Website building/Database for business

MNM2903

Hi all

Not sure if anyone will be able to help but im going to give it ago.

Im in the process of creating a database for my dads business. Its a cleaning business for Wheelie Bins. He has a customer base of around 2.6k which have their bins cleaned monthly.

He currently uses an excel spreadsheet and does everything manually so im trying to put this all in to an access database.

What im wondering is if i get a wesbite together for him is there a way to make an option on the site to allow new customers to give their details with an online form with the option of how often they want it cleaned and also the option to make payment online either by setting up direct debit or paying in advance for 3/6/12 months.

Also would be handy if this sent an email notification to the business adress when a new customer done this and if it sent the details or stored them somewhere so they could be added to the rounds.

I understand this is probably vague and im not gifted when it comes to programming etc so i would just be using a website builder online etc

any help would be really appreciated

AJXX

It's entirely possible, however complicated.

For starters, for the DB to interact fully with the website it would be better if it was MYSQL based instead of Access. I'd suggest speaking to a programmer, maybe posting an add to some of the freelancer sites to get some quotes. You're probably going to need a custom PHP based site to do what you need to do.

Of course for something more simple you could look to create a form on the website with something like http://www.123contactform.com/ and see if theres anyway to integrate a payment gateway.

This would then collect the customers info and payment details and pass them over to you via email for manual entry into your Access database.

Personally the admin side of managing 2.3K customers and payments manually would be a massive no-no. I'd steer more towards contacting a programmer to create a custom website where all of this can be entirely automated with as many customers paying on-line if possible.

paddyrg

Be aware it's not a beginners job - any time you bring data near the web, you have to deal with big security challenges (and they are not straightforward)

InsideInsurance

Can he already accept DDs? If so is it directly or using a PayPal type intermediary?

As above, all can be done, it is possible to run it off an Access DB but if you are starting from scratch then it wouldnt be the technology of choice. As a Microsoft man for programming (Apple for desktop) I'd go with MS SQL Server but MySQL is a perfectly fine solution too.

Doing things without the payment side is not overly complex but probably should be put into the hands of a developer rather than a home done job.

As soon as payments are involved then it is a bit more complex and much more consideration has to be given to data security etc.

AndyPix

All of the above would be best achieved with a php site and a MySQL backend.
Standard hosting would provide both of these but coding it wouldn't be a beginners job.

You could probly fudge through most of it using online php tutorials and examples, but the banking integration would be more complex and not for a beginner

droopsnoot

As others have said here, payments would be the main issue, anything that stores payment information has to conform to certain standards (which used to be called PCI Compliance but might be different now) - we used to get around that by only offering PayPal or SecPay (now called something else), so we never see the customers payment details, just a confirmation that the payment has been received from either of those processing companies.

Mr_Toad

Speaking as a Database developer and programmer I have to agree with the others.

Yes you can but don't use Access go for MySQL and it won't be easy.

mauriphonic

MariaDB or MySQL. Don't put customer data online in any form until you know what you are doing. PCI compliance for card payment data is ever growing and you risk heavy penalties if you have a breach and are not compliant. Far better to get a professional on the case.

There are plenty of firms that specialise in just this sort of thing and could probably do the whole thing for you. Be careful if you find a programmer who claims to be able to do it for you too cheaply. Plenty out there who could do it, but there is no substitute for experience, and you may spend more in the long run with the cheaper option. Make sure you have unrestricted access to where your database ends up and the tools & credentials to access it as well.
Whilst you could have it programmed as a one time system for you, recognise that it may need continual development as your subscriber base grows, and someone will need to make sure it is continually kept up to date with all the latest security patches and tweaks that are needed. It will need ongoing maintenance that may have a cost. For that reason alone, consider finding a firm to do it for you, pay them an ongoing fee for the service and its one less problem for you to deal with. Its an relatively routine job for a pro.

ClarkeKent

Shouldn't be too difficult.

Can't see why you just can't setup a online store of your "cleaning services" this will allow them to be purchase online. Most ecommerce platforms work with MySQL, which is the best the way to go imo.

Really easy to import that spreadsheet into the database via PHPMyAdmin too.

I personally have a preference to Oscommerce but Magento, Woocommerce are also popular.

For your direct debits, GoCardless is pretty good.

Cornucopia

Before thinking about the technology, you need to think about the business process you are trying to automate.

In the first place, as others have hinted, not everyone is permitted to administer Direct Debits, so you would need to check on your Dad's Business's bank's rules on this. Secondly, you may have seen that even very big organisations do not operate their own card-payments services on their own websites (they use Worldpay or similar). This is because the cost of compliance is huge, and the volume of card transactions is not large enough to justify that cost.

Secondly, unless you are planning to have customers modify their account details online, then there is no reason to put all of their data there (and very good reasons not to). Therefore, the simplest options will be around a form entry for new customers, possibly connected to Paypal for advance payments, and a flow of data away from the Website to update an off-line master database. This is all doable, and depending on the level of sophistication, automation and security involved it could cost a little or a lot.

Think about what your customers want and what the business needs, rather than what is clever in technical terms.

bod1467

You could use Paypal as your payment portal (which gets around the PCI compliance issue) ... most eCommerce applications have Paypal integration, and you can setup up recurring payments too (akin to direct debit, although actually more like a standing order).