News Current

Feb. 2010- Village's LabCom solution is being expanded with a number of new modules. One of which Field data Collection promises to enable workers in the field to use a variety of devices with web browsers to record data in the field. A technical demonstration has been previewed to customers. The technical direction includes using Google Gears (and eventually HTML5) to cache data on the device so the web experience can work when out of contact with the web. It sounds odd but this type of caching is now possible and an alternative for Windows, or IPhone App type solutions. More details will appear on our sister website www.laboratorycommunication.com.

Aug. 2009- Village have been engaged to assist Epitomy Solutions research new approaches for Product Information Management. Village Technical director Ian Bufton is leading a team putting a guidewire product development together using the latest batch of Microsoft dotnet technologies.

Jul. 2009- Village are pleased to be joined by Wajdi Al-Jaharani. 'Wes' has been working for a while with Village's friends at Nextpoint Solutions working on Web Solutions. He will continue part time at Nextpoint while working on .Net solutions at Village Software. Wes brings an all around capability to Village's customers as well as strong experience on front end style sheets.

Apr. 2008- Village have released the 2008-09 versions of it's Paylink project. This is a joint project with partner www.gmtcomputers.com. This year has been notable for an enhanced release program with primary user Driver Hire. A further 3 years contract has been agreed with Driver Hire guaranteeing the ongoing upgrade of this project.

Feb. 2008- LabCom version 2.3 is released. There are a large number of changes under the hood including several speed enhancements. Additionally there are new facilities to enable managment of client sample sites and other value added data.

Jan 2008- Healthy Buildings International Ireland are the latest company to go live as LabCom users. Keeping clients data and lab results on line will speed up their communication with their Liverpool lab supplier and allow clear reporting of results to their clients.

November. 2007- New developers arrive at Village, Ian Tabron and Lee Seddon join the Village development team

November. 2007- Village celebrate 21 years of software development. Customers, suppliers, former and current staff turned out to celebrate Village Software's 21 years in business. One of Villages founders John Garret was kind enough to return to share some thoughts on the early days, and current MD Johnny Read talked about values and the way ahead. In what was a family affair adults and children enjoyed the fun casino tables, the Wii and the food. Birthday pictures.

Sept. 2007- A new release of LabCom system allows Watertech to print names of clients and sites onto their certificates. This is a variant on earlier versions that were designed to deal more with relationships with fairly large clients, instead putting the end clients on the list will allow a streamlining of administration from Lab to Certificate for Midlands based Watertech.

June. 2007- Amatica and Village have been working together on a number of projects. Recently providing consultancy to advise Experian on development path for an internal system. Village's Johnny Read and Amatica's David Roberts presented findings to a dozen interested parties with Experian. Breadth of knowledge was key, when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. However on this occasion our normal object oriented analysis strategy was not appropriate and we choose to use a Data Flow Diagram based structured analysis to create an understanding of a complex web of interacting systems.

Jan. 2007- Village partner Amatica continue to work on the front end for a web based Mortgage quote system. The Amatica team is made up of a mix of Amatica and Village developers alongside contract staff. Village's Ian Bufton working alongside Village's Margaret Macaskill and Lance Edusei have been enjoying being part of this blended team on this substantial project.

Nov. 2006- Village MD Johnny Read starts work with Senior developers at new Media Company NewMind. Johnny says 'NewMind is one of the most admired Liverpool Software company and working with their senior developers is an intellectually engaging privilege.' Johnny is making weekly consultancy visits to help guide a project forwards. Modern software development is a complex business and we recognise that we need to share what we know and learn from like minded companies we are delighted this opportunity has arisen. This ongoing project involves the use of the latest best practice in object oriented design and related tools.

Sept. 2006- Village has been developing a partnership with system integrator Amatica. This was taken with new heights with a gliding trip in which Village staff working on a Vertex project with Amatica tried their hand at gliding. Amatica News Story

July. 2006- A fundamental rewrite of Village's Laboratory communication package to release 2.0 prepares the package for new features. With an improved look version 2.0 creates the basis for document production and uploading and other additional features. Village intends to compete with competing old style applications by offering a better Windows based but Internet connected feel and a pay as you go pricing model.

March. 2006- Payroll Link software updated for the new tax year.

Feb. 2006- Village software engineer Margaret Macaskill assists Seven Technologies with integrating document management into a Microsoft CRM based case management tool. Village developers last worked with this group of developers years ago on an Oracle ASP project. Seven is one of several software companies with which Village maintains close relations

Nov. 2005- New format Voovit.com web site goes live. No Frills shipper voovit.com has gone live with their new 'Making Shipping Simple' web site with Village Software providing much of the back end processing. Voovit uses E-Commerce and custom back office components to take costs our of shipping students goods home from the UK. Village is delighted to be supporting this growing business.

Nov. 2005- GMT Explodes. Colleagues at Village's Sage partner GMT Solutions were surprised on Friday 4th when the factory next door to their offices suddenly exploded. We understand that fortunately everyone walked away from the incident. Currently our colleagues are working from the top floor of their building while some resulting flooding is dealt with. We hope they will all be back to normal soon.

Aug. 2005- Village welcomes Lance Edusei to the software development team. Lance who has formerly worked on projects for Unilever and the United Nations brings a long experience of software development to strengthen the team. Lance is currently being inducted into Villages development and testing methodologies. He will be working on developing the market for Village's LabCom system.

Village also welcomes Tain Dong (Baker) working with Village for Voovit.com.

May. 2005- Village's LabCom system customer continues the roll out of LabCom to key customers. Birmingham based company Water Technology Ltd are looking at using the system to improve the speed of their communication of results back to the lab at Precision Analysis. Village MD Jonathan Read comments "This is an example of a pair of growing companies using IT to improve their joint business without having to put the large sums of money and management time into a full LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System). It has been made possible by Village Software Engineers exploiting broadband technologies."

April. 2005- Bell Solicitors test new version of NDB case management system with integration with Lazer Forms. Documents produced with Lazer forms are now controlled from within the NDB application. PDF based forms are also linked into clients in the system.

Mar. 2005- LabCom system at Precision Analysis goes multi-client
Villages LabCom system in use at Precision Analysis has been extended to reach multiple clients. Following the success of the LabCom system in communicating lab testing orders between an Irish client of Precision Analysis a new multi-client version has been installed allowing the extension of the service to other Precision customers

Feb. 2005- Voovit payment pages go live
New payment pages for Voovit go live. More complex payment page written in VB.Net collects data and uses public key encryption to keep the data safe in the database. An on-screen alert system is added in Voovit's offices to make them aware of new actions.

Dec. 2004- Village client go live with Lab Communications System. The system allows Precision to communicate the movement of samples to their Liverpool lab from a customer in Ireland. The solution provides a conventional Windows looking application but running over broadband to a central database. Precision are now in discussion with current and potential clients on how to make use of the technology to improve service.

Oct. 2004- Village completes accreditation for offering Merseyside companies subsidised business development support. In effect this means that Merseyside SME's engaging in projects that develop their businesses can access subsidies on projects of 40% through Business Link.

Sept. 2004- International shipment company Voovit signs up Village Software to develop their transaction systems. Voovit is a rapidly growing company shipping personnel effects all over the world. They operate a No-Frills style operation keeping costs very low. Village will be assisting with this by helping them to push forwards the integration of their systems.

August. 2004- New Management Information System delivered for Village's Client Biwater PLC.
Village developers marshaled existing data generated by Biwater's accounts system and time management system (written by Village) into a 'Data Cube' and used open source business intelligence tool Mondrian to present the data to allow managers to examine their costs and rewards of various projects and customers.

Jan. 2004- Village Client Bell & Co Solicitors go live with a new Case Management system developed by VIllage Software. This replacement for an old system made an immediate improvement in the speed of processing. The sophisticated Object design allowed smooth processing by the legal staff and the auto generation of various materials.

Dec. 2003 - Village Move into Unit C4, Parliament Business Park
Village is pleased to announce that they have now moved into their new premises. Please note our change of contact details. Our main contact phone number has changed to 0151 709 7728 and our address details have changed to those at the bottom of this page. Our email addresses remain the same. If you need to get in touch with us by fax please contact us for details.

Nov. 2003 - Contract Agreed For New Premises at Parliament Business Park.
Village are now able to announce that they are soon to move into new premises at Parliament Business Park. Parliament Business Park is a new build and units are proving to be extremely popular. Village have agreed a five year deal for a unit and are now looking for partners and startup business who may want to lease shared office space.

Aug. 2003 - Village Expands Capacity By Employing New Members of Staff.
Village has recently agreed to employ two new members of staff - David Tudor who is a IT graduate from North Wales and Stuart Bury who will be on degree placement from Liverpool John Moores University. Stuart and David add their technical skills to our growing list of capabilities and allow Village to undertake larger projects.

Jan. 2003 - Village To Look At Relocation Possibilities
Village is currently considering relocation options and is seeking a more convenient place for clients and staff as well as linking up with other IT companies. Present consideration is being given to city center locations and to several other prime business centres. We will keep you informed of any plans to move in the near future. Watch this space!

News Archive 2002
News Archive 2001
News Archive 2000