Web-Based Database Development

Software Creations has been in the business of developing databases for the past 20 years. We started developing the first online databases over 15 years ago for "Bulletin Board Services" (Remember the "BBS"?), and migrated to developing web-based databases in the early 90's. We have extensive experience designing, developing and implementing online applications and databases. Please see our Client List for examples of some of the many applications we have developed.

SDSS Subscription Server

If you currently have database content you would like to make available over the Internet, for paid or free subscription managed access, you may wish to take a look at our SDSS Subscription Server service.

Self-Administration Web Site

If your primary goal is to be able to make database tables available to your web site visitors, or to accept data from them into database tables, then you may want to take a look at our Self-Administration Web Site software. This package allows you to create and maintain online database tables using a web-based control panel, and requires NO database development costs to implement at your site or ours.

What is Web-Based Database Development?

• accept query from browser over the World Wide Web
• extract/process data
• display results via browser over World Wide Web

It is the process of developing mechanisms for accessing and processing relational database management systems (like Access, MS SQL, Oracle and DB2) via the World Wide Web. On an elementary level, your database can:

Why should you be interested in this?

"Interactive". "Dynamic". "Value-Added". These are all words you have no doubt heard associated with the development of a successful web site. Keep in mind that a web site is basically a collection of "pages" (right now, mostly HTML to be replaced in the near future with XML). These pages can be arranged to deliver a lot of cool and important information to your site's visitors. But if you want your site to really stand up and deliver, you've got to add a degree of "interactivity"; that is, the ability to interact with your users beyond just going to the next page. For this, your site needs database access: the ability for it to accept queries, process input and display results over the web.

It is one thing to be a popular web site. Quite another thing to be a profitable web site. Even if yours is a non-profit organization, you still need to be focused on exploiting the customer service potential of your web site. In all cases, we want to enrich the experience of our visitors; and in today's world, that takes a certain level of interactivity. This is accomplished on today's web site through programming and data access.

You don't develop a long term business relationship with an end-user (i.e., someone who returns to your site on a regular basis) with eye-popping graphics. You get people to return by giving them something worth returning for. This is either an ongoing, enhancing experience, or access to information they need when they need it.

What can we do for you?

We do web-based database development. Surprise. We can add to your site the interactive, dynamic, value-added processes it requires to deliver the services you want to deliver to your end-users. We can go on and on about it, but this, basically, is the bottom line: We do web-based database development. MS SQL, Access, Oracle, DB2, or any ODBC compliant database management system.

Examples

• Customer Service
• Front-End for Heavy Duty Transaction Processing
• Gather Data/Statistics
• Self-Directed Study and Testing Exercises
• Online Booking/Registration/Reservation Systems
• Online Catalogs
• Teaching/Learning/Research
• Technical Support

Probably the best and most well-known example of a web-based database system is the Federal Express Web Site (http://www.fedex.com). They had worked for years to develop a tracking database which follows each and every package they handle through every processing point from pickup to delivery. They created an incredible "value-added" customer service tool when they made access to this database available to their customers via the World Wide Web. Their site has been amongst the most popular and visited on the Internet since its creation.

Data Access

Basically, you can use web-based databases to display and receive data over the web. There are literally thousands of examples, and we have included links below to help you educate yourself further in this area. However, here are a few which come to mind:

Enterprise Management

Web-Based Enterprise Management is essentially the process of using Internet technology to integrate management tools and information. Under this architecture, separate software applications and information can be integrated via a common browser interface that supports linking and data exchange.

In English, what this means is that if your organization has tons of data lying around in a bunch of legacy (nobody likes to use the word "old" anymore) databases, you can put that data to use by making it available over the Internet or over your private Intranet. Furthermore, you can reduce costs and increase productivity by redeveloping your applications to process this data using the web browser as your front end as opposed to a host of different proprietary desktop interfaces. And, now that you've got a common interface, you can build applications which unify the data from various databases in ways which add "value" and make them more productive.

Internet Applications

We are fast approaching what might be called the "post-PC era", where the dominance of desktop applications and operating systems (well, I guess we're talking about one here: Windows) will be replaced by Internet "appliances" -- devices designed to perform specific tasks and which attach to the Internet to download their software applications from remote servers. They are cheaper, less complicated to use and easier to set up than the computers we are used to using today. Right now, the first of these appliances are simply web browser "terminals", but in the near future we will see a number of hardware products using this architecture: mobile phones, hand-held computers, watches, toasters, ovens, pagers, etc...

One thing all of these Internet appliances will have in common: They will all be database driven. So, while your goal today may be to simply get a web site up to advertise your company or perform customer support or provide public information on your department's staff and functions, one day your site could be used to provide valuable information for someone's Swatch. Don't laugh. It could happen. And we are here to help you when it does.