Internal tools and dashboards
Internal tools development replaces the spreadsheets, email threads and manual follow-ups your operations run on. One tool keeps the data in one place, gives each person the view they need, and records who approved what.
We start by mapping how the work happens today, with the people who do it. Then we build the smallest tool that removes the most manual work, import the data you already have, and add reports and approvals step by step, so your team keeps working while things change.
For example: purchase requests that move out of a shared spreadsheet into a tool with a clear approval step.
An illustration of the kind of work we do, not a client project.
Purchase requests today
BeforePurchase requests
AfterEach person sees the requests they need to act on.
What internal tools development includes
- How a request moves todayRequestCheckApproveDoneOwner: SalesOwner: Finance
Mapping how the work happens today
We sit with the people who do the work and write down each step, owner and hand-off.
- CustomerItemStatusA retail shopOffice chairsShippedA cafeCoffee beansPackingA clinicGlovesNew
Forms, tables and dashboards
Screens for entering, finding and updating your data, designed for the people who use them daily.
- Sign inyou@yourcompany.comPasswordRoleAdminStaffCustomer
Role-based access
Each person sees the records they need, and only the right people can approve or export.
- Orders by monthExportJanFebMarAprMayJun
Reports and exports
The report you assemble by hand each week, produced from live data, with exports to spreadsheets.
- Purchase request: office laptopsRaised by Operations · Waiting for FinanceApproveRequest changesApprover and time recorded
Approval steps with a record
Requests go to the right approver, and the tool keeps who approved what and when.
- ItemOwnerStatusPrinter tonerOfficeOrderedDelivery van serviceLogisticsWaitingNew laptopSalesApprovedImported and checked
Importing your spreadsheets
We move your existing data in and check it; Google Sheets can stay connected where useful.
Want this for your business?
Tell us what you need. A founder reads every enquiry and replies with questions or a proposed scope.
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Who it’s for
Operations teams tracking work in spreadsheets
Shared sheets edited by everyone, with no single version of the truth.
Managers who build the same report every week
Hours spent copying figures into a report that a tool could produce on its own.
Processes that need an approval trail
Purchases, leave or expenses, where you need to know who approved what.
What you get at handover
Everything is handed over in your name, so you can run it, change it or move it to another team.
- The tool, deployed in your own accounts
- User accounts for your team, with roles set
- A short guide for each role
- The source code and documentation
- A record of the data imported and how it was checked
What we need from you
A project moves fastest when these are ready. We help you put together anything you do not have yet.
- 1The spreadsheets, forms and emails the work runs on today
- 2Time with the people who do the work, to map it
- 3A list of who should see and approve what
- 4One person who approves each increment
How an engagement runs
- Scope document
Scope: customer portal
What we deliver
- Customer sign-in, with roles
- Order status page
- Invoice downloads
Not includedMobile appDone whenTested with your real ordersAgreed by you before the build starts
- This week’s buildReady to view
This week’s increment
Order status page
feat: order status page
test: status for each order type
docs: how statuses are calculated
Next increment: invoice downloads
- Review checkpointOur reviewer
- Checked against the scope
- Tests read and run
- Ready for you
Your approval
Approve milestoneRequest changes - Handover pack
Code repository
In your account
Credentials record
Transferred to you
Documentation
What was built and how
Runbook
Deploy, roll back, fix common problems
Maintenance available on a monthly plan
Scope: customer portal
What we deliver
- Customer sign-in, with roles
- Order status page
- Invoice downloads
Agreed by you before the build starts
What affects the cost
We quote after a scoping conversation, so there is no fixed price on the site. These are the factors that move the cost of this work up or down; the proposal states the scope, what is not included and the price.
Technologies we commonly use
- React and TypeScript
- Python
- Document and relational databases
- Google Sheets
- Email and WhatsApp notifications
- Cloud hosting in your own account
- Number of processes covered
- One approval flow is smaller than purchases, leave and expenses together.
- Roles and permissions
- How many kinds of user there are, and how finely their access is split.
- Data import and clean-up
- How much data you have and how consistent it is.
- Reports and exports
- How many reports there are, and whether they feed other systems.
- Integrations
- Connections to accounting, HR or messaging tools.
Questions
Not on day one. We import what you have, and Google Sheets can stay connected where that is useful.
Yes. We build in increments, and a monthly maintenance plan covers small changes after launch.
The people you choose. Each person signs in with their own account and sees what their role allows, so access can be removed when someone leaves.
Yes. Internal tools are web applications that work on phones and tablets, which helps teams in a warehouse, a shop or on site.
Off-the-shelf software is often the right answer, and we will say so. A custom tool makes sense when your process is specific and a product would force your team to work around it.
Related services
Tell us what you want to build.
Describe the work. We will scope it with you, or tell you plainly if it is not work we should take on.