Off-the-shelf solutions are never a perfect match to your business model. They may have many more features that you pay for but will ever need, or still fall short of your ‘nice-to-have’ requirements. For example:

• While entering a post code into the ZIP code field may not be an issue, after a while many US-centric applications can become frustrating to use.
• If you cannot re-name fields, training new users becomes more complicated as you explain, for example, that in your company you are using the ‘Colour’ field to record the ‘Species’.
• Mandatory fields such as Building No. and Room No. may not be relevant for a single room laboratory.

Having to fill in irrelevant data detracts from the efficiency gains of the application. Compromises such as this will ultimately affect the integrity of the data being entered, as user errors occur.

A customised database, using Microsoft Access, can be designed to fit your user requirements today, and also allow for possible growth in the future. Good planning can result in a long-lasting, robust application that is easy to use, reduces paper work and meets your regulatory obligations.