I have been in similar situations with past employeer quite recently.

What I have learned from all this is one important step. Before you start coding. Before you spend your first minute coding on *company time* - tell your boss. Give him the presentation before you have started the project and make sure he agrees that it's a good idea and maybe settle some terms there and then.

The reason I'm saying this is at one company I worked at, I wrote a preety comprehensive quotation management system, that basically tracked quotations between certain departments and individuals and assisting people with communication. This tool later proved to be a very valuable tool which saved the company a lot of time and therefore money.

However. I came very close to having disciplinary actions against me (nothing serious, just the first stages) because *I didn't tell anyone* in authoriy that I was developing this project, and I was doing that mostly on company time. Don't get me wrong, I put a lot of hours into this project over a few weeks, maybe months and a lot of these hours were clocked up at home, but the fact that I had been using company time to develop something without first discussing with my boss enraged him.

At the end of the day, I could see his point. My time would of been far better spent if I had told him from day one. As you mention in your message, you have tested the software but no one else has. My manager's argument was that if I had told him he could have arranged a brain storming session with the people that most used the system and maybe then I would of developed an even better and more robust system.

Anyway, here's just my $2 on the subject. Although it's a little late in your situation now. It would be worth bearing this in mind for future projects.

- wil