Custom Built
Admin Systems

Property management companies are usually responsible for managing hundreds of apartments and all the facilities, such as bin rooms and bike sheds, that go with them. I once built a system for one of these companies that tracks important incidents that occur in these facilities, be it a fire alarm activation or a break-in. The system also tracked landlords and tenant contact details.

This system gave the management company the ability to access the incident details, as well the contact details of everyone involved, should the company, or the police, need to investigate a incident further at any point in the future.

Previously the company relied on a paper filing system which over the years had filled entire rooms of boxes and folders that were completely inefficient when it came to retrieving specific details.

Property management system features:

• Management of hundreds of facilities and thousands of properties.

• Landlord and tenant tracking, with protection of personal data via encryption.

• Creation and tracking of incident records, with detailed notes and follow ups.

• Easy retrieval of any past incidents.

• Secure access and authentication.

I recently built a simple system for a local manufacturer of prosthetics and niche healthcare products. The company has hundreds of pieces of specialised equipment that need constant maintenance and are subject to annual audits from external regulatory bodies. These maintenance tasks are performed against a strict schedule. Previously this was all managed through basic website forms and Excel data which was not the most reliable approach and imposed a lot of limitations.

The new system provides a simple interface to create and manage equipment, as well as set up their individual maintenance schedules. Upcoming maintenance jobs are then highlighted on the dashboard based on these schedules, and outstanding jobs are clear to see. Overall, the new system provides a simple way to ensure that every piece of equipment in the factory is carefully maintained and up to date.

In the future the system can be expanded to include specific task lists per machine and this will ensure that all items of importance are checked-off by the engineers.

Machine management system features:

• Creation and management of equipment, equipment types and equipment areas, with optional document and file attachments.

• Creation and management of equipment maintenance schedules.

• Annual and monthly calendars showing all required maintenance.

• Maintenance job creation forms and equipment maintenance history.

• User management with varying levels of access per user.

• Maintenance task lists.

• Easy access from all desktop and mobile devices.

A few clients of mine have had the need for a custom system to distribute company media to staff and franchisees. This media could be in the form of PDFs, such as legal documents, operating procedures or fire & safety protocols, or it could be multi-media such as print and marketing material for franchisees.

Since this media is usually private or sensitive to the company, it must be guarded behind login screens with secure authentication. Varying levels of permissions per user could also be required per item.

Although pre-made solutions for this kind of thing already exist, they usually don't quite meet the complete requirements of an individual company, and they usually come with hefty recurring fees. Sometimes it makes more sense to build a custom portal for staff members and franchisees and it opens up a whole lot of possibilities that are not achievable with pre-made software. The technology available to modern web developers enables a single software developer to build custom company portals on a reasonable budget.

Staff & Franchisee Portal Features:

• Uploading and management of private documents, media and large files.

• Fine-grained user and permissions management.

• Notification systems to email or text users.

• Policy acceptance and tracking: Staff members can be forced to read and accept company policies.

• Provide customised print material to franchisees.

Modern payment gateways, such as Stripe, are perfect for taking payments from customers on a once-off or subscription basis. We can combine these technologies with custom admin systems for endless possibilities.

Every business is unique, so custom systems are ideal for building whatever a business might need to manage it's customer and their payments. Payment forms can collect credit card details so that they can be used at a later date to request once-off or recurring payments. This can all be done very securely using modern payment gateways. Customers can be notified of all transactions and payment failures, should they need to update their credit cards.

A custom payment system can also be integrated into custom websites. I can build front-end dashboards and private member areas where a customer can access tprivate material based on their current subscription and payment status.

We can even go further and build a payment platform that lets sub-contractors sign up under your business's own Stripe account. With this approach a business can take a percentage of each sale and pass the remainder onto the sub-contractor automatically. This is all possible with Stripe Connect and I have already built multiple systems using it.

Subscription & Payment System Features:

• Manage customer lists and personal details.

• Take once-off and automated recurring payments.

• Send out automated and manual notifications to customers.

• Integrate into front-end websites and private members areas.

• Set up sub-contractors on your system and take a percentage of all payments.

There are many existing membership software solutions, but as is the case with all pre-made software, they do things their own way and that may not necessarily be the way that you would like your business to operate.

A custom membership system allows for total control over how a business engages with its members, including complete customisation of any communications or notifications as well as bespoke payment flows.

I recently built a system for a museum that required features that are usually forgotten about in existing membership software such as in-person cash payments, lifetime memberships & physical membership card deliveries.

What really makes a custom membership system special is its ability to be integrated into the front-end of a business's main website. We can grant members access to private areas and deny them access to specific features when their membership expires. Again, as is the case with all modern custom software, the possibilities are endless.

Custom Membership System Features:

• Fully customised membership management.

• Various levels of access per staff member.

• Automated and manual notifications to members.

• Automated subscription payments, as well as once-off charges.

• Ability to take cash payments.

• Front-end website integration for private member areas, documents and media.

Web-based admin systems can be a great solution to managing historical materials or copyrighted artistic content, be they in the form of video, images or documents. Varying levels of access for different user types, such as writers, artists or curators can be set up in any way required by a particular institution.

Archives can also be integrated with front-end forms which can allow for easy submission of new materials as as well as amendment requests to existing materials. Admins can then approve or reject content submissions, and all parties involved can be notified automatically.

As with any custom-built web system, these systems can also be integrated into front-end websites, which in this case, could allow for browsing and searching of both public and private materials.

Digital Archive Admin System Features:

• Manage copyrighted artistic or historical materials.

• Allow for submissions of new materials and amendments to existing works.

• Provide public access to materials with advanced searches and filtering.

• Provide access to private materials on a per-user or per-group basis.

• Integrate seamlessly into a front-end website.