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To provide sophisticated Information System consulting and software design services for small to medium-size businesses. To produce sophisticated, low maintenance software systems that have a low long term cost of ownership. To blend business objectives and information technology together in creative ways that satisfy tactical and strategic objectives.
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Our philosophy is simple: Understand the client. Understand where they are today in terms of their business, financial, and market objectives. Understand their short and long term objectives and obstacles and keep both in mind in all work. Remember that technology is not always the answer. Changes to business processes may provide a better solution. Work hard to become a part of the company to the point that we are viewed not as a supplier but as a trusted and reliable ally. Remember that someone pays for any work that we do. Strive to hold the cost of ownership down and to make any system one that is simple to administer.
We are an information systems consulting firm with an emphasis on software design, development, and implementation. We specialize in the sophisticated, tricky software systems that address unique business needs. In all our software we stress design and programming techniques that minimize the hidden costs of ownership. As studies have shown, the cost of maintenance and enhancement of specialized software over its lifetime can be as high as seven times the original cost. We use a combination of software tools and design techniques to develop systems that are easily modified and have low user maintenance. The result is a more stable system with a lower long term cost and an better overall ROI.
Since 1982 we have worked in manufacturing, legal, distribution, accounting, product service, banking, engraving, land development, financial planning, title insurance, retail, aerospace, human performance, and others. Please contact us to discuss your special issues.
James A. Subach, Ph.D. is President of JAS & Associates, Inc. and has over 30 years of experience in systems analysis, planning and design, programming. He has designed, developed and implemented software systems in many different industries including manufacturing, distribution, medical laboratories, accounting, banking, insurance, property tax, associations, and others. He advises companies on the acquisition, use, and deployment of technology. He is a former CIO and has been on the advisory board for two start-up companies who developed products for the Internet and ASP deployment. He has published papers on IS/IT use with several targeted at the Application Service Provider market. He has been a panelist on the ASP model. He has a pragmatic approach to software development, project management, software team performance, and the management of software development. He is equally comfortable on the keyboard and in the Board Room.
Dr. Subach has been employed at the University of Arizona, the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and as a Visiting Scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center. He has been an Associate Editor of a national engineering journal. He established a computer consulting firm in 1982. He has taught at several universities and colleges. He is a member of both the Presidents Roundtable and the Technology Roundtable of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. He is the co-founder of the Arizona Progress Users Group and was its 1997 President. He is an accomplished public speaker and is listed in six different Marquis "Who's Who" publications.
In 1982, Jim Subach moved back to Arizona after a 5 year stay in Texas. In late 1982 he began working as a contract programmer for a manufacturing firm that was developing an extensive system that included all the standard components of a manufacturing system including the financial software. It also included Inventory Accounting and MRP. His responsibilities included design, testing, software strategies in addition to his programming duties. He was involved in all modules in the system. This project required close to a full time effort from late 1982 through the end of 1984. A lesser effort was required as the project wound down to completion in 1986.
As the manufacturing project was winding down, the company began work on projects for other clients. One of the first was a Special Education tracking system for a school district. Concurrently there was a small project for an accounting firm. This led to a referral to a regional Title Insurance company and a policy tracking / reinsurance system.
The work for the Title Company provoked some thought on the time and cost involved in software projects. A major cost was a direct result of the inefficiency of the programming languages of that time. At that time JAS & Associates began an 18 month review of "High Productivity Environments" for software development. Over 100 products were reviewed but all appeared to have built-in inefficiencies or were suitable only for large-scale projects. It was at that time that a new start-up company, Data Language Corporation (now known as Progress Software), introduced a Fourth Generation Language (4GL). We examined their first release in September of 1984 and rejected it for several reasons. We requested that they call us when they had addressed our issues. They contacted us in March of 1985. They had addressed all our objections. We ordered the product and began working with it. To put it simply, it was remarkable.
Our first Progress project was for a customer service and support system. The customer base was over 7,000 and growing. The project was developed on a PC and ported to a Unix system. The Unix port took only 8 hours! The development costs were considerably less than with other languages we had been using. This translated to a lower cost to the client and a shorter time frame for the work.
Following that project we developed a commercial GL and AP system. This was installed at a number of sites including a bank and a manufacturing firm. We developed a client tracking system for a Public Accounting firm, an order entry system for a food manufacturer, a property tax appeal management system for a law firm that eventually became a commercial, Internet-enabled product, and an extensive customer support system for a manufacturer that included returned material processing, repair work orders, and shipping. We reworked a system that produced and tracked serial numbers in a manufacturing environment. We developed a membership billing system for an association. We added extensions to a manufacturing system for a large equipment repair company. We reworked a medical billing package for a company that markets these and related products. We have worked on several packages that are related to medicine.
There are other projects that we have done in Progress including those that access non-Progress data bases such as Oracle, DEC VMS, Access, etc. At this time our best estimate is that we have over 1.5 Million lines of Progress code in the field.
We have also done work in C, C++, Visual Basic, Access, and a number of other programming environments. We provide support and consulting for Unix, Windows, and Windows NT/2000.
Currently we are involved in consulting projects on an ERP implementation including efforts in BPR. We are also developing the second commercial release of an organizational human performance tool call EfficacyPRO™.