SSW - Testimonials

We have employed SSW since 1997 to develop our software while keeping our legacy systems running. We have a work flow application based on Exchange Server 2000. The new system required integration with multiple servers. The software tools used for the projects have been Microsoft Access 2000 and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 on a Windows 2000 platform. Support, maintenance and enhancement of legacy systems and integration services are provided at a professional level by SSW and consequently we have continually returned to them for software support and further software development projects.

James Snodgrass
RT Forsyth First National Real Estate

We have employed SSW since 1999 to supply support, maintenance and enhancement of our legacy Metering Services data system.

The scope of the project was to understand the implications of the Contestable Energy Market deregulation in terms of Metering Services and alter the legacy database to suit the new market.
SSW has also enhanced and implemented a works scheduling and tracking system for field operations and customer billing of services provided by Metering Services. The support, maintenance and enhancement of legacy software systems are provided to a high level of professionalism by SSW.

Mark Ezzy
InfoMet Pty Limited

You have done a superb job with updating our pre-historic database and we greatly appreciate your efforts. [You] have paid attention to our needs and done a great job for us in a timely and cost-effective way. I would not hesitate to recommend you and SSW to other prospective clients.

Damon Sharwood
Dolman

Wouldn't it be useful if you could run an upsizing report before starting the entire process? Well, you can. SSW provides a wonderful tool that can be used before you upsize the database.

Susan Harkins and Martin Reid
SQL: Access to SQL Server

SSW Web Pager is a Great Product! Keeps me informed of the latest events without having to go to the website. Everything is emailed to my inbox

Chanh Dieu

SSW has been of invaluable help to me on this project. Their professionalism and willingness to share their abundance of technical knowledge have made them a pleasure to work with.

Bruce Peattie
PT Services

I just thought I'd just let you know that the code you worked on at System 77 is running live in two sites (more to come next year).

Our customers love it. In fact, the code you wrote, we've had zero problems with.

A big thanks to David and Mark.

Regards,

Phil

Philip Uren
System 77

SSW Email merge provides a practical cost effective solution for

maintaining and building relations with our customers.

David L

Thumbs up to Adam Cogan for his Presentation at The Singapore SQL Server User Group!

Adam Cogan presented in the Singapore SQL Server User Group event recently drawing a large crowd. He first spoke on "What's new in Reporting Services 2005 & Developing Custom Report Items" and being a developer myself, I loved his 2nd topic "15 Rules to Better Code & Tools to keep your code healthy (including FX Cop)".

Thumbs up x 10 to Adam and many thanks to William for arranging for Adam to speak.

SSW .NET Toolkit showed me how to implement a multi-layered application with examples targeted at developers. It really is such a helpful tool.

David Scott

I want to thank you for the tremendous response and very fast corrections. I am very impressed with you and your company. I wish all software companies were as good. Keep up the wonderful work and I look forward to our relationship in the future. Thank you.

Eric Dietel

Thanks. The new download [of SSW Access Reporter] is exactly what I needed. Awesome Product!

Bill Russell
Pioneer Solutions Group

SSW have been a great help to NRG Solutions. Jatin in particular takes time to listen to our needs and keeps me in the loop with any additions or improvements to our site. SSW work hard to build strong customer relationships. They know their stuff.

Steve Herzberg
NRG Solutions

SSW Diagnostics - as it says on the Diagnostics page "This simple, powerful and effective utility keeps your system up to date, and helps to resolve intricate software compatbility issues". This sums it up in a nutshell. To make it even easier the report it generates shows you with Ticks and Crosses which programmes are up to date. Best part though is that it is completely FREE... Fantastic!

David Scott

SSW TimePRO Smart Tags makes it easy to mail merge letters, faxes and email that you need to send to clients. One of the defining features is that you can design your own templates. The best part though is that it is that it saves you time and money. What a great tool.

David Scott

The SSW .NET Toolkit is an outstanding tool for software developers. It made adding Validation and Exception handling to my application a snap! Again another great tool from SSW. Keep em coming Adam.

David Scott

SSW SQL Auditor - Product Review

A toolset that is commonly being asked for is the ability to run checks over a SQL Server instance to verify that development standards and administration practices have been implemented in a manner consistent with a set of common standards and principles. Although Microsoft has released the Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) for SQL Server to assist in performing this task, it is largely focused around administrative practices. SSW have developed SSW SQL Auditor to focus on SQL Server development practices and check that a wide range of performance and coding practices have been correctly adopted. SQL Auditor provides the ability to identify issues with database design and development standards prior to the performance of SQL Server being reduced as a result of these bad-practices not being identified. The checks that SQL Auditor performs range from checking that the maximum row size for a table is less then SQL Servers data page size, to checking that all Stored Procedures contain a standard comment block. One of the great features of SQL Auditor is not only the ability to report on issues, but to also generate the SQL Scripts that will correct the issues.

I think the best thing that I found out about SQL Auditor (apart from the ability to customise the checks) is the rapid way that the developers from SSW respond to feedback for their product. There were several improvements that I thought could be made to the product, such as when validating dates to include the smalldatetime datatype. The team at SSW were more then happy to listen to this feedback and implemented the improvements in the next version of the product that was released later the same week. So if you are looking for a tool to assist with verifying that development standards are being adopted by all of the people developing SQL Server solutions in your organisation then SSW SQL Auditor is a worthy tool to purchase and add to your toolkit. For a free trial version of SSW SQL Auditor refer to SSW SQL Auditor

This testimonial was originally published at www.wardyit.com/newsletters

Peter Ward
Wardy it Solutions

I've been in the telecommunications field for over 7 years, and I've recently made the decision to move into software development. I am a very self-motivated person, and immediately began setting up a development environment for myself at home. I purchased Visual Studio 2003 Professional which came with SQL Server 200. I've begun working through the MCSD training self-paced training programs, and I am also working on a CIS degree plan at Devry University here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of the U.S.A.

The purpose of this email is to thank you for the work you have put into the SSW website. I've done a considerable amount of research, and a company such as SSW is exactly the type of company and environment I would like to work in when my skills and practices reach a professional quality level.

There is a vast amount of information available online to help developing programmers, but unfortunately there is a black hole when it comes to standards or best practices for the minor task, that are repeated over and over again. Of course there are 'best practices' for code writing techniques or database scheme development, but that is not what I'm talking about.

Specifically the 'habits' that a developer forms while learning to code, are the things that they will continue to do for the life of their career. The standards that a company will expect, in regards to working in a team, the 'extra' information that will be expected in addition to just knowing how to program. For any particular task through the life of a project, I know 'how to' and am confident that if I don't know 'how to' I can find the answer.

What your site has given me is an example of the "how should" I do something.

This is something that is absent both in just about every programming reference I have read, and in addition it is totally absent in my school curriculum. From how to organize files and folders, projects, or even how to handle database version changes etc.

Over the next couple of years, I know I'll be using your website for reference again and again.

Really, Thank You!


Best Regards,

Ronn Erick McQueen

SSW SQL Auditor is a really valued tool to have in the DBA tool box.

Dinesh Asanka
Contributing Writer of www.sql-server-performance.com

Grays is a online auction website that sells mainly computer gear. The need to track all the for sale items. We developed a pocket PC application for symbol barcode PDA’s that allows auctioneers to scan the items on the showroom floor. At the end of the day they come back to the office and put the PDA in its cradle and then can sync the data which is all stored with SQL server to the main SQL database on the server.

Grays
Grays

Instead of building e-mail into your bug-tracking system, why not build bug-tracking into your e-mail client? That's what SSW eXtreme Emails does, bringing an agile bug-tracking system to users of Microsoft Outlook and Exchange.

Mike Gunderloy
Developer Central Blog

I am working on a project where I have to convert many access files to Microsoft SQL Server files, which is why I downloaded SSW's Upsizing PRO! It really working well and I would give it a perfect 10!!!

Nirmalya Sinha
Lucent Technologies

Grays is a online auction website that sells mainly computer gear. They needed to track all the for-sale items. We developed a pocket PC application for Symbol barcode PDA’s that allows auctioneers to scan the items on the showroom floor. At the end of the day they come back to the office and put the PDA in its cradle, and then can sync the data (which is all stored with SQL server) to the main SQL database on the server.

Grays Online Auctions
Grays Online Auctions

First of all, thank you for your prompt response. I have been using DataPro2000 for 4 years and your support has always been excellent.

Jack Crawford
DrofWare Database Development

SSW Exchange Reporter is an essential tool for anyone trying to monitor their organizations email. We use SSW Exchange Reporter because it generates professional user friendly reports.

Bill Johnson
InfoMet Pty Ltd

Instead of waiting for users to report broken links, SSW Link Auditor has saved us a lot of embarrassment and trouble by reporting all broken links to us.

Chanh Dieu

Thanks for all the support you guys are giving us there are few companies that could take a leaf out of your book.

John Hazel
Beechwood House Publishing Limited

[SSW Code Auditor] has many qualities I love in products: useful, productive, simple... Great job, Adam.

Malek Kemmou
Arrabeta

I've been putting together Development Guidelines for my employer and in the process have reviewed many published standards (in the .Net arena) from around the world. In each category, the suggestions at SSW are always among the best.

Leon Bambrick
Data#3

I was very happy with SSW’s service on our recent Point-of-Sale project. Some of the types of issues SSW handled adeptly were: the quality of the user interface, business requirements, legacy code and data structures, and ease of maintenance for down the track.

Philip Uren
System77

GEM Training Solutions specialises in computer training in database management, template development in Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel, and other training related services. We have employed SSW this year for the provision of training services, particularly in database management. The software tools used for the projects have been Microsoft Access 2000 on a Windows 2000 platform.

Tailored developer training services are provided professionally, competently and satisfactorily by SSW and consequently we have returned to them for further software related services.

Louise Ridlen
Gem Training Solutions

Now that I've been using it for a little while, I don't think I can put it away - it's just too darn useful and makes too much sense to just stop using it. And that, my friends, is the first sign of really good software.

Greg Hughes
Greg Hughes

SSW SQL Auditor is a valuable tool for SQL Server developers and .NET development companies. It's an easy method to improve database design and performance.

Terry Clancy, SQL Server Product Manager
Microsoft Australia

The SSW Upsizing Pro was fantastic! This is the first time I've tried to go from Access to SQL Server 2000 with any type of data and I had one table that kept giving me headaches. I ran the upsizing pro and it reported two fields in the table that had dates prior to 1/1/1753. (I can't believe that SQL server doesn't support dates prior to 1/1/1753!). I fixed the fields and the table uploaded fine. Thanks for a great product.

Todd Carlson
Brown-Minneapolis Tank

It gives me pleasure to provide the following testimonial regarding SSW and in particular Adam Cogan with whom I had the majority of my dealings.

Academy Tiles is a leading ceramic tile business, importing ceramics, marble and glass. We wholesale and also provide a unique architectural library of over 5000 samples for use by professional people. Our showroom and warehouse are located separately.

About 1995 we determined that our Dos based computer system was antiquated and would not allow us to survive and prosper. Our information needs were very comprehensive and growing. And so the search began. Academy Tiles commenced an Access database development with another eveloper. After some considerable work was done, I became dissatisfied with the work and approached Microsoft for a recommended Access developer to assist me in completing the exercise.

And so we were introduced to Adam Cogan and SSW. At this point we had a client and job database. We still required invoicing, purchasing, inventory and shipping.

I did not enjoy the first day's experience. Adam pulled no punches and was critical of the quality of the database structure and work to date. And he proposed to pull it apart and rebuild. I wasn't initially sold on the idea but after several days I could see a picture emerging of : structure, preciseness, integrity and efficiency. It was the system we had to have, regardless of initial cost and we have not looked back. Quite frankly without Adam's involvement we would have a clumsy inefficient system which was not easily modifiable I spent many days working with him developing our system and learning how to se Access. As a "partially" technical accountant I learnt sufficient to be able to readily modify and evolve our system. I have also dealt with others at SSW like Ibrahim Qutish and Ross Donald and they continue to support me with any code which is beyond me. In addition the free generic updates from SSW are a real bonus. The generic functions have extended my capabilities and minimised the amount of code required.

As an accountant I am very pleased to have the flexibility of periods that don't roll over. It allows us to adjust any incorrect invoices and re-issue with the need to create credit notes. This keeps the paperwork down to a minimum, reducing the confusion of an long paper trail. Queries are regularly rerun, accumulating monthly sales statistics etc. These also reflect any prior period adjustments.

We stocktake as many times as we wish, currently six monthly and roll stock into an opening balance. Because of this one precaution we build into prior "period" transaction alterations is to prevent these changes if they are dated prior to the last stocktake. The system is very flexible and can be run to suit any particular set of requirements.

It is also very user friendly and all our staff including management input their own work.

Our business could never have achieved the level of volume and success it has without our Access database.

And our Access database would not be what is without the involvement of Adam and his friendly professional and innovative team.

Without qualification I can state that their design work, desire to share and willingness to educate have made a substantial contribution to our business.

Joe Zeaiter
Academy Tiles

The course [Microsoft Access: Upgrading and Migrating to SQL Server and .NET] was very informative. I picked up lots of little tricks and tools that will make my job easier. It's always good to learn from someone who has already been through the real life experiences.

Greg Kennedy
Savings Loans

www.designHome.com.au was the first Australian production Web site powered by SQL Server 2000 and is Australia's leading Internet destination for the best home design products. It offers consumers the largest database of high-quality home design products such as furniture, appliances, lighting, fixtures and fittings, decorative accessories, bathroom - and kitchenware.

Rapid Application Development principles were applied during the development. We were under a lot of time pressure as we needed the live Web site to increase the acquisition rate of partners displaying their products, what is most satisfactory is that all the decisions taken under time constraint, such as using SQL Server 2000 Beta and a third-party ASP component, are still correct. SSW finished the development work ahead of schedule, under budget and with the required quality.
SSW was an obvious choice for us as Adam Cogan and his team displayed not only technical expertise, but further to that a business acumen rarely found with developers. We were also extremely happy with the knowledge transfer in the new Microsoft technologies, and will therefore continue to use their expertise for the further development of our venture.

Lukas Schelosky, Christophe Portenier
Addison Lloyd Group

Atom Industries specialises in the design and manufacture of outdoor power products. We have employed SSW since 1999 for the provision of data conversion services. Particularly providing a facility for importing and exporting data from MYOB files and Microsoft Excel and extracting the relevant data to a unique model in the purchasing and accounts division of our business. We would like to add that what was a very tedious and mistake prone task for our purchase office has now resolved itself to being an instant collecion of data all sorted out, model by model, and to individual orders and shipments both work in progress, pending and projected orders. All done in very quick time and accuracy. Even the shortage of one item, eg a one cent screw can stop production for weeks if it has to be imported so accuracy and quick follow up reporting features are very important.

Angelo Notaras
ATOM INDUSTRIES

How solid is your SQL Server database design? Will it perform well in practice? SSW has a product, SQL Auditor, that compares your design against a number of well known design rules and gives you reports based on how well your design does. Read Mike Pearson's review of this product.

SSW SQL Auditor is an extremely useful tool which allows developers to generate reports on design issues and areas where SQL performance could be improved. It does this by checking the database design against common SQL Server design rules and report on the elements that do not conform to those rules. For an example of the kind of rules checked, have a look at the product's info page (http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/SQLAuditor). This allows those who are responsible for QA in the design process to identify and fix problems in database design, ensure that standards are being upheld and prevent bad practises from creeping in. Once this process has been completed, SQL Auditor has wizards that generate SQL scripts to correct common problems. SQL Auditor works on SQL2000 and SQL7.0 databases.

Mike Pearson
Read more

"Microsoft Access: Upgrading and Migrating to SQL Server and .NET" - Melbourne, Dec 04

A brief bit of history - we switched our internal reporting over to MS Reporting Services after seeing the product in action (albeit in beta form) December last year. Gradually we're in the process of moving Access databases, Excel reports (on file shares, e-mail and Exchange Public Folders), rich-text e-mails and the odd VB front-end over to SQL Server back-ends, Reporting Services for reports, and Win Forms (VB.NET) for the front-end. I personally have had experience moving over 3 or 4 such projects, and my two co-workers have not had any experience (some of their legacy systems are still in Access 97). I reckon there's enough migrations to keep us busy all next year!

Into the above context steps a brand new MS training course "Microsoft Access: Upgrading and Migrating to SQL Server and .NET" which covers exactly what I've described above. We (me and the 2 co-workers) attended the Melbourne event on December 13th and 14th. The course was run by Adam Cogan from SSW which for me was a big selling point as I'd heard Adam speak before (and he was good).

I enjoyed the training, and here's why (in no particular order):
• The facilities at Cliftons were fantastic. P4 3.2/1GB RAM/17“ LCD Win XP Pro machines. Two people per desk, and in addition each desk had a monitor that displayed the presenter's computer. Classroom was 80% full, around 35 people.
• Adam was an enjoyable and knowledgeable presenter. Just hearing him describe tips and tricks was worth the price of admission for me, but then again I had already been through the process he described a number of times. And he wasn't shy about sharing his knowledge and useful tools either (which unfortunately left very little time for the hands-on labs).
• The material covered was pretty much spot-on in terms of the need it addressed. The first day a bit more time was spent on tools that Adam's company make to ease the migration process, but in my mind it was very relevant to the task at hand. Adam even branched out to talk about Extreme Programming practices, e-mail etiquette and job quoting & estimation, all within the context of an upgrade project.
• Adam was realistic in his praise/criticism about MS. I didn't feel like I was at an indoctrination session. In fact, the SSW website lists a whole lot of possible improvements with MS products.
• Adam has a good sense of humour, which seemed to grease the wheels of the presentation.

Thomas Williams
Read more in his Blog

We were struggling to use public folders to keep track of our teams movements until we found SSW Team Calendar for Exchange 2000. Now our problems are solved and we can see everyone's availability at a glance. Management loved it so much that we've setup another virtual site just for them.

James Fitzell - Systems Administrator
BradCorp

I have downloaded and installed the demo version [of SSW Team Calendar]. It is a awesome program. you guys have done a great job! I can't wait to get the key code to unlock the program and start using it to it full potential.

Bill House
Strafford Technology Inc

SSW Property and Event PRO was a great help enabling me to set values across my databases - not just in one table, including letting me set certain conditions. What an easy to use product!!

Marcus Garner

I love writing code, not working out people's data. SSW Data Renovator tells me in one minute flat what the changes are, so I can get back to coding.

Richard Fernandez
Microsoft Access developer

SSW Performance PRO! enabled our company to increase performance and productivity. By checking all our forms and SQL statements we were able to pin point where the bottle necks occurred and which controls on our forms where responsible. Thanks SSW team for a great product!

A Mavrogeorgis
Mavrogeorgis Holdings Pty Ltd

I used to use the command line utility osql.exe. I never use this anymore because using SQL Deploy means that I have a much more user friendly GUI without seeing DOS boxes during installation.

A Mavrogeorgis
Mavrogeorgis Holdings Pty Ltd

SSW Upsizing PRO! pays for itself many times over in the first hour of use. If you need to upsize an Access database that has seen any real use, don't start without this great tool.

Sanjay Singh
Smart Access and Access VB SQL Advisor

Upsizing PRO! has a number of really great selling features. I was really impressed by the thoroughness of the coverage of the problems you may encounter, and the suggestions on how to avoid them.

Russell Sinclair
SQL Server Professional

Get the SSW Upsizing PRO! tool. It's well worth using as it checks for problems and warnings that the Microsoft Upsizing Wizard does not.

Tony Toews
Microsoft Access MVP

I bought Data PRO! from you a few months ago and didn't have a need to use it at the time but I wanted to include it in my database for future upgrades. It has been a lifesaver! I just finished making 93 changes to the data structure of my backend database including adding and deleting tables, fields, executing sql statements and running queries. Worked like a charm! Just wanted to say thanks.

Jeff Stubbert
Marina Software

SSW Code Auditor makes this much easier for novices by including a wizard to build and test regular expressions for you -- that alone is worth the price of the tool if you're struggling with regex's.

Mike Gunderloy
MCPmag.com