Good Database Program for small Business?

[DauntlessDynamo]

OK, here's the deal, this company that is close by (and is run by some of my family) wants to do a semi-sofisticated database that will let them electronically pay employees and keep all of their info. along with a few other things. The company that they called to do it will charge them $9,000 ($7,000 for software and $2,000 for customer service.)<-- Sounds like a rip off to me.... So they asked me if there was anything else they could do, because $9,000 is kind of steep. THey are not a huge company, probably around 100 employees. But I want to make sure the software will be able to grow with the growth of the company. Is Quicken a good start, or should I be looking at something more? They are running a W2k network.

 

[Drakkon]

In other words your looking for a payroll program?
You could setup a simple access DB to do what your looking at...but it might not be secure...and if they want to print the checks too that mgiht get a little more complicated...
Quicken is a viable option...i think there business soft has payroll ability?
That quoted price does sound about right though for a fully developed/supported software package specifically for that company so long as its of decent quailty...securely written and encryption is used for all transactions and automated backups enabled and all that stuff...

 

[WobbleWobble]

Simply Accounting is nice.

 

[beer]

Speaking from doing IT work with a 200 employee or so realty company, I feel like I should add something here:

Payroll services can be very complicated. Furthermore, $9000 may be a lot, but they're paying 100 employees how much a year, plus taxes, matching 401(k)s, 7.5% SS funds....plus everything else. $9K is a fair price especially on how much they do. Plus, payroll service is one of those things that if it goes wrong, you can upset a lot of people very, very quickly. I'd suggest a more professional outsourced solution for 100 employees. 15-20 can maybe be done in-house....but 100 employees is a lot of records to keep track of especially if Uncle Sam comes knocking or if there is a systemwide glitch that effects everyone's payrolls. People don't like to have money missing from their paychecks.

 

[gsaldivar]

Originally posted by: Elemental007
$9K is a fair price.

 

[kranky]

Have they looked into a payroll service like Paychex or ADP?

 

[tkdkid]

It isn't a ripoff, really. 9k is pretty cheap for custom software. However, if you can find off the shelf stuff that will fit their business, then that's usually a better way to go.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Quickbooks or PeachTree will support their accounting functions.
As others stated, have them check out ADP or Paychex. Both of those companies will also ahve recommendations on what can be used to easily electronicaly interface with their systems.

 

[DT4K]

It is really hard to give a price unless you know exactly what the program needs to be able to do.
But for comparison, here is the summary of a custom software project I recently did.

I developed an Access DB with about 12 tables, 3 forms, and 4 or 5 tab screens on each form for a sheetmetal/plumbing shop to keep track of their work orders and expenses.
It has info on employees, customers, work orders(a single job for a customer), employee wages, wage classifications(foreman, journeyman, etc.), job costs(equipment rentals, purchased materials, etc.), and labor hours.
It allows them to look up information about their employees, customers, and vendors.
It allows them to track what wage level an employee is at and what the total cost of that employees hours are (including union dues, insurance, etc.) as well as update those dollar amounts and wage classifications when they change
It allows them to create work orders when a customer calls and needs work done, then enter the labor hours, select the employee, and enter other expenses for that work order.
It has multiple reports that calculate the costs and billing amounts for a particular work order in several different ways depending on what kind of job it was and what kind of bulk discount that particular customer gets.

I spent a total of about 80 hours on this project and charged them $45 an hour for a total of about $3600.
EDIT: I also did not include any support in this price.
I have been back a couple of times to help them with stuff and fix a few bugs and charged them $45 an hour each time.

 

[Nocturnal]

Quickbooks is a really good solution.