client list

Our clients range from global corporations to one-man (and one computer!) businesses, and are ranged right around the globe.

Cisco Systems J Sainsbury Mothercare (UK) Data Management Group Discovery Federal Credit Union Caron Foundation Pearson Educational Publishing DataMonitor CAS Accounting Eurolink Contracts Ltd Jetmaid British Home Stores Plc Moorcrofts Corporate Law Tometa Software Inc Jarvis Group Ltd. schmedley.com Renaissance Institute The BikeShop

Dun & Bradstreet GotVision Inc Romsey Consultants Ltd Launch Dynamic Software LLC JacketFlap.com Reading Body LLC Essential Oils Direct Red Star Parcels Ltd A & A Chauffeurs Ltd Herts Micro Systems Manak Enterprises Xybercode Inc Essex County Council Wedding-DIY.com Penn Avenue Web iMap UK Ltd Reading Visitor Bureau Florida Style

Tesco The Village Spa WebCDs.com Aeoliki Marine Ltd Vegetarian Express Guaranteed Heating & Plumbing iPlanet David Leigh Estate Agents Birch Technology G-Graphix Karani Infotech NS Consulting Yap Oy Salty Brine Software Elon Tiles Easy-2-Contact Empire Beauty Schools The Village Spa

To see examples of how we have served some of these clients, click the links on the left.

Empire are one of the leading providers of Beautician and Cosmetology training in the US. Running an outsourced call centre, Empire receive many dozens of phone enquiries each day. We developed a solution running on their servers that uses WebDav to access their MS Exchange mailbox, into which the call centre's software sends formatted emails of enquiry details. The application parses the email, determines the closest geographical beauty school to the caller, and forwards the enquiry to that school for a local response. The data is archived in a central SQL Server database. We designed the infrastructure and database, and developed a fault-tolerant solution running as a service. Alerts are raised to support staff in the event of exception conditions, and all activity is logged, with a secure administration website available to management and support staff.

We also identified appropriate web log analysis software, and configured and installed it on Empire's servers, together with a customised front-end, giving Empire management detailed and timely information about activity on their different domains.

Small Office Solutions continues to provide close support to the client, monitoring system availability, performing database maintainance and applying enhancements on a regular basis.

Easy2Contact is the UK's fastest-growing provider of contact management services to small businesses and not-for-profit organisations. Providing a single interface for distributing emails and SMS messages to group members, the website-based service includes support for multiple groups, event management, subscription chasing, and much much more.

Small Office Solutions' involvment has been in the development of the customer-facing website, optimisation of the database structure, and enhancement of the back-end SMS and email management application. We also provided a simple issues and source control management system, allowing the developers (based in various sites in the UK and New Zealand) to work collaboratively on the project with minimal overheads.

The software is written using C#, one of the Microsoft .Net languages, and uses SQL Server for database management.

Consistently listed among the top alcohol and drug addiction treatment providers in the U.S.A., the not-for-profit Caron Foundation annually treats more than 4,000 patients from across the U.S. and abroad. Caron operates a residential treatment center in Wernersville, in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Renaissance Institute of Palm Beach, an extended care treatment center in Boca Raton, Florida. Caron Foundation operates the New York Recovery Center and also has a regional office in Philadelphia.

The website, designed visually by a close associate of ours in Pennsylvania, USA, includes a full web-based content management system. Virtually all content is database-driven, and use of standard templates and CSS stylesheets makes addition of new pages very simple. The back-end database is Microsoft SQL Server, with the web server code written in VBScript.

We have an on-going relationship with the client, providing ad-hoc support for the site, and being their preferred developer for site enhancements.

A small North-American based company, GotVision provide life-skills training in self-confidence, achievement and overcoming addiction and fear. They have recently launched their "Vision Guider" software, which is a tool allowing users to create their own soundtracks, on computer disk or CD, with motivational messages and music. We got involved part way through development, taking over the program from the previous developer, and with an extremely tight deadline before a major exhibition. The tool incorporates many 3rd party tools for WAV-format and MP3 audio manipulation, CD burning and ripping, and also downloads music files from GotVision's own website. Having met the original launch deadline, we were then asked to extend and improve the software, adding functionality and improving usability and reliability. We also made changes to the website itself, in the shopping cart and library areas, as well as maintaining the context-sensitive help system, and creating a robust and flexible installation routine. In addition to the numerous tools already mentioned, the main tool is written in VB6, the website in php and the database is MySQL.

jacketflap.com is a website providing a single source of information for prospective authors and illustrators. In addition to a full forum, a live publishing-related news feed, site blog and links to competitions, the site provides access to a database of thousands of publishers, large and small, across the globe. Fully searchable, a unique feature of the directory is the facility for the publisher themselves, plus any other users, to enter additional contact and feedback details about any publisher. Submissions are manually reviewed for accuracy before being made public, but by allowing all users to submit data in a controlled way, CPStats ensures it is constantly up-to-date. Additionally, it retrieves publisher and book data from other sources on a daily basis, updating publication lists, rankings and statistics and providing authors with a powerful resource to find the publishers most likely to be interested in their works.

Small Office Solutions provided all the technical design and development work on the site (including the continual background database updating), as well as having major input to the visual design and navigation on the site.

Pearson Educational Publishing is one of the world's leading publishing houses, owning household-name imprints such as Penguin, Prentice Hall, Longman, SAMS, and many others. Small Office Solutions were retained by Pearson to fully investigate and document their existing intranet-based systems used for managing the publication process, from initial concept to publication and subsequent reprint. All aspects of the process are included, from management authorisation at key stages, marketing forecasts and sales predictions, down to calculating book weights based on paper type, binding etc.. etc..

The application is developed in Visual Basic 6, with a rich object-oriented, COM-based structure. Extensive use of Javascript on the client, plus sophisticated database processing implemented in SQL Stored Procedures, led to a complex application which had outgrown its original specifications. In addition to a detailed, structured set of documentation describing all the business and technical functions involved, we also investigated, recommended and installed a powerful source analysis tool and enhanced it to extend its analysis to the web page HTML; made numerous technical recommendations regarding maintainability, performance and usability enhancements, and identified a selection of bugs that had hitherto gone undetected (we documented appropriate solutions to those issues, too).

The world-leader in communications hardware, Cisco distribute their products through a complex network of distributors and partners. As part of the marketing initiatives undertaken by Cisco in Europe, they introduced a rewards scheme for distributors and resellers based on sales volumes. Working with their marketing technology consultants, Small Office Solutions built an intranet-based solution allowing distributors to enter sales summaries, which are then approved by Cisco staff. Once approved, the sales earn reward points, which distributors can redeem for a range of goods and services. The whole system is fully database-driven, and also fully multilingual - all text is held in many different European languages, the appropriate version being presented based on the visitor's system settings.

Although working within the parameters set by Cisco and their marketing consultants, we had considerable input to the navigation, usability and visuals of the solution, building a "skinnable" application that can be regularly revamped and re-themed visually, with little or no code change required.

All the work, plus similar functionality for two other major blue-chip companies, was developed using IIS/ASP with VBScript server side, Javascript client side, SQL Server database plus a Microsoft Access front end for administrative users.

We worked with a small solicitor's practice specialising in claims against landlords who fail to undertake adequate maintenance on their properties, resulting in financial loss, health impacts and distress to the tenants. The company routinely needed to generate witness statements for court, and this process could take a qualified solicitor up to half a day per case.

Working very closely with the practice, Small Office Solutions designed a stand-alone, database-driven, multi-user application that automated the capture of data, and the generation of final documents meeting the Courts' stringent formatting and terminology requirements. Using a variety of techniques, the software minimises data input, and uses the raw data entered to generate accurate, complete, legal statements, yet structured in such a way that they read as though they had been manually generated. Using the software, the practice is now able to enter a full witness statement using a telephone interview with a lower-qualified staff member in around an hour, saving the full cost of the software each day.

David Leigh is a newly-established local real estate agent. Eager to get a web presence, David approached us for advice. We were able to identify an appropriate hosting company, register the domain names, design the database, and develop the website. From agreement to proceed, to having the prototype website available online for David to test out for "real", took just 48 hours. The website was formally launched to the public just one week later. The admin screens allow David to import data from his Word Processor and avoid duplicate data entry. Facilities allow visitors to register their requirements and have an automatic email notify them when suitable properties become available. In the next phase, both vendors and buyers will have additional facilities allowing them to enter and review appointments and leave feedback; all reducing the admin overhead for David and his team, letting them concentrate on their core business.

Visit the website now at www.davidleigh.net