Why you need desktop software, I would have everything running thru the website, your probably going to need background software processes to get the information to the mysql database.
Website software will the priority over the Desktop since web development is my expertise and plus the website software will probably be preferred by most.
I can provide screenshots on request if anyone would like to see what I made

!
Screen shots are always helpful, I need some ideas on how the GUI's should be set-up and what information/graphs operators like to see the most.
Was your project same idea or just Desktop/website only based? what languages did you use?