I'm a programmer but not a web programmer looking to help out a friend set up a simple web-accessible database for a non-profit. It would need to be available both inside and out of the office, provide at least 2 levels of access (ie. clients could access their own records, employees could access everything), and do everything right in terms of securing sensitive client data.
I don't have the experience to build something from scratch 'the right way' but wondered if there are any services or applications out there that would provide a framework where I could build it at a higher level where the low level details (logins, encryption, data security) are taken care of for me.
This could be either a self-hosted application or a web hosted. Nothing fancy required but I am concerned about data security (in case I didn't already mention that).
Thanks!
Edit: Here are some options I've found now that I know what to look for: Google App Engine (Java or Python), Force.com, Heroku (Ruby on Rails). Does anyone have recommendations on these or similar cloud platforms, for use by a newbie?