DE1–DE24 · Derbyshire
Custom software development in Derby
We build custom business software for Derby firms: works order and records systems, traceability, customer portals and the integrations that stop a supplier retyping a large customer's paperwork. Our office is in Mansfield, under an hour away by the M1 and the A52, so the build itself runs remotely and the sessions that need the room happen in your building.
- On-site included
- Same-day response
Which Derby businesses does SetWeb work with?
Derby's economy has a distinct shape and it shows in the software work. Rolls-Royce at Sinfin, the Alstom train works at Litchurch Lane and Toyota at Burnaston each sit on top of a supply chain of engineering firms in the twenty to two hundred staff range, spread across Pride Park, Infinity Park and the older industrial estates around the city. Their problems are quality records, traceability, works orders and stock rather than sales pipelines.
Traceability is the requirement we meet here far more than anywhere else. Aerospace suppliers working to AS9100, automotive suppliers working to IATF 16949 and rail suppliers working to the industry's IRIS standard all have to show, on demand, which batch of material went into which part and who signed it off. Spreadsheets handle that badly and most general job management products do not attempt it. A records system that captures the information at the point the work happens, rather than reconstructing it in the week before an audit, is one of the clearest cases for purpose-built software we know.
The second pattern is businesses caught between systems. A firm supplying a large manufacturer often has to meet the customer's portal, labelling and reporting requirements while running its own operation on something entirely different, and the gap between the two is bridged by a person retyping. That is integration work rather than a new system, and it is usually far cheaper than either party expects.
The rail side of the city has its own character. Derby has been a railway town since the Midland Railway built its works here, and the firms around the Railway Technical Centre on London Road range from engineering consultancies to small specialist manufacturers. Their projects run for years, with documentation that has to outlast staff changes, and the software that helps them most is plain: one place for drawings, revisions, test records and the correspondence that explains why something was changed.
A pattern we see in firms that have grown through the supply chain is the system that suited thirty people and does not suit eighty. An Access database built by a former quality manager, or a job product configured years ago and bent out of shape since, still holds the history the business depends on. Building around that data rather than abandoning it is normal work, and the first stage is usually a migration plan rather than new screens.
On the practical side, Derby sits in our extended zone, so visits are booked a week or two ahead rather than offered the same day. For a software project that is how the work runs anyway. We plan the sessions where standing on your shop floor changes the specification, typically the first walk-through, a review of the working prototype and the handover, and do everything between them remotely.
More on how we build custom software, and on the areas we cover beyond Derby.
Much of that work is with manufacturers, engineering firms and distribution businesses, where the equipment on the floor matters more than the machines on the desks. If that is your line of work, there is more on Manufacturing Software.
Local patterns
What do Derby businesses call SetWeb about most?
- Engineering firms needing batch traceability that spreadsheets handle badly
- Suppliers bridging their own systems and a large customer's requirements by hand
- Works order and quality record keeping done on paper and typed up later
- Stock and materials figures that do not reconcile with what is on the floor
- An old Access database holding years of records nobody dares switch off
What does SetWeb do for Derby businesses?
Get in touch
Talk to someone about your custom software development in Derby
A few lines is enough, and SetWeb replies within 1 working day.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
What do Derby businesses ask?
If the answer is not here, ask SetWeb on 01623 354250. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
How does a project with a Derby firm actually run?
The build is remote, as it would be with almost any developer. The sessions that need the room, the first walk-through of how work moves through the business, a review of the working prototype and the handover, happen at your site and are booked in advance. Between those you see the system arrive in stages rather than all at the end.
Can you build systems that support AS9100, IATF 16949 or rail quality requirements?
We build the records side: capturing batch, operation, inspection and sign-off data where the work happens, and producing the trace an auditor asks for. Certification stays between you and your auditor. What changes is how long it takes to answer which material went into which part.
Can you connect our system to a large customer's portal?
Often, depending on what the customer allows. Some provide a proper interface or a file exchange, some only a web portal, and the right answer is different for each. We look at what is actually available before quoting, and where a full connection is not possible we reduce the retyping to a check rather than a copy.
What does custom software cost for a Derby business?
Bespoke systems start from £549 and are quoted per project. Most focused first systems for an engineering firm fall between the low thousands and the low tens of thousands, depending mostly on how many other systems they have to talk to. You get a fixed figure after the free process review, and the drive does not add to it.
We have an old Access database holding years of records. Can you work with it?
Yes. The data is usually worth more than the application around it, so the first piece of work is getting it out cleanly and checking what is actually in there. From there the choice is whether to build the replacement on that history or migrate it once and retire the old system, and we set out both options in writing.
What happens if we outgrow the system you build?
It is built to be changed, and you own the code. Adding to it later is normal work rather than a rebuild, which is the main practical difference between something bespoke and an off-the-shelf product you have to work around.
