You could use a project I started a while ago, http://www.conceptive.be/projects/camelot/, it allows you to build pyqt desktop apps the same way you build a django admin interface. By simply adding some information to your model definition, the table and form views are build.

Go buy a cheap payroll package. Seriously, this is what the answer really should be. Why would anyone want to design a piece of software which will be only used for a few months when there are perfectly inexpensive solutions out there which have been tested and deliver. This is not a slam on Open Source - there have been some tremendously innovative open source projects, but we must keep an open mind as well. IMHO, time trumps everything else, it is too valuable to waste needlessly on throw-away software projects.

About 1996 I developed a record keeping/payrole system for a 24/7 trucking operation. The company was a Microsoft shop so Access was my only option, and it worked very well.

The system itself was quite simple. Data was entered every morning for the previous day (Monday for Fri., Sat., and Sun.). The data entered went into a holding database. When payrole reports were run on Mon. P.M. they were verified before faxing to the payrole dept.

Verification for data entry was simple, don't allow more than one entry per day per person.
Holidays, sick days, and vacation were entered as such even tho vacation pay was put in in advance.

After verification the holding db was appended to the main db and the holding db was flushed.
Flushing the holding db eliminated the chance of paying someone twice for the same days work.

The main db held all records for the current year and what ever reports were necessary came from the main db.

Use whatever db you like, write it in whatever language you like, and have fun.

Even as an alpha release I've found Qt-Create to be an excellent tool!

Open your repository and install PostgreSQL 8.x plus the PostgreSQL 8.x devel files and Pg3Admin. Also install Qt4 and its devel files. Download Qt-Create's binary and install it.

Use the Pg3Admin to create your database and its tables. Use Qt-Create to write your app. If you have any experience with C++ at all you should be able to knock out the app in a couple days.

Otherwise, use OpenOffice 2.x or 3 and use its database tool to create foxpro type dbf tables. Then use its data-aware form and report creation wizards to write your data entry forms and reports. You could probably do this one in under a day.

Web Frameworks?? Gosh ! That seems like overkill for a simple project. My take is to develop the application on OpenOffice Base (the database program). This makes it easy for even business users to create and extend the solution. And stuff like validation, data entry forms, reporting become a breeze WITHOUT writing code. For a sample screenshot, check http://why.openoffice.org/images/base-big.png

Cheers

I would go with something tiny and fun for an app like this one... in fact apps like these present opportunities to experiment. Go with a ruby based mini-framework like camping... or if you just have to have a pure desktop based client, try 'Shoes'. Better yet go with Lua and try kepler maybe... always wanted to try that... then again, you can just have bash scripts for 'quick' and 'dirty' work. As for the db... sqllite.

I would do this with django.

It is easy to install, has a complete administration interface for the model without coding anything extra and some "views, i.e. some pages that automagically print "repports" for some kind of data. Furthermore, it supports all kind of languages easily (I'm playing with it with japanese, spanish, french and english) and could be used by any number of people due to the web interface, although it also works in localhost without the need of a webserver.

Cheers.

For quickies like this, one should always use the language that is most familiar. For me, this would be Java. It gives me the coding speed and flexibility that I need. Byt Python is fine, if that's where you're most at home.

The key to the job is to devise a form to hold the data. I would suggest a simple journal--every record in the same format. Unsorted. Then, the output can be a produced from an independent group of select-sort-print modules.

The whole thing can be developed in radical top-down fashion, so there is minimal need for design documentation.

This approach has proven itself to be effective. Problems come from this style of program only after it has aged and grown lots of kruft (which it gathers rapidly), but this is a short-lived project so the problem vanishes.

On second thought, COBOL might be a better choice. This is exactly what it was designed to do.

I'm glad this is your project. Not mine. These programs are never fun, and everybody always complains.

Sounds like a fairly simple job for a web framework. Frameworks allow for easy abstraction of your business rules, and also can apply rules (validations) to data before they go to your database. My experience is with CakePHP and Ruby on Rails, but I'm sure Django would do just as well if you want to use Python.

The frameworks also have features to make the HTML generation easier. It's been a welcome change moving from the old style of web programming to using a framework.

Sean