Client
Peter van der Garde · Uw Schoorsteenveger
Chimney
sweep.
A desktop app for a chimney sweep in Drenthe. Two users, around 1,500 active customers, 14 years of service history, and a Microsoft Access database from the nineties that only ran on one PC at home. I replaced it with something that works offline, with a file you can back up, and fits how he and the scheduler actually do the work.
01 · Customer map
02 · Customer details
03 · Merging differencesThe brief
A solo chimney sweep, more than ten years in business, around 1,500 active customers and the archived files from the years before. His entire administration sat in a custom Microsoft Access database from the nineties. One PC, at home, and only he could get into it. Updates happened in the evening, after work.
The scheduling was done by someone else. He exported a list of customers who were due around this time, and the scheduler called through it. No map of who lived where, no overview of who got missed. The system kept the business running, but there were gaps in it.
The trigger came through a mutual connection. Someone was going to take over scheduling for him, but did not want to do that in the existing Access database and proposed a different way of working. That suited the chimney sweep; he had been thinking for a while that the system would have to be replaced one day. The 14 years of customer history had to come along. That is when I got pulled in.
Approach.
Method01
Listen
Two people, two ways of working. Him in the car between customers, with customer changes on paper that he had to type up in the evening. The scheduler at the kitchen table, with a printed list and no idea which chimneys were near each other. Before I started building anything, I shadowed both of them to see where the old system got in the way.
02
Design
He wanted an app that works without internet and that he can back up himself, separate from any online service. Makes sense, because he goes to places with poor reception and does not want his customer data sitting somewhere online. I built a way of working around that: one file on his computer, and a way to let two users collaborate on that same file without a server.
03
Build
A customer overview you can search, filter and edit, with the 14 years of history cleanly migrated from the old database. A map view so the scheduler can group routes by neighbourhood instead of by date. Per customer a log of every sweep and service performed. One variant for him and one for the scheduler, with a screen that shows the differences between their files as choices. The scheduler emails the route brief over every Sunday evening.
04
Live
The app runs on his laptop in the car and on the scheduler's computer at home. No internet needed, no login, no account to lose. Once a month he sends his file over, the scheduler imports it, resolves the differences, and they are back in sync. Updates only come along when something is added; beyond that he has nothing to worry about.
04 · Customer overview
05 · Weekly planning
06 · In-app help"I no longer have to type up notes in the evening. I update everything in the car now."— Peter van der Garde, Uw Schoorsteenveger (paraphrased)
1,500
Active customers, 14 years of history
The old Access system has been replaced by one overview with all customers in it, with the full history from 2010 onwards. The chimney sweep and the scheduler both work in it without a server or cloud, and can back up the file themselves.
0
Internet connections needed to work
The app needs no connection to do anything. All data sits in one file on the user's own computer, and the chimney sweep and scheduler can exchange that file with each other whenever they want.
4
Evenings per week back
He works four days a week. He now processes customer changes directly in the car, the moment they come up. Typing up the notepad in the evening is no longer needed.
Stack.
Built withFlutterDartSQLiteWindows + macOSOfflineCustom merge screen