Dunbar & Co. can integrate your personal computers using industry standard Microsoft Office products. We provide custom business software solutions - typically within a work group. Our company uses primarily Microsoft Visual Basic as the primary programming language and Microsoft Access as the primary back-end database.

If your custom application involves a high degree of change and needs to be maintained on site, then we might recommend that you get trained in Microsoft Access and use it as both the front end interface and the back end database. Access has evolved into a very powerful programming environment. It is a great tool for most business environments.

If your application needs a high degree of Graphical User Interface (GUI), or needs to interact with other databases, then we would probably use Microsoft Visual Basic as the front end interface tool and Access, or another product, as the back end database.

If you have many users entering data, then we would probably use a more expensive multi-user database, in conjunction with Access, to provide for safe multi-user record locking.

Visual Basic is now becoming the standard language for all the Microsoft applications. We specialize in Visual Basic. Visual Basic has become the "glue" that binds the Microsoft Office suite. It is now also used as the primary programming language in Access, Excel, Word, and Microsoft Project.

All custom systems start with a detailed specification that reflects your requirements. To the extent possible Dunbar & Co. tries to use existing applications like Microsoft Word and Excel, or other Microsoft Office programs to extend your custom software.

The average project for Dunbar & Co. is $7,500 - $65,000. The projects typically involve networks of 5 - 25 users for medium to large companies. Although Dunbar & Co. has done projects in just about all industries, about 65 % of our work has been in the energy and financial sectors. Dunbar & Co. has developed two packaged accounting software products: Accustom and Accutrac.

If you are thinking of a doing a custom project for Windows, please call John Dunbar at Dunbar & Co. (281-265-8100) to discuss your needs.

Mr. Dunbar, as President and Owner, has worked with many databases over his 20 year software development career. These include Access, Btrieve, Scaleable SQL, Paradox, VB/ISAM, Advanced Revelation, various PICK and SQL dialects. Mr. Dunbar teaches programming classes in Visual Basic and Access.

Mr. Dunbar can analyze your requirements and design a detailed specification for your system. He has designed over five million dollars worth of custom software and managed many programming teams. Dunbar & Co. brings a library of pre-written software programs to your programming task. We deliver full source code on every project. Dunbar & Co. has been in business since 1982.

Mr. Dunbar has an M.B.A. in Finance and is a Microsoft Certified Product Specialist in NT. He also co-founded and then sold Winnersoft, Inc., a Windows software development firm. Mr. Dunbar contributes time as an Advisory Board Member to the Computer Department of Houston Community College, and was founding moderator of the Visual Basic Help Talk forum.