All business systems rely on data. The information that drives an organization is most often stored in databases. Depending on the size of a company this arrangement can be as simple as a small file server with a single small Access database or as complex as  multi-national server data centers holding hundreds of databases in hundreds of servers.

One of the largest challenges in custom software development is the need to efficiently access this data, wherever it is stored, and convert it into meaningful software artifacts. For example, a business manager needs to work with an invoice which consists of contact data, employee data, transaction data, inventory data – in short it summarizes information from several different business domains.  It is extremely important for a business system to convert the data from its storage place into a usable entity – like the Invoice in this example. There are a number of ways this can be achieved. Some more laborious than others. In my experience the most effective approach is the use of an Object Relational Mapper (ORM). An ORM allows the software developer to work in the same terminology as the business itself. For example the developer can work with an Invoice Object that contains related information such as the Contact Object and a collection of  Invoice Line Item Objects.

Over the past 10 years more and more software development has moved toward the use of ORM tools. One of the reasons for this evolution of thought is the incredible gains in productivity that come with using tools that offer fast, predictable results every time.

There are two prevalent schools of thought in this arena. One group suggests that it is more meaningful to design the business objects (invoice, contact etc) first and then produce a data storage system from this definition. The second school of thought is more pragmatic. It points to the fact that most software has to be built against existing data stores and therefore should start by examining the database and allow business objects to be built from the database itself.

In my experience the second approach is more practical. Many of our customers ask us to produce software against existing data stores. As a matter of fact, if we approached a company such as Chevron and ask this customer to completely change their database architecture, we would not have this customer for long. More often than not it is very necessary to work with existing data base systems to produce web sites, web services or other custom applications.

One of our key partnerships over the past 6 years has been with the Dutch ORM vendor called LLBLGen.  At present Sequoia is a consulting and implementation partner in the US for LLBLGen. This tool by virtue of being the best in class product allows us to produce software faster and less expensively. This in turn allows us to be competitive and pass the cost savings on to our customers.

If your organization needs custom software created, the use of an ORM tool can greatly reduce cost and assure a project is built with much lower defects in a quicker turnaround. Sequoia Services Group has delivered ORM based solutions for several marquee customers like Chevron, Chrysler and ITT Corp.

Today we are proudly releasing our newly redesigned corporate site. We hope the new cross reference structure of projects and clients to industries and technologies makes it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for. In addition the site has an integrated blog service which we will use to publish technical notes, code snippets and company news