My employer has a need for a web-based application to manage and share data within the department, with approximately 50-75 possible users. I feel I have the ability to write it for them. I would likely use Python/Django with a MySQL database, so it would be open source. However, I'm the only IT person in my department (our larger organization has a separate IT support staff with which I often work, but not for web development). I want to develop this application, but if I leave in 1-2 years, and someone else has to come in after me and support it, will this be seen as a bad decision?
This is assuming all the obvious points -- I will write documentation, I will comment my code, and I will strive to follow good application design principles. But will that be enough? In principle, is it acceptable for one person to develop and support an entire web application? Is this a "do first, then show and ask" kind of situation, or should I be certain it will be adopted by everyone involved first?
With regards to specifics, I work in an academic department of a university that has specific processes for student applicants and for their being admitted. You have to apply to the university, AND my department separately. The department-specific process is very manual and pieced together, which is where my development would come in. We (myself and IT) are already planning on incorporating the additional questions that pertain to my department into the main university application (which IS electronic, and feeds into PeopleSoft), so that solves the front-end piece and everything would be in one place. But for the faculty and staff to acquire and "digest" that information throughout the admissions process will require an application of some sort, which I would prefer to do "my way". The IT staff want to develop it ALL in PeopleSoft, and I fear it will be too inflexible and will not be well received by our department, and may still not completely meet our needs. There are third-party solutions which meet this need perfectly but they are cost-prohibitive. I would query the data from PeopleSoft and present it how I know the faculty and staff need to see it. (Getting access to query PeopleSoft is a different battle altogether.)