Thoughts and ideas on how to build tools, automate workflows and speed-up the workplace.
Businesses today face a hugely complex, varied regulatory environment. Between national, international, local, and internal policies, managing compliance can be a massive undertaking. Adopting an appropriate compliance management system is critical. Specifically, we need a singular, centralized solution for handling key data related to our compliance efforts. The trouble is every business faces unique compliance challenges. We’re all constrained by different internal policies, with distinct processes that must adhere to them.
Ronan McQuillan
Feb 4, 2025
Ticketing systems are some of the most common internal tools there are. They’re central to all kinds of ITSM, HR, finance, ops, and other workflows. However, they can also introduce huge amounts of tedious admin work. This includes basic tasks like categorizing and prioritizing issues, assigning tasks, directing users to self-service resources, and handling communications. Today, we’re checking out how we can use artificial intelligence to drive more efficient ticketing workflows.
Ronan McQuillan
Jun 26, 2024
SQL is a powerful query language that’s used to unlock valuable insights stored in databases. No matter how large our database is or what we’re using it for, we need a streamlined, accessible way to interact with our data. But we also need to do this in a controlled, secure manner. That’s where an effective SQL GUI comes in. A GUI - graphical user interface - is an application that allows us to interact visually with our data, rather than relying solely on written commands.
Ronan McQuillan
Jun 22, 2024
Today, we’re going to build a relatively simple but no less powerful tool - an employee management app using Budibase. Your employees - along with their skills, knowledge, and expertise - are some of your most valuable assets. Making better use of their time is an easy way to create huge efficiency savings. And for that, we need proper oversight. Who is doing what - and when? When you have a couple of team members all working in the same location, this isn’t such a challenge.
Ronan McQuillan
Jun 22, 2024
Trouble ticketing systems are some of the most common internal tools around. In fact, they’re at the center of how we deliver exceptional user experiences to customers and colleagues alike. The more efficiently we can gather, categorize, and respond to information about issues, the faster we can provide resolutions to users. Today, we’re exploring how Budibase can supercharge your ticketing efforts. Specifically, we’re going to build a fully custom trouble ticketing system on top of an existing database - without writing a single line of code.
Ronan McQuillan
Jun 7, 2024
A Google Sheets GUI can help you turn your spreadsheets into real apps. There are many useful free online tools for businesses. And Google Sheets is certainly one of the best of them. It allows you to get all the power of spreadsheets, databases, and scripting all at once. But at the end of the day, it’s still a spreadsheet tool. So you are limited to the grid design and unfiltered data entry.
Ronan McQuillan
May 20, 2024
SQLite is the most widely deployed database in the world. However, it works slightly differently than other relational database engines, such as MySQL or Postgres. The key characteristic here is that SQLite databases are stored in a single file. This means that it’s a highly lightweight, portable solution that can be easily embedded into end-user applications. Today, we’re exploring how Budibase can be used to build a simple GUI for writing, testing, and saving SQLite queries.
Ronan McQuillan
May 17, 2024
MariaDB is one of the most popular open-source databases around. It was created by some of the original developers of MySQL as a truly FOSS RDBMS after its larger counterpart’s acquisition by Oracle in 2009. Today, it’s a scalable, secure, and performant way to handle large volumes of data with familiar SQL querying. Even better, just about any platform that supports MySQL will connect easily to your MariaDB database. This includes a huge range of off-the-shelf GUIs.
Ronan McQuillan
May 15, 2024