We typically spend the first day with a client prototyping a system in real time.
By the end of the day, clients have firstly, a useful working basic system and secondly a good idea of how long further development is likely to take (and cost) based on their ambitions.
Training
Alternatively, a popular method is to provide a fixed cost for training existing staff to allow them to develop systems completely on their own.
Following this, users are empowered to develop the system based on their demand, at their own pace.
Hosting, licensing* and support
Hosted pricing is simply £10/month/table.
Total cost will obviously depend on the ambitions of business users but SMEs using agileBase in some core areas can expect costs of a few tens of pounds per month.
Add unlimited users for free! There's no additional per user cost, even if you set up logins for clients, suppliers or partners.
Partner discounts are 50% and volume discounts are also available.
* agileBase is open source but custom components may be licensed
Log in to the demo server at www.agilebase.co.uk/test with username and password demo for a sample demo.
Please contact us for custom demos
Business specific support (charged)
For private support issues regarding confidential client data, e.g. data restore requests, please email support@agilebase.co.uk
Open source support (hybrid) For details, see the support centre
User and administrator documentation is also freely available online at the support centre
“
I used to use Oracle at my previous Fortune 100. I'm now an agileBase convert - I adapt it to my needs as soon as I learn a better way of doing something.
- John Collins, Business Analyst, Think Drinks
“
After ten years of rapid growth we have found agileBase truly invaluable. We are able to build modules in hours whenever a new need arises at very little cost. Because of this we have not needed to upgrade our ERP system and saved ourselves considerable outlay and upheaval.
- Nigel Williams, Finance Director, CHF
“
We wanted to build a new web application but needed more than just an application framework. We needed to be able to analyse the data in real time and we needed to build it quickly. I was astounded at the speed we built a proof of concept. In just four hours we had built our core data model and integrated it seamlessly into our web site. When the reports were viewed after some trial data was entered we could not have been happier.
- Damian Webber, Content Management Expert, Portsurf
Why do I use it?
agileBase helps build back office software that is
As a cutting edge Lean provider, we believe an agile platform can enable companies to build what they need,
at a pace to match a company's evolving learning, knowledge and understanding.
What's agileBase used for?
Our vision was to make a product that allows business analysts
to create Lean, agile, Just-In-Time (JIT) back offices. Here are some apps clients have built
CRM - most service companies start by recording organisations and contacts - the basis of their work
Market intelligence - gathering, recording and sharing background research and thought leaders
Learning zone - a library of online videos, presentations, books and other materials, referenced and reviewed
Strategy zone - for working on situational analyses, strategic initiatives and performance alignment
Human resources - staff administration
Physical resources - for storing documents and tools
Marketing information systems - to visualise and understand the relationships between activities and results
New business development - notes of 'interesting people'
Sales pipeline - following suspects, prospects, leads and opportunities through to sale
Project/programme/portfolio management - including the use of A3 reports
Client support - ticket and enquiry management
Technical issues - bug tracking etc.
Timesheets and expenses
Compliance - tracking commissions and evidence
Management Accounts - invoice generation, payroll and management accounts
Asset tracking
Job management, scheduling and statistical analysis
Delivery orders - from scheduling to van loadsheet generation
...and many more
As you can see these are crafted to fit each organisation's own best practice. agileBase is perfect for organisations in rapidly changing environments,
where scalability goes hand in hand with the need for a rapid Plan/Do/Check/Act cycle.
Here's a brief introduction to our business philosophy by MD Clifford Calcutt
On the foundations
Building blocks provide the capacity for massive scalability of end applications if necessary
but the agileBase aplication itself also has some nice technical features that anyone who's worked
on large scale databases will appreciate, for example...
View cascading
If a view/report A has dependent reports B, C and D, they are automatically dropped and
recreated when changes to A are made. There's no laborious manual process of dropping and
re-creating multiple reports for a simple field addition.
Auto joins
Joins are automatically created (LEFT OUTER by default) where there are relations but
you can still create completely custom joins on any field or calculation if you need to.
Deleting
Similarly, if you try to delete a table or view field that something else depends on,
agileBase will tell you exactly where the dependencies are so you can solve them first.
More
Auto indexes (case insensitive where relevant), quick aggregates, advanced filters
(e.g. newer than x months), built-in stats/audit trail and more mean that common app
building tasks are taken care of leaving you to concentrate on design or quick prototyping.
Technology
agileBase is a web-based, usually hosted application.
The AJAX user interface works on Firefox (recommended), Internet Explorer 7+, Google Chrome and Safari browsers.
The server side software and data is usually run as a hosted service by us.
However, if you wish to run your own version, it is platform agnostic, running on Linux or Windows.
A number of robust and scalable third party products are used by the server as a foundation for our innovations
The relational database behind the scenes on our server is the enterprise class database PostgreSQL.
Hibernate and Velocity provide stable frameworks for object storage and display.
We host at NTT Communications' London datacentre. Backups are made hourly and transferred offsite (to Manchester) daily.
Documentation & Source
The source code for agileBase is available on GitHub as open source.
Over the last 10 years the role of the Business Analyst has emerged as organisations grapple with the problem of how to
ensure software development projects deliver applications that match the needs of their client.
Traditionally this role has involved defining requirements and recording these in a formal specification document.
However there is a growing recognition of the problems inherent in this approach and a more agile approach
involving prototyping is often seen as an viable alternative.
agileBase requires no programming skills and thus allows analysts to convert schemas into fully working
web based prototypes in hours. The prototype is immediately available via the web for client review and feedback
from various stakeholders can be incorporated into the product often in real time.
agileBase as a long term solution
For many organisations these "prototypes" may even suffice, as the PostgreSQL database underlying agileBase is highly scalable & robust.
For small organisations or applications agileBase therefore provides a cost effective, rapid, easy to use and robust web app. development tool.
Customisations
If custom features are necessary, wizards for complex processes or custom printouts for example, an plugin engine and API is available to build these with.
Any developer has to be comfortable with using the Apache Velocity templating language.
We are happy to take this type of work or support on as a consultancy service if necessary.
John Collins, Business Analyst, Think Drinks
just in time
just enough
just for us
CRM - most service companies start by recording organisations and contacts - the basis of their work
Market intelligence - gathering, recording and sharing background research and thought leaders
Learning zone - a library of online videos, presentations, books and other materials, referenced and reviewed
Strategy zone - for working on situational analyses, strategic initiatives and performance alignment
Human resources - staff administration
Physical resources - for storing documents and tools
Marketing information systems - to visualise and understand the relationships between activities and results
New business development - notes of 'interesting people'
Sales pipeline - following suspects, prospects, leads and opportunities through to sale
Project/programme/portfolio management - including the use of A3 reports
Client support - ticket and enquiry management
Technical issues - bug tracking etc.
Timesheets and expenses
Compliance - tracking commissions and evidence
Management Accounts - invoice generation, payroll and management accounts
Asset tracking
Job management, scheduling and statistical analysis
Delivery orders - from scheduling to van loadsheet generation
