One of the most comprehensive free solutions you can find is FM Starting Point, now at version 2.1, from Richard Carlton Consulting. Not only is it free for use, but it's also unlocked, so you can look at how everything works and modify the database as you want it.
The solution comes with no less than 12 modules, some of which you'll have to access thru the Home Screen. For more common functions though, there's a navigation bar that lets you jump to the most often used modules. Here's a short description of the modules:
• Accounts is your place to manage all the non-personal entities that you may be dealing with in your business. You have a mini-CRM type notes and communications tracker, a listing of all persons, estimates, invoices, projects and to-dos related to it.
• Contacts is similar in structure to the Accounts module, with the ability to directly send emails to that person with an integrated Email Template manager.
• Calendar combines all the tasks for the different employees into month and week views. Helpful for tracking deadlines and to-dos.
• Estimates are your quotations to your customers (or accounts).
• Expenses tracks all expenses related to a project. Combined with the Timesheets and Invoices module, you'll be able to see how profitable your projects are.
• Invoices are basically estimates that are billed to the client. The items in the invoices are deducted from your product inventory, and payment details can be encoded here as well.
• Notes lets you create free form notes for anything you wish. It can be related to an account, contact or project.
• Projects is a collection of activities from all the different modules of the solution. Estimates, Invoices, To-dos, Timesheets, Documents, and Milestones are all collated here, with graphs showing invoices due and Income/Expense totals.
• Products lets you manage all the items you have for sale, and keeps track of how many you have left.
• Staff is the list of all personnel you have. From here you can see the projects they're involved in, their timesheets, and the tasks they have to do.
• Timesheets track the time spent for the week, and computes the total pay based on the hours worked. This is basically the Timesheet Starter Solution in FileMaker integrated with the Staff and Project modules, which is not surprising since they're the same guys who made the specific Starter Solution for FileMaker, if I'm not mistaken.
• To do List is what is says it is. It pops out a long window (depending on how high your screen is) with a list of boxes for you to check out. It's integrated as well to the Accounts, Projects, Contacts, and Staff modules so you'll see the data there as well.
Aside from the modules above, there's comprehensive help text, and instructional videos as well (the videos require access to the Internet) to hopefully guide you if you're lost in any part of the solution. You can clearly see the amount of effort that has been put into this solution, and highlights the capabilities of FileMaker Pro as a robust platform.
As if that's not enough, since the release of FileMaker Go for the iPhone and iPad, FM Starting Point has also been updated to be "mobile-friendly." That means, when you access the database through your iPhone or iPad, you'll see screens designed specially for touch. Text and buttons are more touch-enabled and easier to hit with your finger this way.
You can download this solution from the FM Starting Point website. As mentioned before, the solution is free, unlocked, and no registration is needed. Enjoy!
Fine Print: This blog is not in anyway connected to Richard Carlton Consulting, and is not meant as an endorsement of their products and services. As usual, I'm just highlighting the third-party solutions to show you what FileMaker Pro is capable of doing.
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