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Founded in 2003, Merle+Culbertson is an Information Management
services provider.
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We develop business applications and
information systems.
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We know business,
we know technolgy, and we know data management.
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The central problem for most applications is to convert business knowledge to application logic. The success of the project therefore largely comes down to the ability of the application team to bridge the gap between the business worlds and the technology worlds. We have years and years of experience with exactly this process, and we are very good at it. The ability to speak to the users in their
own language is our single strongest asset.
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We know relational database management systems (RDBMS).
The application's logic must be applied to data--often to data
in motion within the client's organization. The RDBMS is
central to many, if not most, applications. Effective use
of a relational database is a core competence,
crucial for both
performance and--more importantly--for ability to change
the application as requirements change.
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Our applications often leverage web servers, with a
browser as the user interface. This architecture
can then be deployed over
either an intranet or the internet (or both, with
appropriate controls and safeguards).
See our proffered application suite (from the home page) for examples. |
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For a web site, our programs would deliver dynamic
content to visitors and enable data-driven behavior for the site.
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Business Rules expertise
As a specialized practice, we are Certified Application Support consultants with Microgen, a leading British Information Management Solutions company, particularly for their Aptitude product. This product is built around a core Business Rules Engine, and expands it to include basic Workflow and Business Process Management layers. We help US companies to implement Aptitude projects and to maximize benefits from deploying the Microgen enhanced Business Rules Engine. |
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We are not DBAs, although we have extensive experience with DBMSs:
Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, MySQL, ....
We are adept at database schema design for managing complex information,
and understand the issues in optimization for application performance.
Our focus is on the business use of data rather than on technical issues.
When the size and/or complexity of a project warrents, we team with
experts in the particular database management system to get the most from
that software.
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We are not database design specialists, although we have worked through all
the classic problems. Databases are almost always crucial to
our applications, and the design considerations are significant. We develop and
test and implement database design as a standard practice,
we document using Erwin and/or standard UML notation, and we normalize as a matter
of course. What we are not are consultants who focus exclusively on these problems.
We like to vet our designs with such experts and work well with these specialists
when the size of the project warrents their presence, but our scope is larger and
database design is just one of many considerations with which we grapple.
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We are not website designers, although we like to work with designers.
Often our applications deliver their benefits through a web server,
are accessed by way of a web site, or manage dynamic components within a web site.
We focus on business functionality
to be delivered rather than on site design per se. We appreciate the
artistic elements in good graphical design, and we know the importance of
the look and feel elements of a site. But these have not been our focus, and
we would typicially look to other professionals to provide them
as part of the overall design team.
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We are not network engineers or systems designers or hardware experts,
although of course we must be sensible of the physical infrastructure
on which our applications depend. Although Paul in particular is very
knowledgable about networking and systems management issues (having
done that work in the past), in practice we work with network and systems and
hardware experts while focusing on business logic and questions
of application behavior.
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We are not computer security experts. We are familiar with most of the issues, and can deal with routine security issues for internet-exposed applications, but for real system security challenges we would expect to work with experts in this crucial and full-time specialty. |