Database users: advice

[singist]

My son runs a courier company using a database called "Commence" that has been tailored to his needs ....... as far as he knows, there are only a couple of people in the country who write the customisation stuff and his system is now going boobs up.

He wants to change to something else but needs advice on which to choose; something that allows everything to talk to each other (outlook, route planner, invoicing etc etc) ........ Any Ideas?

I think he paid something like £8,000 some years ago for the stuff he is running now, so, I would imagine the solution will be quite expensive.

 

[singist]

AAAWWwwww!


Go on gizza clue.....

 

[Sparky191]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,32923,00.asp

Looks like its a proprietary CRM database system. It seems to have all the functionality that is required. Probably the quick and dirty route would to be get someone who specialises in it, to fix the problems, and extend its functionality for you. But I guess you don't want to do that.

I'm bias because I'm a software developer. But if it were me, I'd bite the bullet and switch to something more common, based around MS SQL, Oracle or some other industry strandard where theres a bigger pool of people who have the skills to work on it, and also you'll be able to migrate the data and extend the system more easily.

Thats said customisation is always expensive and its often arguable if an off the shelf proprietary system when customised, isn't more effort and expensive than getting a company to create system scratch for you based around common technologies, like Java and Oracle or Net and MS SQL. Or a similar combination. Many companies might already have systems built up using these technologies that can be quickly adapted to your needs.

But what ever you pick make sure theres an easy way to get your data out in a standard format.

 

[singist]

Thanks for the help; I'll pass on what you have said.