The 220 Club's Map of Good Fortune has a Technology Section. A part of that section is circled in RED below. That section is referenced at the top as "Software 4 - Modular ERP, CRM & Accounting Systems" and it's referenced as " The DIY Software Club" at the bottom of that section.

Jim's Software represents functional solutions that are portrayed by this model.

Initially, the DIY Software Club built out some Small Business Database Solutions in Google sheets. They then assisted with the Development of ZAP Accounting Software. Then they went back and standardized the programming, after which they created and posted methodologies and best practices for building out Database Applications in Spreadsheets (in google sheets) on their website ( https://diy-software-club.weebly.com/ ) .

Jim's took those suggestions along with some of their basic templates and we built out fully functional, modular software solutions with videos and written documentation.

You don't need to buy anything from us. You can spend the time with their material and all the screenshots and demo material provided and try to figure out the same things we did.

However. If you are an End User, or an Aspiring Developer, or both, it'd probably be best to spend a little money with use to short cut your learning curves, but the choice is yours.

• We provide simple and complex Database Driven Software Templates for Small Business and Personal use using Spreadsheet Infrastructure.

  • • Individual worksheets in workbooks are used as Flat Database Tables.

    • When relational data tables are required we build those connections.

    • When views of tables are required we build those.

    • When connections between files are required for more complex solutions, we build those.

    • Nothing is a mystery. It can all be understood easily with proper instruction.

• We provide video and/or written documentation for our Solutions.

• We provide video and written documentation for ZAP Accounting Software too. This is not our creation. It was done by others and it is fairly well documented. For this, we provide only overlay instructions that help with orientation and pointers to their instructions.

As Stand Alone products without any other functionality added, these two database solutions mentioned can be a benefit to those in business. For Students and educators, they are good for learning about programming, but admittedly, their uses for all are limited. But if you look at these as basic data files that can be connected to other files for more functionality, things start to make more sense.

The next step, where we introduce the modularity concept is where it gets more interesting....

The largest companies on the Planet use modular Database Software that is nearly identical to this in concept on the back end.

These are the first attempts to offer this level of functionality and flexibility at an Small Business, End User Level with no extreme fees or aggregated data mining involved.

The core functionality of all database applications is simple.

Forms lead to Data Tables, which lead to Reports.

Furthermore, Spreadsheets, in their naked format are "Flat Data Tables". Thus, a spreadsheet is by default a database, you just need to understand how to put it to use. It's just that simple.

Expanded out a little, and an easy way to understand Databases in General is as follows:

Forms > (scriptsType1) > Data Tables > (scriptsType2) > Reports

Forms - Forms allow you to input data. That data may be something to be stored on your behalf in a data table or it may specify parameters for a report you want to run.

ScriptsT1 - These are a type of script that processes a form. It will either store data in data tables or it will retrieve data from data from data tables and pass it to Scripts Type2 for Report Generation.

Data Tables - This is where data is stored. It's best thought of as a two dimensional grid like a spreadsheet interface

ScriptsT2 - These are a type of script that takes data that has been retrieved from a data table and produces a report

Reports - Subsets of Data from data tables and/or analysis done on data retrieved from Data Tables

The "hacks" that turn Spreadsheets into Modular, Database Applications...

Forms - Spreadsheets have no inherent Form Creation or Form Serving functionality. The DIY Software Club has developed techniques to mockup forms fairly well (for internal use only). Also, unlike in typical databases, you have easy access to the raw data data tables as they are just worksheets in a workbook. Thus you can enter data directly into the data tables while bypassing Forms and ScriptT1 functionality easily when that makes sense.

Scripts T1 - Google Sheets has a scripting component that uses Google Script. Google Script is Javascript with additional Google Objects. Scripts can be created to take data from mock forms and deposit it into data tables. For most, this is overkill . Simply entering data directly into Data Tables Suffices, but this is an option. Microsoft Excel offers a comparable scripting option with Visual Basic and any other spreadsheet vendor with a robust offering should also have some type of scripting option.

Data Tables - With some standardization, you can create Data Tables with Column Names that become Field names and Field Labels, much like found in a traditional database. You can also create primary and foreign keys for converting flat tables into use as relational tables easily.

Scripts T2 - There are two distinct ways to retrieve data for reporting purposes. The one which is related to core spreadsheet functions is much better than the SQL option in Google Sheets. There is a SQL Option, but for most, it should be avoided due to absolute references as opposed to relative references. Absolute references become a major problem when column order changes in a data table.

Reports - Report Generation from data is actually easier, more robust and more customizable with Spreadsheets as Databases than most database system technology. We provide you with Templates and education to shortcut the learning curve for report generation.

• We are not doing anything that requires interaction with an external hardware at this time. So barcode scanners and credit card scanners and another type of connected peripheral is not something we support at this time.

• We are not doing anything that is graphics related ( mapping related, for example) . There is much that may / can be done but that is not part of our offerings at this time.

• We are not currently doing anything significant with Google's version of the "Fetch" command, like processing credit cards from inside a Google Sheet. That type of functionality should be doable. Just don't store the credit card info and be sure to check with your Merchant Account Provider to ensure compliance if you create a processing client like this. (we'll likely demo one in the future, just for fun :-) )

• Formal Tech Support - We don't offer any. We provide you with videos and education. We review input and will post notices and make changes as we see relevant items that need to be addressed. It will be up to you all to form support systems as needed or find coaches you can use for paid support as needed.