As a firm with a dedicated FileMaker App Development team, we have helped organizations across all industries create some amazing FileMaker applications in our 27 years in business. Headed by IT Solutions Director of Service Delivery John Kelly, the IT Solutions App Developer team includes FileMaker Developer Mike Ahern and FileMaker Consultant Beth Latta.

This month, our team wanted to share a few ways any business professional can use FileMaker to extend their working productivity. Not using FileMaker yet? Contact us by emailing Jim Higgins jim.higgins@itsolutions-inc.com, call 866.PICK.ITS (866.742.5487) or contact us.

Track Time for Employees in the Field

With many firms, field employees are a big part of their business model. Yet, collecting data from multiple people, in multiple locations, can be challenging. If they are also submitting it through various mechanisms — by phone, email, text, etc. — processing in the home office can become unwieldy and time-consuming.

Using FileMaker, organizations can build a mobile time entry interface that runs on phones, tablets or laptops connected to Wi-Fi or mobile hotspots. The sophistication of FileMaker enables the data to be converted automatically into the preferred format for import into the company’s payroll system.

Furthermore, fields can be added for auxiliary items, such as mileage driven, purchases, e.g. supplies, and other common field employee data. FileMaker can also be used to handle employee scheduling and special requests, such as traveling to a new location to perform urgent, unscheduled activities or leaving the field early for personal reasons.

Manage and Access Contact Information

FileMaker Pro has the ability to become a complete contact management system (CMS). Once contacts are imported and set up with the appropriate fields, users can rely upon the database for just about any activity in which they want to reach multiple contacts. (Customized emails is one of our favorites.)

Pro Tip: To use FileMaker as your CMS, you must import your contacts first. Fortunately, that’s easy, and explained here: https://support.claris.com/s/article/Tip-Import-your-Contacts-into-FileMaker-Pro-1503692983371?language=en_US  Moving forward, you can perform many other activities, including creating custom fields and much more.

Extend App Functionality

With the debut of Claris FileMaker Pro 19.1.2, Claris released nine built-in JavaScript add-ons. (These are in addition to the 55 third-party apps to which Filemaker users can connect.) These enable business users to achieve rich functionality with drag-and-drop simplicity. From a barcode generator to an activity timeline, the possibilities are endless.

To speak with us about any of these new features, or book a no-obligation exploratory discussion about what FileMaker can do for you, email Jim Higgins (jim.higgins@itsolutions-inc.com) or visit https://www.itsolutions-inc.com/contact

Complimentary Trial Link: https://www.claris.com/trial/

To learn more or to book an exploratory consultation, email Jim Higgins jim.higgins@itsolutions-inc.com, call 866.PICK.ITS (866.742.5487) or contact us.

FileMaker Pro, a user-friendly, secure, cross-platform relational database application and engine, has gone through numerous upgrades and feature updates since its debut in 1985. Yet despite its adoption across all industry sizes and most sectors, many firms are not taking advantage of highly valuable capabilities. Two we will cover in this article are mobile and online productivity.

Sales Lifecycle Tracking From Your Mobile Device? Yes.  

With FileMaker Pro, we’ve helped one client’s workers ranging from salespeople to service personnel enter and track expenses and income, work details and more, directly from their mobile device or tablet. One specific example is sales lifecycle tracking. From updating a contact database with new details after an offsite prospect meeting to reporting on the solutions discussed and tracking their journey through the sales pipeline, FileMaker offers a seamless experience.

Expense Tracking and Customer Reporting From Your Mobile Device? Yes. 

We also help clients harness the value of FileMaker Pro’s mobile functionality with anywhere personnel management. Offsite or hybrid workers can check their schedules, enter time and update their personnel details directly in their phone or tablet from any Internet-connected location.

FileMaker Pro’s extreme customizability enables firms to build complex reporting modules that empower workers to track expenses incurred in the field. Customized modules can empower field workers to report back on services they performed for customers, mileage, time expended, and any follow-ups or special requests required to complete the service.

Furthermore, since FileMaker is industry agnostic, these benefits extend to business professionals and other workers in an unlimited array of industries. From healthcare to retail, marketing and advertising, nonprofit publishing and beyond, firms that wish to increase their remote worker efficiency rely on FileMaker.

Interested in learning more? As a FileMaker Platinum Partner, solution reseller and platform hosting specialist, IT Solutions can help your firm make the most of this workplace innovation platform. Consultants Beth Latta and Mike Ahern will custom-match your needs to FileMaker’s capabilities.

They deliver FileMaker solutions ranging from apps to manage all varieties of business data to manual process automation and beyond. Both these pros have decades of experience with FileMaker, and they would love to work on solving your complex data tracking and reporting challenges.

To learn more or to book an exploratory consultation, email Jim Higgins jim.higgins@itsolutions-inc.com, call 866.PICK.ITS (866.742.5487) or contact us.

Low Code Is the Future of Software. We’re Betting on Claris FileMaker as the Solution, and You Should, Too.

As the world dramatically changed this spring amid tragic headlines and concerns about COVID-19, organizational leaders took stock of the situation. With stay-at-home mandates the norm, businesses felt the impact not only in their current operations but also within their IT infrastructure. For many firms, one area of significant impact was software development, which is pivotal to achieving change in organizational systems.

With developers, testers and Ops teams suddenly working remotely, collaborative software delivery became impractical. Even as change requests stacked up in many firms, savvy business leaders were seeking an alternative. One approach that sparked a lot of interest, and that we believe will guide the future of software development, is low code.

We are also confident that the best platform for low-code development is Claris FileMaker, and we are not the only ones. So relevant is Claris FileMaker to the low-code movement that CNBC reported on it in early May. In the article, “An Apple business you may not know that’s poised to boom from coronavirus crisis,” CNBC interviewed Claris CEO Brad Freitag. “There is a massive opportunity for low code to help in the COVID-19 situation,” said Freitag.

Streamlining Application Development 

Low code isn’t new – the term was coined in 2014 by research firm Gartner, and the concept has been around for decades. In a classic example of “what’s old is new again,” it has come back into prominence for several reasons.

Low code is a visual approach to application development that simplifies the process, incorporating drag-and-drop components and a graphical user interface (GUI). As such, it is suitable for nearly any development environment, regardless of coder skillsets. This modular approach also facilitates automation of tedious tasks, enabling developers to create large, complex applications much more quickly.

More importantly during the current pandemic, modularity makes it easier for developers in remote locations to work on individual bits of functionality, checking them in as they complete them. Using this approach, they never come into direct contact with their other team members.

Evolution of a Winner: Claris FileMaker 

Now that I have you excited about low code, let’s turn to Claris FileMaker, and why you will want to license it for your low code work. Here’s the scoop.

FileMaker first debuted as a data engine integrated with a platform-agnostic GUI, enabling users to easily make modifications to the database by dragging new elements into layouts, screens, or forms. Subsequent improvements, including cross-platform support, the use of a relational database, and robust security made it even more appealing.

These features were incorporated into a professional version of FileMaker – FileMaker Pro, that has been the top seller in the Claris lineup since 1995. Since then, the product has evolved even more, incorporating script variables, enhanced debugging, and copy-and-paste support for field definitions, scripts, script steps, and more.

Keeping Your SDLC Safe and Sound 

Recently, FileMaker Pro was rebranded as Claris FileMaker, a fitting “upgrade” given its significantly enhanced functionality. Recent improvements and Claris FileMaker’s modular design provide the optimal platform for low code development. Your code is freed from the constraints of traditional environments while your coders are free to innovate remotely. It’s even possible for other teams, from QA to Ops, to work on and check in code if desired. From the CIO to your greenest developer, everyone is safe and all your code is sound.

To learn more about FileMaker Pro or the FileMaker platform, or to explore in detail why we are putting our weight behind it, check out this recording of our June launch release overview. Or contact our Director of Application Development Colin Keefe to schedule a complimentary consultation on how our team can help.

UPDATE: Thanks to all who attended the webinar. Watch the full video above. 
Details about our exclusive pricing on FileMaker Licencing.

The June 11 Zoom event, which serves as IT Solutions’ Claris FileMaker User Group Meeting, will introduce business leaders to the most significant FileMaker release in 15 years.

IT Solutions, a full-service IT company with more than 25 years’ experience providing managed services and developing custom software solutions, today announced an upcoming Launch Party for Claris FileMaker 19. Slated for June 11, 1:00 PM ET, the event will serve as this month’s FileMaker User Group Meeting and will feature a full demo of this significant release with plenty of time for Q&A afterward.  Anyone interested in Claris FileMaker 19 or the technologies that underpin it, is invited to attend.

During the meeting, an IT Solutions application development consultant will demonstrate the many new features of FileMaker 19 and then open the event to a question and answer session for demo attendees. “IT Solutions has long been a Claris Platinum Partner and a proponent of FileMaker, but this release is truly groundbreaking,” said IT Solutions Director of Application Development Colin O’Keefe. “As such, we wanted to ensure as many interested parties as possible – both in our User Group and outside it – had an opportunity to experience the new platform, firsthand.”

Released on May 20 by Claris International Inc., an Apple subsidiary, the FileMaker 19 platform is fully open and solution agnostic for the first time. As such, it allows developers to extend it with sharable add-ons, making it even faster for anyone to build modern apps. This design also enables developers to build custom applications integrated with third-party libraries; a feature that has not been available until now.

“As cost pressure grows in our rapidly-changing world, companies need to innovate quickly to boost productivity and deliver for their customers,” said Claris CEO Brad Freitag at the launch announcement. “We’re excited to see what our 50,000 customers will do with a growing set of add-ons and the ability to integrate any of the millions of JavaScript packages.”

Learn more about our FileMaker Development 
Details about our exclusive pricing on FileMaker Licencing.

About ITS Solutions

IT Solutions Inc. is an IT services leader, providing expert managed services, custom app development, secure data and easy-to-maintain backup solutions for both on-premise and cloud environments, all of which are accompanied by proactive IT support. Through 25+ years of strategic partnership building and a focus on adopting innovative technologies and improving processes, we have transformed IT Solutions from a solo venture start-up in 1994 to the 100% employee-owned and award-winning solutions provider it is today.