Frequently Asked Questions

The benefits of custom software include increased efficiency and reduced risk of error by automating routine activities and processes, and increased cost savings by eliminating redundant paperwork and manual administration. Custom software is not always your best choice, and we can give sound advice on this if you are unsure, but there are circumstances in which custom software is certainly your best and most cost-effective strategy.

If you feel like you are drowning in a sea of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, then a custom database might go a long way toward making your job easier. There are many other signs that custom software might be a good option. These include: manually entering the same data into many different systems; manually sending the same email messages to many different people; manually doing the same tedious calculations over and over to report information to your colleagues.

First, we analyze your business needs to determine a clear set of requirements that must be met by the database. Next, we work closely with you to design a solution that meets those requirements. Then we build and test the software in stages, using milestones we have identified together. Finally, the software is delivered with documentation and put into an operational mode.

We work to rigorous software industry standards and best practices, and we can offer operational management and support services to our customers. Some of our customers opt for this, while others prefer to have training and support managed by internal/corporate IT departments.

Our technical consultants are experienced with a wide variety of commercial and open-source tools and technologies. Generally, we prefer commercially supported programming languages, application frameworks, third-party components, and database servers. These include Microsoft .NET and SQL Server.

Our core competency is in the design, implementation, and operation of business database applications. Our knowledge and skills are applicable in virtually any business unit within any industry. We have a lot of experience working in every level of the technical stack and at every phase of a typical software project.

We can accommodate either billing arrangement. "Do as I say" and "pay as we go" gives you enormous freedom and flexibility, so most of our customers prefer a daily or weekly fee structure. That said, we also can also provide a fixed-price quote for a project that is well-defined, and re-quote when project requirements change, as they inevitably do!

Miller Database is a small company with a lot of experience working with other small companies, and we don't turn away small projects. Over the last 20 years our project portfolio has included many different customers in many different industries of almost every conceivable size. Some of our customers have been one-man shops, and others have been global enterprises with thousands of employees. The size of your organization is not really important to us; it is your project that matters.

Yes, after the project is complete the software belongs to you. This means you get everything that is needed to build and maintain the software (e.g. source code, scripts, stylesheets, images, etc.). Normally we retain the right to reuse source code in future projects, provided it contains no proprietary or confidential information that belongs to you, but if this is a concern for your organization then we can customise the terms of our agreement with you.

Yes, absolutely. Many of our clients want to safeguard confidential information before proceeding with a developer or consultant, and this is not a problem for us. If you need an NDA but don't have one of your own then we can provide you with one of ours.