Datafile Software was incorporated in 1985

Datafile is still managed by one of its founding directors, Steve Ashcroft. The head office recently moved to purpose built new offices at Tarleton, near Preston in Lancashire.

Steve Ashcroft, who is the original author of the system, is still involved with the development of the product which is now led by Maurice Fletcher and Eric L Mi. Jenny Baines is our Business Manager, Carl Baum is our Support Manager and David Rowlands is our Sales Manager. A London office, run by Grant Martin, supplies sales and marketing support to our southern-based resellers.

The philosophy of the product is simple - Flexibility. Steve's background was at the Littlewoods Organisation in the 70's where he was the first senior systems analyst to work on a project with new standards to implement large systems. Whilst the project was successful, Steve learnt that systems can take years to develop and during that time the user requirements could change and were difficult to implement, even small changes to the database files could take months. From this experience it was the product philosophy to have an open database structure for the accounting applications, where changes could be made in minutes, and supported by open screen and report designs and a host of user definable paramters that change how a system can operate. A Datafile system can be made bespoke in just days. The open design and parameter approach also means a system can easily be changed to meet further changes in a business. No programming is involved, the flexibility is in the design and the parameters. This may have been leading edge in the 80's when Datafile was written but most software houses still do not offer this level of flexibility and Datafile still proudly claim to be the most flexible solution for accounting and business management systems.

More than 7,500 users of Datafile Software systems, in every type and size of business, can testify to Datafile's effectiveness.

We supply our products via a well-established network of professional resellers throughout the UK. Our resellers must prove their proficiency in accounting and commercial systems design, and are fully trained by us to configure and support our products. Our technical support team provide direct telephone hot-line support to our resellers when required, and by on-line modem for the rare emergency.

Most of our resellers have worked with us for many years, and have accumulated wide experience and skills in how to match Datafile to the differing needs of their many clients. Datafile Software continues to develop applications as customers request new facilities and tools to meet their needs. From time to time new facilities are also required to meet government legislation.

Subscribers to the Datafile Gold service receive the latest program levels every 12 months with regular updates being provided on request from resellers. Datafile Software increasingly is the system chosen second time around, to replace accounting and commercial systems, that have failed to meet the greater demands that users need to place on them.

Supported Charity: We are active in the support for Animals Asia www.animalsasia.org who in particular have built a Moon Bear sanctuary for rescued bears from Bear Bile farms in China.

We have even helped to build our own website/online shop wwww.moonbears.co.uk which is packed with information, links, and even an online shop for Animals Asia official gifts and donations.