At SPIKA we know that "information is king". All our solutions and projects are built bottom-up, based on carefully designed database architecture. We are very experienced in all aspects database modelling, programming and optimisation of large-scale RDBMS that can cater for billions of transactions. Databases and information management are at the heart of our solutions and tables are not just treated as a means of object persistence.
In order to ensure maximum performance and concurrency for large websites we:
- Make heavy use of database views – databases are far better at filtering, combining and sorting information than Java or any other middle-tier language. In addition, this massively reduces network traffic
- Write bespoke SQL and caching – one-size-fits-all solutions like Hibernate cannot be trusted to make optimal joins and updates against billion-row tables. Custom SQL also enables us to take advantage of the very best features of your specific database engine
- Use real data and realistic table sizes even during development. This means that a development database may be hundreds of Gigabytes large, and it enables us to spot potential future performance issues at an early stage of development
We work predominately with SQL Server and Oracle, but for smaller clients we may use for example MySQL. The choice of RDBMS depends largely on your existing database strategy, licences, budget and in-house knowledge.
Business Intelligence
At SPIKA, we also know that information is only king if there are proper tools and capabilities to analyse, aggregate and present meaningful results based on the captured information. What's considered as meaningful results depends on a vast array of factors, for example:
- Corporate KPIs (which may change quarterly)
- Specific campaigns and events
- Department, region or country
- The need for detailed or high-level
- Numeric tables or graphical diagrams
- Real-time or daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly
Business requirements change and the need for specific information comes and goes. At SPIKA we therefore don't view Business Intelligence as a static requirement that's defined and agreed at the beginning of a project. Our JAB framework has extended support for data warehousing, real-time and background data aggregation, and a reporting engine for quickly and cost-effectively producing new reports based on raw or aggregated information.
