Business Solutions

Database development on the web

Aaron Smith Development Manager

The backbone of any information system is the underlying database. Most web applications work with a data storage system to produce real-time data to clients, business partners, and members of the public.

Nexus specialise in creating database driven information systems on the web; we have a wealth of experience and technical knowledge in this area of systems development.

Our team have trained extensively in skills surrounding the design, creation, security and maintenance of enterprise scale database systems.

We design our databases with a method known as 'Third Normal Form normalization' which is the accepted industry standard, worldwide.

Getting the design right - every time

Data-driven web applications rely upon the supporting database being properly designed. All too often in software development problems arise simply because the underlying database design was not correctly designed.

Without a correctly designed database most systems suffer from:

• Poor performance
• No ability to scale
• Little ability to adapt to changes in the business
• Compromised security

We pride ourselves on our ability to analyse, design and construct perfectly designed databases. We know that these founding design principles ensure your application is built upon a solid foundation.

How we do it

We start with an initial consultation where we can outline the core system requirements. One of our trained client analysts takes you through an interview process where they discover what the common data structures are within your business.

We help you to identify the entities that need to be stored within your new system, along with any new data requirements that you have. We plot this into a database schema, and from there we begin to shape the data so that it supports your existing and projected business processes.

This schema design is adjusted during the analysis stage of your project development, so that we can provide an exact tailoring of your requirements in the final database.

The design is then passed to our systems architect who augments the design to ensure: it will work under the heaviest of use conditions; that it can extend over time; is completely secure in its use environment.

Scalability

We always design our databases to be scalable. As most web applications are on the Internet and have the potential for almost limitless usage, we make sure that the structure of the data will maintain its integrity and performance when it is being accessed by ten of thousands of users.

We recommend the use of Microsoft SQL Server as the DBMS; it provides a robust and scalable hosting platform and integrates seamlessly with our core development .NET components.

Extensibility

We ensure that as your business changes, your database can change with it. By providing intelligently designed databases, we ensure that procedural change can be absorbed painlessly into your database system. We build upon the principles of 'open plan' designs, whilst maintain a strong core logical structure. This means that your system will be soundly designed, but able to adapt over time.

Security

All our databases are secured from all forms of technological and physical attack. We ensure that our hosting servers are protected by firewalls, virus checking and service packs. We ensure that no form of SQL injection or IP spoofing can infiltrate your data so that neither you, nor your clients will ever be compromised.

Data importing and transformation

If you already have a database system that needs to be reengineered, we can help you to find an upgrade solution that won't break the existing structures and schemas that you have in place. We have extensive experience in data transformation and importing so that nothing is lost within any systems upgrades.