Assessing the good, the bad and the ugly of your FileMaker system

If you have a Claris FileMaker database that plays an important role in your organization, you know there are some good things about it, some bad things, and maybe even some things that are ugly enough to cause real problems for you and your business if left unaddressed.

This is the scenario we see every day. To help customers identify, sort through and prioritize those issues, we have developed and refined a very unique service and report that we are proud to offer to the FileMaker community.  We call it a solution’s Health Assessment.  If you have ever wondered about the longevity, stability, security or performance of your system – or if you want confirmation that you and your team are on the right track – then consider how a health assessment can help your Claris FileMaker database.

By ordering a health assessment – which you get for free if you join our Maintenance Support Program – you get an in-depth evaluation of your FileMaker solution. Here is what we do:

Get to Know You

It is important that our 1st step is to meet, listen and learn. We need to get to know the system and users, understand the workflow, what works and what doesn’t, and where you want to go with it.

Server Inspection

Using an extensive predefined checklist, we will determine if the server is set up properly for the best FileMaker experience and that critical business data is backed up according to best practices, well protected from system failure.

BaseElements Assessment

This developer tool looks “under the hood” of your application to expose errors, unreferenced/unused elements, warnings, performance issues and security issues.

Schema & Script Review

We look at how the solution is built including assessing how the system has been organized, what scripting methods have been used and how close the code is to current development standards to determine if it is in good shape for expansion or needs some “touch up” work.

Security Audit

We review to make sure there are no unauthorized user accounts in the system and that sensitive data is properly controlled.  Over time, and as employees come and go, it is important to make sure all user accounts are audited.

Final Health Report with Easy-to-Understand Letter Grade

• We assemble all the information and assign a letter grade based on a mathematical score for each area.
• We prioritize our recommendations with a proposal of costs for improvements.
• We identify critical system issues that should be resolved before conducting new development.
• For those customers who are considering rebuilding, replacing or retrofitting their system, we can provide an analysis to determine which of these would make the most sense.

As you consider adding new features and functions, the opportunity to discuss these things with our skilled developers – as part of an overall comprehensive assessment – might be a great place to start.

This in-depth review and analysis take our certified developers anywhere from 10 – 25 hours to produce and can be purchased as a packaged “flat fee” service, or it comes free when you sign up for our monthly Maintenance Support Program.

For such a small investment, we are convinced that you will be blown away with all of the expertise you will have access to and at the end of it you will walk away with a solid plan, budget and technical team behind you.

Additional Blogs, Training, and Resources

If you are interested in additional FileMaker videos, training courses or product news, please:

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel for FileMaker tips and tricks.
• Subscribe to our newsletter for industry and product updates.
• Check out Productive Computing University for in-depth training courses covering advanced FileMaker technologies.
• Have a look through our blog posts that discuss various FileMaker topics.

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