Bespoke IT Services
A guide to the business systems development and the IT consultancy and training services offered by DMW Consultancy Ltd.
On this page:
- Business Goals and Objectives
- Databases and Spreadsheet
- Templates
- Office 365 Integration
- Software Training
- Conversion of Access Databases
- Working With Your IT People
- Occasional Help On Demand
- Preparing Specifications for ITTs.
Last updated on 2019-10-14.
Meeting Business Goals and Objectives
For hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, and branches and departments of international corporations, across a wide range of business sectors, DMW has developed business tools and trained people in how to use them.
If you’re wondering where next to go with your IT in meeting the objectives for your business, then please consider contacting DMW to talk about the possibilities.
Databases and Spreadsheets
Databases and spreadsheets remain the most common and popular tools for storing and processing business information on a computer.
From working with hundreds of clients, DMW has built its competence in applying Microsoft Access and Excel to best meet specific business objectives. Beyond application to the mechanics of data collection, management and analysis, this competence encompasses the marrying of IT to the convenience, skills and concerns of the people using it.
Templates
Beyond simply maintaining corporate identity across all your correspondence, exploiting templates in Microsoft Word lifts productivity in document production to the next level.
DMW would be pleased to help you with anything from mail merges for letters and mail-outs to pulling information from database and spreadsheets into lengthy and complex reports, providing these with up-to-date data for charts, graphs and tables.
Integrating Office 365
Microsoft has made it possible for developers like DMW to integrate the programs of Office 365 into comprehensive business systems, which include functionality such as:
- Sending emails via Outlook from Access databases and Excel spreadsheets
- Attaching Access reports as PDFs to emails in Outlook
- Outputting data from Access databases into Excel so that users can do their own thing without fear of messing up live data
- Loading data from spreadsheets into Access databases.
Support for Users — Software Training
If your preference is for company-specific training instead of scheduled public courses, then DMW supplies on-site, tailored training courses and workshops in Microsoft Access, Excel, and Word.
To suit your needs for specific training, you pick-and-mix topics from DMW's range of courses:: Access Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced; Excel Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced; Word Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced; and VBA (Visual Basic for Applcations) across the Microsoft Office suite of programs.
Conversion of Access Databases
Microsoft’s support for versions of Access earlier than 2010 is running out, if it didn't do so years ago.
This means no more security patches and therefore the possibility that without appropriate conversions databases will come to jeopardise a business’s accreditation or certification.
Microsoft recommend conversions to the latest version of Office, now version 2019. There’s also the choice between 32 bit and 64 bit versions that needs to be taken.
If you’re not in the UK, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are because we can use secure remote access to assist you with conversions, or to perform them for you. So, please put DMW on your list of potential suppliers.
Working With Your IT People
Many DMW clients have their own IT sections or departments, or rely on external IT companies for their support.
Whatever your IT provision, working closely with your IT people is a key DMW objective. Constructive collaboration will secure the delivery of data and safeguard primary sources, while making as little extra work as possible for everyone involved.
Occasional Help On Demand
If you need a spot of help on an as-and-when-needed basis, DMW offers support to users of Microsoft Office, covering Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, Project and Outlook.
Stuck on an Excel formula or with a table in a Word document jumping all over the page? Please contact DMW. There’s no charge for an initial conversation.
Preparing Specifications for ITTs
For the commission of a new database, say, you’ll get the best price when your ITT (Invitation to Tender) is accompanied by a comprehensive specification.
If your spec is sketchy, then potential suppliers or contractors may be reckoning whether 20% or 30% added into their quote is enough to cover themselves against all eventualities.
A well-constructed spec should help in avoiding unfortunate situations, for example:
- Significant unprovided-for time spent to-ing and fro-ing on points of clarification. In DMW’s experience this can put great strain on the working relationship between client and supplier
- Your supplier or contractor invoices for what they claim was work not originally specified
- Failure in your effort to pursue a claim that the outsourced work has not been completed satisfactorily.
Please contact DMW if you need help preparing a tender. DMW can help by translating your description of your requirement into the language/jargon of the developer.