FileMaker Pro...is it easy to use and get going quickly?

aplnub

I want to keep track of product sales at work, each product has a serial number, quality control information, date of manufacture and delivery point. Probably some other stuff but I don't need to bore you with the details.



I want something easy to get up and running and something I can set up and access via my iBook and on PC's.



I have built a few MS Access DB's in my time but I don't like building DB's, just using them to get the job done because I don't get paid to build DB's (self employed). I would also like to print reports and export to Excel if possible for some data analysis.



Is FileMaker Pro the thing for me?



Regards,



Eric

karl kuehn

For your purposes FileMaker Pro is probably an easier cousin to Access. It tends to be more focused on getting the job done than Access. And since it is cross-platform (Mac/Win) you can share the data back and forth really easily (just turn on sharing, then "Open Remote").



And with a little experience you can create easy reports (going through the provided tutorial will get you %80 of the way there). I would even say that once you get the ideas you will not want to take things into Excel... after all, it is a spreadsheet, and spreadsheets such for data analysis (just because people use it that way does not make it a good tool).

kesh

I'd say FM will suit your needs just fine. When you create the new database, you can create each 'field' with the proper type (date, text, etc.) which will help keep entries accurate. You can even create a field with the Serial Number type, and it will generate them for you, or you can just make it a regular field and put the one you want in.



It's simple to set up, and powerful if you want to add new functions later. Plus, the scripting is incredibly easy to learn.