Application Development

The LANWorx Application Development team uses methodologies, tools and frameworks to help our customers and their business succeed through maximizing their investment in their IT systems.

Development Cycle

The outcome is improved efficiencies, better processes and Return on Investment for their expenditure. Over the years we have seen a number of common issues across most of our Customers.

What are the common IT System dilemmas?

  • Storing & finding data on their networks
  • File structure and naming conventions
  • Email - Filing and file structure
  • Tools - which to use to solve these dilemmas?

The mandate for our team is to provide solutions to these requirements through standard industry tools and frameworks.

Business Consulting & Process Mapping

There is a strong desire for organisations to get as much as possible out of their IT investment. Our approach is to analyse the underlying business processes and what systems they use to achieve their business objectives.

Process Model

As businesses grow and mature they often will require their IT systems to expand or have certain "pain points" that need urgent attention. That is when new systems and tools are introduced to solve the immediate issue such as databases, spreadsheets, even word documents which store data. However this does not factor in the impact it may have on other systems or whether there is any information that may be duplicated or needs to be shared.

Pockets of data (silos of information) appear across the landscape which often have a common thread. Mapping the landscape allows us to see what information is stored in a Customers site and looking at the underlying business processes allows us to understand and determine what tool is best suited for the requirements is part of analysing a Customers Information Architecture.

Going back to first principles, looking at the business processes then mapping these out allows us to both streamline the processes and consolidate or validate what tools are required to meet the core business requirements.

The Business Consulting and Process Mapping also allows us to create a roadmap for the IT infrastructure.

Microsoft CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Customer relationship management is a broadly recognised strategy for managing and nurturing a company's interactions with its customers and prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes such as marketing, customer service, technical support and sales activities.

LANWorx supports and sells Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions. CRM can be used to manage a wide range of Customer requirements these days. It is not just contact management or a sales tool, but the advent of an extremely flexible data model allows CRM to be used to meet many diverse customer requirements. This flexibility has led to the term "xRM" whereby the x can be essentially any relationship, not specifically "Customer" centric or focused.

For example: Grants, Registration or Membership databases are common applications of this CRM framework.

Microsoft Sharepoint

What is SharePoint?

Microsoft Sharepoint is a Microsoft framework used to build solutions that solve some of the issues described above. This could be as simple as a basic intranet or a solution to manage documents / information within a customer’s network.

SharePoint 2010 makes it easier for people to work together. Using SharePoint 2010, you can share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports to help everyone make better decisions. The capabilities of SharePoint 2010 work together to help your company quickly respond to changing business needs. For IT, SharePoint 2010 helps cut training and maintenance costs, save time and effort, and focus on higher business priorities.

SharePoint solves four main problems:

  1. As companies grow so does the amount of their files. It soon becomes difficult to keep track of the multiplying documents and their locations. SharePoint overcomes this by allowing you to store and locate your files in a central site.
  2. Sharing work files through email is a cumbersome process. SharePoint eliminates this by allowing files to be stored in one location, allowing easy access to all team members.
  3. Today's work occurs over multiple locations, whether it is in different countries, office locations, separate departments or at your home office. SharePoint enables teams and individuals to connect and collaborate together regardless of where they are located.
  4. It's difficult and time consuming to create and maintain information and data in segregated systems. SharePoint allows anyone to create sites for use within their company's Intranet, as they are needed, whether they are departmental sites, document libraries, meetings sites, survey sites, or discussion boards and Wiki's etc...