HELP needed on what type of developer/expertise needed

Denis23

Hi

I am a lay person when it comes to computing so please forgive me lack of technical savvy before I start. My expertise is in the legal field.

Basically, I am wondering what skillsets I need in someone to develop the following. I have already approached two larger IT companies and they are extremely slow in getting back with prices etc.. Not an auspicious start.

If the database side of things was straightforward enough I would hope to get an experienced developer (?) to design same and have the website done very professionally by a well established agency.

I am looking to have a database built which allows a customer store certain personal information on it. It will be fronted by a website. The customer will register and create their own account much like creating say an apple id. They then enter a specfic email address for a third party. When the customer has supplied all information (dob, address, etc.) they pay a fee via debit card/credit card/paypal. The system then sends an email to the third party advising them of a task that has been assigned to them.
The system would allow the customer access their information and add or amend certain details.

When a specified event happens the third party will log onto the system with a password provided in original email. I would probably have to include a separate access to certain information only for that third party. They will notify the system of the occurence of the event and then the system basically sends out emails to certain other specified individuals.

There are other tasks the system will have to carry out but I would see these as being part of phase 2 due to time and financial constraints.

From discussions I have had it seems the way to go is to have it hosted on a cloud platform.

A promotional code programme for the payment gateway also needs to be designed. It probably very standard as most ecommerce sites have them.

The data being handled is very sensitive so it has to be a bells and whistles job.

There would also be a back end website allowing me the administrator access to the data etc..

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as I am lost as to who I should look to develop my idea. It is a business venture which hopefully will be successful (like everyone hopes). I am a one man show at the moment. I presume a computer science graduate would be unlikely to have the necessary programming experience etc. ? If this was to be done by an IT Consultancy would it cost in the tens of thousands or more like say 20K

As I say I have approached one such company in particular that I wanted to work with but major delays in getting a price estimate. Very frustrating to say the least. I thought solicitors (moi) were bad to get back to people.

Many thanks
Denis

Buford T Justice

So you want it done to a high standard but don't want to pay the fees for a professional firm to do it?

If time constraints are an issue then its not a one man show you are looking for. There's a considerable amount of development in what you are asking for to be done, and to do it & and test it correctly will take time.

Denis23

Hi Bulford,

I didnt say wasnt willing to pay a professional firm. I indicated I had approached two and no response with a price after 5 weeks. I know its complex. It seems maybe I need to go for a smaller firm who are interested in developing a relationship with an SME as the larger ones seem to be concentrating on corporate work imo.
Thanks
Denis

14ned

Denis23 wrote: »

Hi Bulford,

I didnt say wasnt willing to pay a professional firm. I indicated I had approached two and no response with a price after 5 weeks. I know its complex. It seems maybe I need to go for a smaller firm who are interested in developing a relationship with an SME as the larger ones seem to be concentrating on corporate work imo.
Thanks
Denis

I'd keep searching, eventually you'll find someone hungry enough to reply quickly to enquiries. But you need to accept it's going to cost you around the 10k-20k mark for a good job, and please don't think in terms of buying a site, think in terms of buying maintenance for a site. Any joker can throw together what you ask for in a matter of hours, only a professional puts together an easy to maintain, easy to test and secure solution compliant with all the relevant legislation. Those professionals are in short supply, and have seen a huge uptick in business this past year, most are having to turn down new work.

Niall

Denis23

Niall
Many thanks. I have budgeted 20-30K for the site and database. As you say to get it done properly now is the key to allow for future development and proper maintenance etc.
Denis

Buford T Justice

Denis23 wrote: »

Niall
Many thanks. I have budgeted 20-30K for the site and database. As you say to get it done properly now is the key to allow for future development and proper maintenance etc.
Denis

I agree with 14Ned

You should be looking for a firm to do both the site and the back end imo, or else ensure that the developers of the back end expose an API that the site can communicate with. Personally, for the job you're interested in having done I'd be looking for a small to medium company to do this for you, as you will need to spend a considerable amount of time in discussions with them over requirements, and the last thing you want is this getting lost in translation with a larger company.

Denis23

Buford
Thanks for that. I think a small to medium is the way to go. Have a few more enquiries gone off and some leads developing already. Cheers for help.
Denis

amen

One thing to remember is support for issues that arise such as modifications, support of modern browsers, tables/mobile device support.

You also need to considers database backups, regular server patching, security updates, best practices etc

What about a Service Level agreement?
Who has the source code ?
Test/deployment servers?

"There would also be a back end website allowing me the administrator access to the data etc"

I'm not sure what you mean by this but if you are handling sensitive data then there should be NO way you can view/see/decrypt the data