Building Real Systems
Operational software for a physical process: modelling the floor in software, the data model, imports, paperwork and reporting, and what happens when the model and the floor disagree.
Most of this comes out of RPOMS.
Staged CSV Import: Validating Operational Data Before It Is Written
The office already keeps its records in a workbook. Importing that sheet into a production system means matching its headers loosely, reading its dates the way it wrote them, surfacing duplicates before anything is saved, and never letting the client tell the server what a file contains.
5 min read
One Storage Interface, Three Backends: How RPOMS Picks Its Database
PostgreSQL on Vercel, MySQL on cPanel, or a folder of JSON files on a laptop, chosen by which environment variables exist. What that bought, what it cost, and the production lessons about pooled connections and reads that never came back.
6 min read
Reporting From Operational Data
What makes operational reporting actually useful for decisions, instead of just being a record of what happened.
1 min read
Why Software Developers Should Understand the Physical Process
Building software for a real operation goes better when the developer understands the physical process it supports, not just the data model.
1 min read
From Manual Workflow to Digital Workflow
What actually changes when a manual, paper-or-spreadsheet process becomes software, and what shouldn't change.
2 min read
How Admin Panels Help Manage Operational Data
What a well-designed admin panel actually needs to do for a production or operations system, beyond CRUD screens.
1 min read
Common Problems in Manual Production Tracking With Spreadsheets
The specific ways spreadsheet-based production tracking breaks down in practice, the tell that says it is time to move, and what a replacement has to remove.
3 min read
What Is a Production Management System?
A plain explanation of what production management software actually does, and why it's a different problem from a generic business app.
1 min read