Replacing an Access database or old desktop system for a Nottingham business typically takes 10 to 16 weeks, including data migration and a period of running both systems side by side. A code audit and rescue plan for a stalled project takes one to two weeks. In both cases you get a written plan before any build starts, and you own every line of code.
Who builds what in Nottingham
Nottingham's economy is wider than its reputation. The city's investment agency lists creative and digital, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, financial and business services, logistics, and food and drink as its main sectors, and names Experian, Boots, Capital One, Center Parcs, GoDaddy, Ideagen and Paul Smith among the businesses based there. It also points to its two universities as a source of talent and research (Invest in Nottingham).
Large employers like these build most of their software in house. The demand for outside help comes from the many mid-sized firms around them: suppliers, specialist manufacturers, professional services practices, distributors and life science companies that run on systems built ten or twenty years ago.
Replacing the Access database in the corner
A common story: a database built in Microsoft Access in the 2000s by someone who has since left. It runs jobs, stock or orders, it has grown to 80 tables, and it only works on two PCs. Nobody dares change it, and the business cannot grow past it.
Replacing it is not a rewrite from scratch. The safest route is:
- Audit the existing database to find the real business rules, including the ones hidden in macros and queries.
- Redesign the data model, keeping what works and fixing what does not.
- Rebuild as a web application with Microsoft 365 sign-in, so it runs anywhere.
- Migrate and reconcile the data, then run old and new side by side until the numbers match.
Our legacy modernisation page and the guide to replacing legacy software go into more detail.
Life sciences and other regulated data
Life science firms in and around Nottingham handle laboratory results, sample tracking and trial data, where an audit trail is not optional. A spreadsheet that anyone can edit will not survive an inspection.
The software these firms need tends to be narrow and careful: who changed which record, when and why; electronic sign-off; controlled exports; and hosting in a UK or EU region. We build those controls in from the start and document them, and your quality team validates the system against your own procedures. For patient-facing work see our healthcare software page, and for client or patient access to records see customer portal development.
When a project has stalled: rescue before rebuild
Not every Nottingham firm is starting from nothing. Some have hired a freelancer or an agency, the work has stopped, and nobody is sure what state the code is in.
Before deciding whether to finish, fix or start again, get an independent audit. In one to two weeks we review the code, hosting, security and documentation, then give you a written plan setting out the options, the risks of each and how long each would take. Often the honest answer is that most of the code can be kept. See software project rescue, and if your previous supplier has disappeared, our guide on what happens if your developer goes bust.
Manufacturing, logistics and food: the systems behind the shop floor
Three of Nottingham's named sectors, advanced manufacturing, logistics, and food and drink, share a set of software problems that off-the-shelf tools often handle badly:
- Production scheduling that lives on a whiteboard or in one planner's spreadsheet, so nobody else can see what is running tomorrow.
- Traceability from raw material to finished product, needed for customer audits, recalls and, in food, allergen control.
- Orders keyed twice, once from an email or EDI file and again into Sage or the ERP.
- Quality checks on paper, scanned at the end of the week if at all.
The fix is rarely a new ERP. More often it is a focused web application that sits beside the systems you already run, with integrations that move the data automatically. Our manufacturing software page goes into the detail.
EMCCA Growth Hub
Businesses in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire have a single point of access to business support through the East Midlands Combined County Authority Growth Hub, which offers events, workshops, news on available programmes and advice from business advisers (EMCCA Growth Hub).
Speak to them before you commission software. They will know what programmes are open, and an outside view on whether the problem is really software is worth having.
Remote delivery, in-person workshops
We do not have a Nottingham office and do not claim a local team. Fixology works remotely from its registered office in Luton, and we come to you for the discovery workshop, user testing and launch. For a legacy replacement, the discovery visit usually means sitting with the people who use the old system every day, because the rules that matter are often in their heads rather than in the database.
Between visits you see a working demo on a test link every two weeks, and messages get a reply within one working day. After launch, support plans cover fixes, updates and small changes, and can be cancelled with 30 days' notice. The how we work page sets out each stage.