Welcome!

Alternative Engineering offers the computer consulting services of Walter M. Venable.

I have over 30 years of experience in all aspects of computer programming and data presentation. I help businesses manage their enterprises with custom database application specification, design, programming, testing, and documentation. I also design innovative and powerful graphical displays of business data, either stand-alone documents or presentations generated automatically from stored business data.

Additionally, working closely with a network of software development professionals across North America enables me to provide solutions taking advantage of an even greater range of languages, programs, development environments, and computer expertise.

New on this site — a Web-Based Program Demo

My programming specialty is database applications. These are any type of business computer systems that store important information — customers, invoices, inventory, personnel, and so forth. Traditional applications are programs that installed on each user's desktop computer, and each workstation's program uses the company's network to access a data file stored on a central "server" computer.

Well, enter the Internet! Now at many companies the preferred way to implement database applications is to have a single copy of a web-based program that is stored on the central server (along with the same data file as before). This approach can offer a number of advantages:

• Easy Information Access. Employees can access data using a standard web browser interface. This can potentially reduce training costs as many people already work with databases using a browser — Amazon, E-Bay, and a multitude of online stores.
• Reduced Internal Costs. When the application is modified, each user does not have to have the latest program version installed on their workstation. Instead the program is changed on the server and every user immediately sees the new version, saving a lot of time and headaches.
• Benefits to Your Customers. Certain types of information can be made available to your customers. They can place orders, check on the status of previous orders, and communicate with your salespeople.
• Telecommuting. If your company wants to implement telecommuting to allow flex-time some of your employees, they too can access any relevant company information and do their job from home or another setting.
• Company Data Stays Secure. Even though sensitive company data is being sent back and forth across the company's own network, and many times the larger Internet, password access and encryption of the information flow will ensure the security of that data.