Codesmiths Inc. was incorporated in May 1986. The corporate mission was to provide technical support and consulting services to professional offices. The development of business-oriented software was in its infancy. The prevailing belief was that programmers could create a "one size fits all" solution.

Gretchen Potter, the President of Codesmiths, was not convinced that the prevailing goal of creating a "one size fits all" set of computer programs was practical. Specialized markets have special information processing needs.

During it's first two years of operation, Codesmiths concentrated on developing an integrated set of basic accounting programs. In 1987, the company began to address the specialized scheduling and invoice needs of the tent rental industry. The following year, 1988, Codesmiths released the first version of "Tentmaker" - a complete contract to reservation to billing system. Tentmaker's rental scheduling features quickly became a "must have" tool for tent renters. In 1996, Tentmaker version 7.0 scheduled the majority of the tents erected at the U.S. Olympic sites in Atlanta, Georgia.

Codesmiths continued to focus on the specialized markets with the development of JobR - software for fuel distributors in the Midwest. JobR's "must have" functions focused on the tax reporting requirements set by state governmental agencies. JobR created reporting forms for the state motor fuel taxes, underground storage taxes, and inspection fees. In 1994, when the Illinois Department of Revenue issued new requirements for the electronic submission of tax forms, Codesmiths was ready. The company's JobR/Lite application was the first package approved by the Illinois Department of Revenue. Today Codesmiths is the largest supplier of electronic submission software in the state of Illinois.

Stripes - the company's most recent "specialty" application grew out of the company's tent rental customer base. Stripes initially addressed the information processing needs of rental awning and canvas suppliers. With it's unique site-oriented database, Stripes has found a wide market. Today, Stripes is used by lawn care providers, bank trust departments, and computer service providers.

Codesmiths is committed to providing computer solutions for specialty markets.

TentMaker

JobR

JobR / Lite

Stripes