Custom Web Applications
Custom web applications make sense when an off the shelf product almost fits but forces a workaround in the process that matters most. We build browser based systems that reflect your real workflow, connect to the tools you already run, and stay maintainable after handover.
Who it helps
Where custom web applications tends to fit
If more than one of these sounds familiar, the solution is likely worth a conversation.
- Organisations running a critical process through spreadsheets, shared mailboxes or paper forms.
- Businesses whose staff work across three or four systems that do not talk to each other.
- Teams that need customers, suppliers or field staff to self serve through a portal.
- Operations with approval steps, handovers or compliance records that are hard to evidence.
Business problems
The problems this is usually brought in to solve
The real process lives in a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet has become business critical, only one person fully understands it, and nothing stops it being overwritten.
Staff re-key the same information
The same details are typed into two or three systems because nothing connects them.
No reliable audit trail
Approvals happen by email, so proving who agreed what and when takes hours of searching.
Services and capabilities
Core capabilities and optional additions
Core capabilities are part of a typical build. Optional additions are included only when the agreed scope calls for them. What you receive in the end depends on the scope we agree together, so treat this as the menu rather than the order.
Core capabilities
- Customer portals for accounts, orders, documents and status tracking
- Staff systems for the operational workflow your business runs on
- Business dashboards with the measures each role needs to see
- Workflow applications with assignments, approvals and escalation
- APIs so other systems can read and write your data safely
- Reporting built on live data rather than month end exports
- Integrations with accounting, CRM, payroll and operational systems
- Role based permissions down to the record and field level
- Responsive interfaces that work on desktop, tablet and phone
- Accessible components, keyboard navigation and readable contrast
Optional additions
- Document generation for quotes, contracts and statements
- Bulk import and export tools for onboarding existing records
- Notification preferences by email, SMS or in application alerts
- A public facing area alongside the signed in experience
Anything listed as optional is quoted separately and only built if you decide it is worth having.
What an engagement can include
How a scoped project is put together
Not every project needs every step. This is the shape a typical engagement takes, and the scope you agree selects the parts that apply.
- 1Discovery of the current process, including the workarounds people have built
- 2Information architecture and screen design agreed before development
- 3Build in reviewable increments with working software shown regularly
- 4Integration work with the systems that hold the underlying data
- 5Permissions, audit logging and reporting design
- 6Data migration from spreadsheets or the system being retired
- 7Testing with real examples, deployment and handover
Typical workflows
How it works day to day
These are the workflows this solution usually supports. Yours will be shaped during discovery.
Customer portal
- 1The customer signs in and sees only their own account
- 2They submit a request, order or document upload
- 3Your team receives it with the supporting detail attached
- 4Status changes are visible to the customer without a phone call
Internal approval
- 1A staff member raises a request and attaches supporting detail
- 2The application routes it to the right approver by role and value
- 3Approval, rejection and comments are recorded against the request
- 4The outcome is written back to the systems that need it
Integration options
What it can connect to
Every system also has to allow the connection in the first place. Where a platform does not offer a supported way to integrate, we will tell you during discovery rather than work around it quietly.
Accounting and ERP platforms
Customers, invoices, orders and stock, subject to what each platform exposes.
CRM systems
Contacts, opportunities and activity history, so staff work from one record.
Identity and directory services
Single sign on and group based permissions inherited from your existing accounts.
Payment gateways
Card and account payments for portals that take money, via the provider you already use.
Transactional email and SMS
Notifications, reminders and status messages sent from the application.
Document storage
Files held in your existing store so retention and backup rules continue to apply.
Delivery and handover
What you receive, and what stays with you
- Agreed scope with the screens and integrations listed, and out of scope items named
- Source code handed over in your repository with build and deployment instructions
- Documentation of the data model, integrations and administrative tasks
- Training for the administrators who will maintain users, roles and reference data
Security and operations
Security and operational considerations
These are the controls and habits that come with the solution. The detail is agreed for your environment during scoping.
- Authentication through your identity provider, with multi factor authentication where available
- Authorisation checked on the server for every request, not only in the interface
- Input validation and protection against the common web application weaknesses
- Audit logging of changes to sensitive records
- Dependency and patch routine so the application does not age into a risk
Questions
Custom Web Applications questions, answered
It depends on the number of workflows, integrations and user roles involved. We propose an order of work during discovery and give you a clearer view once the scope is agreed, rather than estimating from a one line brief.
Often that is the better answer. We can add a modern interface, an approval layer or an integration in front of a system that works well underneath, which avoids a risky replacement.
You do. It is delivered in your own repository with documentation, so your team or another provider can continue from it.
Interfaces are built responsive by default, so the same system is usable on a desktop, tablet or phone. Where a task really needs a mobile app, we will say so during design rather than force it into a browser.
We plan a migration step as part of the project: agreeing what to bring across, cleaning it, importing it in a controlled way, and keeping the original file as a reference until you are confident in the new system.
We build to recognised accessibility practice using semantic markup, keyboard navigation, visible focus states and sufficient contrast, and we test the key workflows rather than assuming compliance.
Related solutions
Often considered alongside this
- SaaS Product DevelopmentMulti-tenant subscription software taken from product discovery through build, launch and iterative improvement.View solution
- Managed Database & DBA ServicesDatabase administration, performance tuning, backup verification, recovery testing, migrations and availability planning.View solution
- AI & Machine LearningPractical machine learning and automation: forecasting, document processing, anomaly detection and assistants that search your own records.View solution
Next step
Discuss your custom web applications requirements
Tell us about your current systems, the people involved and what you need the outcome to be. We will suggest a scope, flag anything that needs checking first, and explain what the work involves.