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Internal Tools Development

For the work that is specific to you, and that no product is sold for.

Internal tools development is building the software your own team uses to get work done, as opposed to anything a customer sees. It covers the screens, forms, and dashboards for the parts of your operation that are specific enough that no product is sold for them. Larger companies build these with an in-house engineering team. Smaller organisations usually end up with a spreadsheet doing the job badly, because the work is real but too particular for anything off the shelf.

We work with small teams that do not have an IT department. You bring deep knowledge of your work. We handle the technical side, so you never have to become a software expert to run your own business.

Who builds internal tools without an engineering team?

Organisations whose work is specialised enough that no product fits it, and small enough that hiring developers is not realistic. Specialist professional practices, clinics, schools, associations, agencies, and family businesses across several sites.

The pattern is almost always the same. Someone capable built a spreadsheet years ago to handle the part the bought software could not. It grew. Now it runs something important, only one person really understands it, and everybody is slightly afraid of it.

That spreadsheet is not a failure. It is a specification. It tells you exactly what the tool needed to do, written by the person who needed it.

What should we build and what should we buy?

Buy the things everybody needs, done the same way everywhere. Accounting, email, payroll. There is no advantage in a bespoke version and plenty of cost.

Build the part that is genuinely yours. The way you assess an application, schedule your crews, or track a case through your own stages. That knowledge is why the work comes to you, and it is exactly what generic software flattens into something that almost fits.

How do you build something for people who are not technical?

By watching them work before designing anything, and by keeping one screen focused on one job. Most internal software is unpleasant because it exposes the shape of the database to the person trying to finish a task.

The measure we use is whether someone can do the thing correctly on their first day without being taught a convention. If not, it is our problem to fix.

Who maintains it afterwards?

We do, if you want that, but the more important answer is that you are never trapped. The system is yours, it is documented in language a non-technical person can follow, and another developer could pick it up.

Small teams are right to worry about this. Depending on one supplier who holds all the knowledge is the same risk as depending on one employee who does.

Is our operation too small for this?

Small teams often benefit most, because there is nobody spare to absorb a broken process. In a large company an awkward workflow gets buried under headcount. In a team of nine it lands on someone who already has a full week.

“Pierce is a database design genius! The functionality is flawless.”
Lea McCullough, Executive Director, WIED

Common questions

Can it work on a phone or a tablet?
Yes, and for anyone working away from a desk it should. Work recorded where it happens is more accurate than work written down and entered later.
Can different people see different things?
Yes. Who can see and change what is decided deliberately at the start rather than added on once something has gone wrong.
What if we are not sure what we need yet?
That is normal and it is not a reason to wait. The first conversation is about what your week actually looks like, and the shape of the answer usually becomes clear during it.

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