Surprisingly, most new small businesses have either no effective automation or only loosely coordinated suites of desktop applications that are excessively labor intensive. Most entrepreneurs and start-ups focus on product and don’t consider the efficiencies of the process that creates their product. They’ll spend evening and weekend hours constructing and revising spreadsheets, sorting and filing orders and invoices, totaling payroll vouchers, and manually updating their accounting software. Thirty five years ago, this data management model would have been sufficient and about as good as you could do, but in today’s information-centric, just-in-time business environment, effective automation isn’t just a matter of convenience, it’s likely to become a feature of your competitor’s business and, therefore, a matter of your survival.

Do you need to automate?

Try this quick self evaluation:

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you may want to take a closer look. For most small businesses, especially those that compete in or near major metropolitan markets, there is really only one answer: automate! Increasing competition is forcing all American businesses to cut costs and, at the same time, improve product and service quality. The trend to global markets marked by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has already and will continue to confront American organizations with lower-wage, yet technically qualified work forces. So in the future you can expect that successful businesses will be known by their effective use of data automation to conduct daily business and to support the improvement of business efficiencies.

What makes a competent software developer?

You’ll need help building the automation you need, but you must exercise due diligence as you seek a software developer. There are minimum requirements for a competent software development organization that you must confirm. Any organization, big or small, for any size development, must address fundamental issues of organization and resource management, software engineering process and management, the use of tools and technology, and the central role of the user in any software development project. For example:

•          Will the developer designate a software manager for the project?

•          Will the developer implement appropriate software quality assurance? Will it be independent?

•          Does the developer have a mechanism for maintaining state-of-the-art awareness of software technology?

•          Will the developer implement appropriate formal procedures for management reviews prior to contractual commitments and during development?

•          Will the developer conduct appropriate audits at each step of project development? Will they be independent?

•          Does the developer have formal procedures for estimating software size, schedules, and development costs?

•          Will the developer implement appropriate mechanisms for controlling changes to software requirements, designs, code, tests, ...?

•          Does the developer use automated tools to trace requirements to design? Design to Code?

•          Does the developer use standards?

•          Does the developer plan software inspections?

•          Will the developer produce an appropriate test plan for the project?

•          Does the development plan include frequent user interaction and feedback?

•          Will the developer produce a User’s Guide early in the development cycle?

Of course, all of these issues require effort for any development project, and effort will always result in cost. However, not every project requires equivalent effort and cost for every issue, and a competent software developer will know how to tailor the effort required for any given issue to your goals for the software, your budget, and your schedule. Be sure the developer understands the importance of automation that’s:

•          designed and built to the specific, minimum requirements of the current business plan

•          able to grow as the business grows with minimum adjustment costs

•          fixed price when and where possible, so that it can be planned and budgeted

•          supported when changes must occur to meet new business requirements

Why consider TDSI?

We do not undertake large and complex software development projects because of our limited size, resources, and mission. However, TDSI has built many small-to-medium sized software applications on Windows-based and other platforms for corporations, government agencies, and small businesses, both domestically and overseas, since 1989. These applications include:

•          a system that managed membership data for100 teaching hospitals (currently retired)

•          a system that manages part purchases and inventory for a 300+ vehicle government department of transportation

•          a system that managed nation-wide installations of military telecommunication equipment for a fortune-100 corporation (currently retired)

•          A system that tracks submarine sail problems and supports failure trend analysis for the U.S. Navy

•          a system that manages automated shipment dispatching, pricing, and invoicing for a 15-person regional courier

•          a system that manages ledgers, journals, payroll, payables, receivables, employees, and contracts for a small software consulting business (Us)

Some of these systems have been retired or replaced with improved systems, and, as with all software development projects, none was problem free. However, all of these experiences have given us a well-earned understanding of software-development best practices.