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Common Filemaker Consulting Client Concerns |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 20 June 2008 15:31 |
Considering hiring a Filemaker consultant? Read on to discover some common Filemaker consulting client concerns...
Filemaker Advocate
There is almost always a "Filemaker advocate." A person who discovered and loved Filemaker, built the current system and no longer has the time or expertise to maintain it. Sometimes this person has left the firm leaving the existing users with a system in need of an administrator. More likely, this is the person who is searching for a Filemaker consultant. The most common concern is that Filemaker development has slowly become their main task and that it is distracting from their assigned role in the firm. Coupled with this, the "Filemaker advocate" usually realizes that an expert can accomplish the same task with greater ease and less time.
Need for Upgrades
One of the first questions I ask is how many of what version of Filemaker the firm currently using. I have never had a client call that was already utilizing the most recent version of Filemaker. This information helps me understand some of the possible changes the client could desire. For example, Filemaker 8 and previous version users may want to upgrade to take advantage of the Web Viewer available in 8.5 and beyond. Once I obtain this information, I ask the client if they want to upgrade and in what way. If at all possible, I get them a volume license agreement (VLA) through Filemaker to ensure they can pay an annual fee to always have access to the most recent version. This prevents the firm from falling behind in updates and having to pay full price for updates again. In my region, Linda Cambareri at Filemaker is exceptionally helpful with this. This prevents the firm from getting behind on their updates in the future.
Deployment Issues
Less common than the first two, deployment issues are a common concern for Filemaker consulting clients. Frequently, they will want to add a lot of read-only users; upgrading to Filemaker Server Advanced and using Instant Web Publishing (IWP) is sometimes the best solution for this purpose. Since the release of Filemaker 9, there are frequent calls about using Filemaker as a front end for data stored in SQL databases. This addition to Filemaker has created the opportunity for many enterprise clients to take advantage of Filemaker's ease of use and rapid deployment while appeasing their MSSQL or Oracle-based IT departments.
Can you relate to any of the above issues? Contact Lux Advising today and benefit from our experience. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 July 2008 19:15 )
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Written by Lauren Kuhlman
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Monday, 26 May 2008 22:06 |
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Filemaker Pro 9 introduces several new features that can improve your solution. Lux Advising can help you update to take advantage of these new features. Filemaker Pro now supports live two-way connections to SQL databases. SQL has long been the standard for large sets of data for web use and in corporate and government environments. Now, Filemaker Pro's easy-to-use interface can be coupled with your firm's existing SQL data. Supported external SQL data sources include MySQL, Oracle SQL and Microsoft SQL Server. If SQL integration does not excite you, other new features such as, conditional formatting, automatic resizing and increased peer-to-peer connections with Filemaker Pro may. Conditional formatting, a feature Microsoft Excel users will be familiar with, is now available. This feature is especially useful for highlighting negative numbers or exceptions in your data. Automatic resizing of layout objects allows user to take advantage of increasing monitor sizes. Filemaker Server and Server Advanced have become easier to install and administer. If the cost of Filemaker Server is outside your budget, you will be happy to hear that the number of peer-to-peer connections allowed by Filemaker Pro has risen from four to nine. |
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