A bespoke client-server business system for managing a high-street cheque cashing business
An early but interesting project was working with a well-respected player in the "personal cheque cashing" market.
The company provided a service whereby people who were in receipt of cheques – e.g. wage cheques, benefits payments,
refunds, etc - but did not have facility to bank cheques could cash their cheques at one of the client’s high street stores.
Central database, distributed access:
The "Cheque Register System" manages the business processes of a cheque cashing business. Primarily, it allows agents (franchisees) to
cash third party cheques, with the cheque register system managing the transaction details, customer identification, commission rates &
charges. Most importantly, it warns agents of suspect cheques and account details.
The primary requirement was a business system that provided each franchisee with a desktop application linked to a central database,
and an administration client to provide back-end functions and reports.
There were several key requirements, notably:
- Good system and data security
- A robust backup and recovery regime
- Easy to use intuitive client interface
- Easy upgrading of the client application
- Close synergy with the client's business process
Integrated webcam & automatic updates :
Webcam technology was integrated to photograph each customer and automatically upload the captured image to the central server.
This image is then available to all franchisees as an aid to positive identification if a client visits a different outlet.
An important feature of the client was an automatic version check on login, ensuring that all clients are always up to date.
This feature avoided the common pitfall of version mismatch suffered by some traditional client-server solutions.
Elegant and simple reporting facilities allow saving of various reports in Excel and PDF formats using Microsoft Report Viewer
components. The system proved to be solid and was used seven days a week by agents across the country.