Database Design and Integration
Custom relational database architecture (SQL/SQLite) tailored to your business data, ensuring fast, secure, and persistent storage for dynamic web applications.
[ 01 ] Overview
A database is the part of an application that's hardest to change once the business depends on it. Most small applications get the schema slightly wrong on day one because nobody had time to think about it, then live with the consequences for a decade — the missing index that makes one report take twenty seconds, the table that should have been split into three, the fields that ended up holding JSON because the original schema couldn't grow. The work here is partly designing schemas that age well, and partly fixing the ones that haven't.
We design, build, and maintain relational databases for small business applications, internal tools, and web platforms. SQLite for small-to-medium single-server applications where its operational simplicity is a feature, not a limitation. PostgreSQL and MySQL for higher-concurrency or hosted environments. SQL Server for shops already invested in it. The choice is honest — SQLite runs the public site you're reading on right now, with no regrets, and it's the right tool for more applications than people credit.
Beyond design, we do the integration work — pulling and pushing data between systems that were never meant to talk to each other. ETL pipelines, REST and GraphQL integrations, scheduled syncs, CSV reconciliations, the unglamorous data plumbing that quietly enables real reporting. Done with proper logging, retry handling, and the kind of observability that means you find out about a broken sync from a monitor rather than from the finance director on Tuesday morning.
What you'll get
- Schema design. entity model, normalisation level, indexing strategy, written down with the rationale
- Migration plan. for replacing or evolving an existing schema, with clear rollback at each step
- Data integration. ETL pipelines, API integrations, scheduled syncs, with logging and alerting that works
- Reporting layer. denormalised views, materialised tables, or a small reporting database, depending on what fits
- Performance tuning. query analysis, index recommendations, connection pooling, real load testing
- Backup and DR for the database. point-in-time recovery, off-site replication, tested restores
- Documentation. ER diagram, data dictionary, query examples, kept in the repo not in someone's head
Our process
- Discovery. what data exists, where it lives, what reporting and integration the business actually needs
- Design. schema, indexes, integration map, written and reviewed before code starts
- Build. implementation with migrations, seed data, and tests against real-shaped data
- Integration. pipelines, syncs, and APIs built with proper observability from day one
- Care. quarterly performance reviews if the data is growing, ad-hoc as the business changes
[ 02 ] Common questions
SQLite for production? Really?
For more applications than people think — yes. The site you're reading runs on SQLite in production, including the admin portal, finance, leads, and content management. SQLite's limits are real (write concurrency, multi-server replication) but for single-server applications with mostly-read workloads it's faster, simpler, and more reliable than people give it credit for. We'll choose Postgres or MySQL when the workload genuinely needs them.
Can you migrate an existing database without downtime?
Often yes, with a proper migration plan — schema versioning, parallel writes during transition, controlled cutover. Some migrations need a maintenance window; we'll be honest about which ones in the proposal.
Do you do data integration with QuickBooks, Salesforce, or other named systems?
Yes — most major SaaS systems have APIs or supported export paths, and we've worked with QuickBooks, Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, Stripe, Microsoft Dynamics, and the major HR systems. Integration cost depends mostly on how good the source system's API is, which varies wildly.
What about reporting and dashboards?
We can build a reporting layer (denormalised tables or a small reporting database) and connect it to the BI tool you already use — Power BI, Looker Studio, Metabase, or a simple custom dashboard if that's enough. We're not a BI consultancy, but we do the database side properly so the BI tool has clean data to work with.
How do you charge for database work?
Fixed-fee for design and migration projects with a defined scope. Hourly for tuning, integration changes, and ad-hoc work. For ongoing care — quarterly reviews, capacity planning, schema evolution — a small monthly retainer is usually the cleanest fit.
Want a quote on this?
Send a paragraph about what you're trying to do, we'll come back inside 24 hours.