philosophy is always to make the computer systems fit the business rather than having to adapt business processes due to software restrictions.

For businesses already having their own systems in place and requiring assistance with development or reporting, a consultancy service is offered working alongside your own staff.

Before commencing with the development, Independent Computer Services provide a full appraisal of your existing operational methods together with provision for planned growth, diversification and integration with other systems. A comprehensive report provides you with a detailed breakdown of the recommendations.

As an example, a system could be build entirely within Microsoft Access to import data from different formats from a text file and a Microsoft Excel workbook, analyse the information using Microsoft Access, export this for reporting purposes to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word and then automatically email these using Microsoft Outlook. All of this can be achieved without the user having any prior knowledge of any of these applications.

For customers having a bespoke application written, customised courses are available to enable ad-hoc querying of data using the facilities in Microsoft Access, Crystal Reports or SQL Server to do this.

Bespoke applications can be built either by automating existing Microsoft Office applications using the inbuilt Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language or creating brand new applications using VB.NET or ASP.NET to meet your requirements.

Where there is a requirement for data storage, either Microsoft Access or SQL Server is used.

Integration between applications within the Microsoft Office suite can provide a valuable increase in productivity by utilising the best features of each application to achieve the necessary tasks. This also means that all of the tools needed to build a system could already be in place thus minimising expenditure.

As an example, if a bespoke Sales Order Processing application is written, Sales Orders can be raised within Microsoft Access (or SQL Server if the number of users and quantity if data require this), customer details transferred and invoices posted to Sage, email confirmations sent via Microsoft Outlook, sales reports created in Microsoft Excel and marketing letters created in Microsoft Word – all using a simple push-button approach and without the user ever having to enter the same information twice, or to have an in-depth knowledge of any particular application.

To provide support and ease the process of the implementation of minor enhancements to bespoke systems that have been written by Independent Computer Services, customers can take advantage of a Software Development Support Contract. All work done under a Software Development Support Contract is undertaken by Independent Computer Services.

Customers with a Software Development Support Contract benefit from:

• higher priority response times
• discounted rates for minor enhancements
• reduction in administration – one single invoice can cover a number of enhancements

There is no fixed monthly or annual contract, Units of time are simply purchased in advance and used as needed.

Each Unit is a block of 12 minutes of time – a support or development issue taking 30 minutes therefore uses 3 Units from the Support Contract. As these Software Development Support Contracts only expire when there are no more units remaining, you never lose out. These can then simply be renewed by purchasing an additional number of Units. Statements are sent out at periodic intervals showing the number of Units used (and how these were used) and the number of Units remaining.

If systems written some years ago no longer meet your current and future requirements or are proving difficult to support, these can be re-written. The tried and tested functionality is retained and new features added as required. In-house staff can be trained to support the applications and provide on-going back-up support. Modifications and enhancements can be made as business needs demand, ensuring the applications always meet your requirements.

If systems written some years ago no longer meet your current and future requirements or are proving difficult to support, these can be re-written. The tried and tested functionality is retained and new features added as required. In-house staff can be trained to support the applications and provide on-going back-up support. Modifications and enhancements can be made as business needs demand, ensuring the applications always meet your requirements.