Why You Should Care about RAD and How It Impacts Your Bottom Line ....

​Rapid Application Development or "RAD", is important to your bottom line. Specifically RAD speaks to the time it takes to develop software applications. Generally speaking, the fewer hours required for developing a custom data management solution, the better it is on your budget. For your organization, RAD is an important concept when considering in-house custom software development.

​Right now, the big push in information management is “big data” and “the cloud”. That’s where the time, money and energy is being expended. But, for all the push towards “the cloud” and “big data”, common sense dictates the following:

1. Data is dynamic and organic. The data you and your team need will not always remain the same. As your organization grows and changes, the type of data you track and how you track it will also change.
2. Large software vendors cannot possibly accommodate every need of every client. So there will always be “local” data, data specific to your organization and the way your organization works.
3. “Big Data” is not always the most critical data. Very often, the most critical data is “local” data. Because local data is specific to your organization, it is this data which distinguishes your organization from competitors. It is the unique local data which adds value to data stored in your major software solution. Local data gives you the edge; very often I see it paired with “big data” to enhance reporting and decision making.
4. Managing local data should not be done in spreadsheets. The most common solution for local data is to “throw it in a spreadsheet”. Software vendors simply tell their customers that their local data can be managed in a spreadsheet, instead of spending the money to customize the software program. But, this is not a viable solution. Firstly, spreadsheets are designed to analyze (not store and manage) data. Secondly, using spreadsheets to store (rather than analyze) data, leads to errors. The more data you store in a spreadsheet, the higher your error rate. The best way to manage local data is in a database application. And this is why you should care about RAD.

Because data is dynamic & organic, because large software vendors cannot accommodate every need of every client and because your local data is critical to your bottom line, RAD is important to your bottom line. Your organization will always have to manage local data. It isn’t going to go away with your new cloud software solution, and throwing it in a spreadsheet isn’t a long-term, viable option. The more data you put into the spreadsheet application, and the longer you try to maintain it, the higher your rate of error is going to be.

As one reporting period gets added to the next, spreadsheets will be copied, pasted to new reporting cycles. Over time your folder structure will have a spreadsheet for every reporting period. Names of contacts, products, services, etc… can (and highly likely will) be spelled differently from one reporting period to the next. And before you know it, you’ll have a whole lot of data that can’t be synthesized and used for reporting and analysis, because the data spans multiple spreadsheets, and critical data bits are spelled differently from one reporting period to the next.

Beyond all that, one also has to consider the error rates that come from copying/pasting spreadsheets to new reporting cycles and assuming that all calculations copied over correctly. One of the biggest reasons spreadsheets are known for having problems with accuracy is because of the copy/paste/start new spreadsheet dynamic. Cell formula error rates go up as spreadsheets are copied and pasted to start new reporting cycles.

At the end of the day, there will always be local data. And your organization is going to have to find the most cost-effective and accurate way to manage this data. That is why RAD is important. Rapid application development directly impacts the speed of any solution developed for your organization.  The more rapid the development time, the better it is for your budget. Rapid development time just doesn’t cut down on the cost of creating a local database solution. Rapid development time means you and your co-workers are up and running faster in managing the data that is unique to your organization and your job function.

So… if spreadsheets are not the best way to get a data management solution up and running, what is? In the Microsoft line of products, the next level up from Excel is Microsoft Access. Access is the top desktop selling database product on the market, and one of the reasons it’s so popular is because it is one of the best RAD tools on the market. Access is one of my “go to” tools for managing local data. It is not the only tool, nor always the best tool, because it really can’t be used for an on-line application. But, for local data, data unique to one group of users in an organization, data that doesn’t quite “fit” into the major software solution, nothing beats Access in rapid application development.

The reason Access is such a great RAD tool is because it is loaded with a lot of developer tools. As a developer, I don’t have to write code for everything. I can simply use native Access tools to create data storage tables, screens for data viewing and data input, reports and queries. Access provides the most, and best, development tools of any database product I’ve ever worked with. The development tools provided in Access make it accessible to the average user. Although I am a professional database programmer, basic data management solutions can be built (in Access) by users. If a person is comfortable building Excel solutions, they can learn how to use Access.

I also know how to code for online applications. The bottom line is that I can build an Access database application in far less time that it would take me to hand code the same thing in web environment. There are times when it is necessary to build web side databases, but if the solution is an “in-house” application then why spend the time and money developing in the web environment? If you’re looking at a local database solution, build it in-house and use a RAD tool that is time tested and proven.

Beyond the fact that Access is the best RAD desktop database solution out there, it can also be used in hybrid solutions. So… for instance … consider the following. Some of my clients manage much of their local client data (data that doesn’t “fit” into their CRM software) in Access, but they also want a website form, so that their clients can update core information, or register for events, etc… In these situations we do the following:

1. Store the data in SQL tables. This way the data can be accessed in multiple ways.
2. Build a website screen their clients can use to update information, register for events, etc.
3. Build an in-house Access database for managing all the data. Because the data is stored in SQL, a client can update pivotal information or register for an event, and this information will still be available through the in-house Access database.

And because Access is a great RAD tool, we are able to build a robust, in-house database in far less time than it would take to build the whole thing in a web environment.
​
The next time you’re discussing local data, and how to manage it effectively, the first thought in your mind should be RAD. Because if the solution you’re discussing can’t be developed rapidly it is going to cost you more in time and money, and it’ll take longer for your team to just be up and running with a solid data management solution.

Learn More about Building Custom Data Management Solutions with Microsoft Access​​

• Yes – Microsoft Access works in a Multi-User Environment
• YES – Microsoft Access Can be Used Securely
• Deploying Microsoft Access in a Remote Environment
• Microsoft Access and Data Integration
• Do you have questions about your own data management project? Contact Michelle.