Looking for Tips on Building an Expense and Billing System for a Trucking Company

First off, it's crucial to understand the business inside and out. Spend some quality time with the drivers or staff to see the real-world needs. The technical side can be straightforward, but defining the right requirements is usually the bigger challenge.

Keep in mind that your tech needs will really hinge on the business requirements. Think about user count, traffic predictions, login needs, data storage, and existing systems. Honestly, you might want to consider an off-the-shelf solution instead of building something from scratch. It's a massive commitment—you're looking at full-stack development, devops, infrastructure, security, and performance management. Come back with specific requirements for more detailed advice.

If this is a custom project, it's best to ask the stakeholders exactly what they want. Ideally, bring in a Business Analyst to nail down the requirements. Get everything signed off by the client—otherwise, you might end up chasing changing requirements and never deliver anything worthwhile.

One important tip: store your money values as integers to avoid floating point issues in math, especially in your database. It’s a simple practice that can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Before you start building, clearly map out the process flows for all stakeholders. I once worked on a project that skipped this step, and it turned into a nightmare because we were getting conflicting requirements from multiple committees. It's so important to get that right!