Systems specification
Specifying PC and Mac graphic-design systems for organisations in sectors including retail, advertising, direct marketing, importing and the record industry.
Technology and workflow planningClient work · Consultancy
Work out the right problem before building the solution.
Consultancy has always been part of Cruse Control's database work: understanding how people, information and processes fit together before deciding what technology — if any — needs to change.
Practical business systems advice · UK based · Claris Partner
Consultancy around the work, not just the software
The original consultancy portfolio covered a remarkably broad range of assignments: specifying computer systems, analysing job roles, designing training programmes, advising on production processes, networks and email, organisational changes, large-scale systems roll-outs, project-management standards, public relations, fundraising and survey design.
That breadth is useful history, but the strongest thread through it is straightforward: understand what an organisation is trying to achieve, identify where the friction really is, and recommend a practical way forward.
Examples from the consultancy archive
Roles and organisation
Analysing job functions, writing job descriptions, filtering CVs and making staffing recommendations, together with departmental structure changes.
Retail, advertising, insurance, IT, logistics and designImplementation and training
Recommending fashion-design systems, planning their implementation and creating a full training programme and materials for design staff.
High-street retailProduction technology
Advice and training on software, file formats and technology choices to improve design-production and reproduction workflows.
Advertising, design and retailNetworks and communication
Network and email solutions designed around the operational needs of the organisation.
Logistics and importingDatabase consultancy
Consultancy before, during and after database development across recruitment, architecture, retail, design, advertising, publishing, marketing and other sectors.
FileMaker and business systemsEnterprise implementation
Large-scale mainframe solutions including systems roll-outs, integration and training.
RetailProject standards
Designing project-management guidelines to establish consistent procedures for IT project management.
RetailCommunications and PR
Advice on fundraising, working with newspapers and writing press releases.
Charitable organisationsResearch and surveys
Advice on conducting surveys designed to produce information that can actually be used.
RetailWhere that thinking leads today
The current focus is narrower than the historical consultancy list: FileMaker databases, business systems, CRM and workflow. The wider experience remains useful because database projects rarely exist in isolation from people, processes, reporting and organisational decisions.
CONTACTS!
A CRM foundation that can be adapted around an organisation's customer and information workflows.
WorkflowPLUS!
Production traffic and workflow management that grew from practical experience of running work through a studio.
A deliberately broad history
Not every historical consultancy service shown on the old Cruse Control site is being promoted as a current standalone offering. The examples remain here because they demonstrate the range of organisational and technology problems the company has worked with, while the modern site's active service pages concentrate on today's core work.
FileMaker expertise
FileMaker consultant UK · Data systems consultants UK · Bespoke database UK · CRM consulting UK