Odlings Group
Written in 1999. Still running today.
We shipped order processing software to a company in the Odlings Group on the 23rd of July 1999, on seven floppy disks. We still have the disks. Some of what is on them is still running in production, twenty seven years later.
- Sector
- Memorial manufacturers and importers to the monumental trade, established 1870
- Services
- Bespoke software
Smaller businesses often assume that the kind of system they need is out of reach, and that the realistic choice is between a spreadsheet and a package built for somebody much bigger.
That assumption is usually wrong. What makes a system expensive is rarely the software. It is the scale of the organisation it was designed for, and the licence fees that come with it.
Building around one business’s actual process means you pay for what that process needs and nothing else.
Odlings Ltd have been manufacturing and importing memorials for the monumental trade since 1870, supplying granite, marble and stone sourced from the UK and around the world. Columbaria is part of the group, and the order processing system we built for them is the one on those disks.
The challenge
- They were running production on paper, in Duncan Reynolds' own words, which meant nothing was traceable once it left the office.
- Without a reliable record of where a job had got to, answering a customer asking about their order meant going and finding out.
- Off-the-shelf software could not handle the way they actually worked, which is usually the reason a business ends up on paper in the first place.
What we did
- We started with detailed discussions about the outcome they wanted, rather than a list of features.
- We built the system around their process rather than asking them to change it to suit the software.
- We replaced the paper system with a fully traceable production process, so every job can be followed through the works.
- It shipped in July 1999, and it has been maintained and extended ever since rather than replaced.
23 July 1999
Seven floppy disks
This is how the system was delivered. We still have the disks, the version number on the label is 1.00, and the phone number printed underneath it is still our phone number.
Most software written in 1999 is long gone. Judging a system on whether it is still there is a low bar that very little clears.
Results
What changed
- Paper to fully traceable
- Production moved off paper and onto a system where any job can be traced through the process. Their words, from the quote below.
- Office staff answer with confidence
- Duncan Reynolds credits the system with letting his office staff communicate far more confidently with customers, because they can see the real position rather than go and ask.
- Twenty seven years in production
- Shipped on the 23rd of July 1999 and still in use. Whatever else a system is judged on, it has to still be there, and most software written that year is long gone.
Your understanding of the technology available coupled with detailed discussions on the desired outcome has produced a system with capabilities I did not imagine a business our size would be able to achieve. We have gone from a paper system, to a fully traceable production process. This has enabled our office staff to be able to communicate far more confidently with our customers.
Got a process that nothing off the shelf fits?
Tell us what the job is and we will tell you honestly whether bespoke software is worth it.