The Advisory Bureau has been involved in a wide range of projects of clients, many of which are still confidential. Certain of these projects have been very large and resulted in millions of Rands per month of business turnover for a single client. In some cases, a client has even seconded a liaison manager to our premises on a semi-permanent basis. But we care as much for smaller clients and for professional people because we believe that the quality of our services is not negotiable. Another example of our innovative consulting services is that of

DATABASE DESIGN

We have demonstrated, for instance, that a large amount of business information resides in the address books of the senior and middle management of organisations -- information which, if properly collated and managed, can generate substantial goodwill and additional business. We have developed databases which became the very backbone of the client organisation, and which are dynamically updated and modified by the client itself with no or minimal assistance from us. Below are a few examples of dynamic database uses and options:

Above are two interfaces (of many) of an archival database, which includes photos, graphics, audio and movies and which can track library usage and invoicing.

 
Above left: Example of database-generated high quality mass mailing to an automatically generated address list. Above right: Example of a multi-service project time-billing invoice by project and by employee, ensuring transparent invoicing, what is billed and what is not billed, etc.

Of critical importance is that the database user must be able to modify and develop the database as determined by the changing needs of the organisation – with minimal or no outside assistance. It means the database must be intuitive, easy to use and to modify with limited requirements for scripting, yet with fully relational and scripting options. Only then is a database of real value!