Click below to see
some references:
 

Skills and Services

Scroll down to see our showcase of creative Access programming techniques, but first try out our Interactive Order form for e-commerce just below.

Showcase - Internet

Most of my Internet programming has been on private, password-protected sites; if this is the case, I've created a working example for you to see if possible.

Interactive   A Peck Tech invention.
Interactive order form with a running total (you don't have to "submit" to find the dollar total) - can be used with any ecommerce web site.
Bells & Whistles Animated GIF, Ticker Tape, Rollover effect - and how they're done
Animated GIF Could you use a good chuckle?  Look at this animated GIF created by my 10-year-old son...
Menu Foldout menus - these can be added to almost any site
Banner ads Get advertising dollars to help pay for your website (maybe) - Also, an explanation of how they work.
Email Send emails (or pages) automatically
Customer service Make (limited) information available to your customers from your company database on an inexpensive password-protected website.
Passwords Password-protect your site
Customize Display different titles and column headings for different customers
Upload Upload files from any Internet user's computer to your website (commonly used on Intranets (company websites) and sites like dating websites where members upload photos)
Searches Extremely complicated search criteria; multiple-page results ; easily sort the results (the sort is a Peck Tech invention)
Sorts Sort results of search by any column; multiple pages


Showcase - Microsoft Access business software

While it's important to use quality tools, the single most important element for user satisfaction and cost-effectiveness is the design.  Custom software development gives many opportunities for creativity.  Following are examples of some of the things I've done that my clients have liked.  Click on the underlined words to see an example (with lots of images)

Eliminate swearing - Let users access "maintenance" screens where it's easiest

Friendly persuasion - How do you make those pesky users do something they don't want to do? (A Peck Tech invention.)

Automate - Let the computer do the irritating work (mistake free).  Things like the following make your users happier and more productive - and they cost very little.
Date calculator A Peck Tech invention.
Type in "3W" and the system calculates the date 3 weeks from today,  or "22D" for 22 days from today...
Report dates A Peck Tech invention.
Automatically calculate date ranges for "last month", "1st quarter", etc. - a real time-saver and mistake eliminator
Copy address A Peck Tech invention.
Copy the customer's address to the "ship-to" address on an order with the click of a button
Split A Peck Tech invention.
Automatically split a fee into three installments
Salutations A Peck Tech invention.
Automatically fill in the salutation based on the client's names
Receipt
Allocations
A Peck Tech invention.
Use color to help make fast, error-free allocations; part of a complete invoicing and accounts receivable system
Initials Instead of typing your initials and today's date over and over, put them at the top of the screen and then click a button every time you want them inserted.
Standard items Add a standard list of tasks to a new customer, or add a standard list of budget items to a new job, with the click of a button.

Tools
Calendar A visual aid that's perfect for some applications
Schedule A Peck Tech invention.
Is space at a premium on your screen?  This is a compact way to view a daily schedule out several weeks or months
Calculator Sometimes the simplest things help the most

Integration - Share information among a number of different programs inexpensively
Export to Excel With the click of a button, create an Excel spreadsheet - including a graph - from information in your company database
Mail Merge With the click of a button, export information from your company database to do a Mail Merge (bulk letters, etc.)
Quickbooks Import into Access from Quickbooks, or export into Quickbooks from Access
Anything Modern tools let your central database read information from - and write information to - any of a number of formats (FoxPro, dBase, SQL Server, etc.)

Integrity - I fight to protect the quality of the information on your system.  Here are just some of the tools I use.


And, as you might have guessed by now...

I've got lots of experience

I've done custom programs for almost every aspect of business management for a broad variety of business.  If confidentiality allows, I've given you links so you can look at a sampling of my work.  NOTE:  All of these are fairly plain because I've found that's easiest on the eyes long term, but if you want color I can do color!

Quotes, 
Customer Orders
Highlight:  the ability to easily change a quote into an order; "birds eye view" of each customer's quotes and orders
Purchasing



Receiving

Highlight: see all the items from all approved customer quotes so you can create POs to get quantity discounts, shipping discounts, etc.

Quick, easy, accurate entry of ordered items when received

Scheduling To schedule daily deliveries as requested by customer orders
Invoicing Highlight: Ability to consolidate multiple orders with multiple items on one invoice - or not - controlled by an "Invoice Group"
Monthly billing & receipts Generate monthly bills for a karate studio; automatic late fees; receipts
Annual billing Generate tuition bills for a private school; extensive reporting
Daily Cash Receipts


Receipt Allocations

 

Financial reporting

Pay by check, cash, credit card; show by date or show all not yet allocated regardless of date

One receipt can pay multiple invoices, one invoice can be paid by multiple receipts; how to make it easy and error-free

Daily Receipts, Statements, Aged Accounts Receivables, etc.

Inventory management Receiving, shipping, reporting...
Task management


Bulk letter generation

Automatically generate standard tasks; allow custom tasks if needed; confirm easily; reporting 

Automatically generate hundreds of letters (the selected letter out of 15 templates) on a certain pre-established date with the click of a button

Construction management 

Budget management
Track job details; track tenant and owner budgets; generate contracts automatically; track insurance

Create/edit budget; allocate PO's to a given budget; budget reporting

Callbacks Automatically create a callback whenever a new prospect or quote is created; manual callbacks for sales and collections; notes on conversations - all integrated with a customer/order system.
Geocodes For a dating service, find all members within a given number of miles of a certain address


My promise to you

I promise to create (or modify) a system, website, database-driven website, or intranet for you that is:

  • Exactly what you need - neither more (unnecessarily expensive) nor less (frustrating),
  • Easy to use, full of features to make your users happy and productive,
  • Fast
  • Reliable and bug-free
  • Capable of future growth
  • Powerful

Does this sound too good to be true?  Please read my references.


What about costs down the road?

Maintenance costs are dramatically impacted - for better or for worse - by the quality of the initial design. From day one we're designing to keep maintenance costs to a minimum by:

  • Proper database design to minimize the cost - and impact - of future changes
  • Using "scalable" technology - programming tools capable of growing without starting over from scratch.


Tools

Obviously, the tools I use are constantly changing.  As of this writing, I'm primarily using the following:

Websites:  HTML, ASP, VBScript, JavaScript

Business:  Microsoft Access, MSDE, SQL Server, Visual Basic, Filemaker Pro

Graphics, Miscellaneous:  Photoshop, Illustrator, ImageReady

While I don't use Dreamweaver or any "automated" web-crafting tools, primarily because they make "fat" code that's more difficult to maintain, and there are many more options in hand-crafted code, I can certainly work on websites created using them.

 


Peck Tech Designs - consultants providing creative custom software development, integration, Internet web site programming, database design, and application and data conversion to clients in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island (and anywhere in world, with somewhat less of a personal touch).

Copyright © Rachel Peck 2003 - all rights reserved
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