Can Filemaker 13 Pro build a full business enterprise business management system?

[Dynaman]

Greetings FM'ers:

First time poster here. I am an electronics engineer and not a DB programmer; however I have written several FM flat databases successfully in which I use successfully on a day to day basis. I love it. They do just what I need. My problem.. I have been using Quickbooks Premier for several years, and now they want to have me pay rent once a year at a very high cost. I am a small company.. plus it's the principle of the thing. They pretty much have monopolized that software industry. I REBEL!!  So after looking at several other packages which are not quite the same, I ran into a package popular in Europe called Dolibarr which is an SQL based free package installed locally on my PC. It is an enterprise system, but I don't have the skills to modify it to do what I would like i.e customized invoice they way I like, invoice modification, easy back up.

Next idea.. How about I write a customized DB enterprise software package that can work for me? I am sure many people have wrote these and may even be available ready to go, where I could even customize things the way I like. What do you folks think? Too complicated? Can FM do this nicely? Any advice appreciated.

Dynaman.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Dynaman
spelling

[Ocean West]

Best advise is not to re-invent a solved problem. 

QB Online is very robust and has countless years of hours in development and support. For Accounting it is your source of truth. If you need to interact push/pull data between FileMaker the most ideal method is to use the API either by writing the calls yourself or use an existing middleware software such as: 

https://www.ledgerlink.co or https://www.productivecomputing.com/products/quickbooks-online-filemaker-integration/

I get you with your reluctance in subscriptions however at the alternative is more expensive in time and money, and possible errors. 

 

 

If you want something written in FileMaker then https://www.codence.com/products/genesis-accounting

 

 

[Dynaman]

Thank you OW..  Ah I forgot to mention the online nonsense. I do not want any of my data to be on someones server. I don't trust them. I believe the financial data will be spied on by external entities. I'll leave it at that. "I can just hear it now QB's server's have been hacked, and Yada, yada, yada..  A memory stick serves me fine. To have that with QB, you must pay a lot more. Isn't that funny? I don't use server space, but yet it costs more.  That says something following my thinking.  ALright.. let me check out your links. Thank you sir.

 

D.....

[Fitch]

I agree that it's not cost-effective to re-invent the wheel. That said, you sound like a person who enjoys tinkering and learning. In which case, you will learn a lot by building an accounting system. You need to think about not just FileMaker, but how to structure things. Many people have spent lots of time thinking about this. See for example: https://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/Account.html

My advice is to start by building The Simplest Thing That Can Possibly Work, and iterate from there.

Also, you're making life more difficult by using such an old version of FileMaker. And it will make it more difficult for us to help you here. Not only do newer versions have useful new features, but security is much improved in newer versions of FileMaker. You claim to be concerned about security. So, save yourself some aggravation and upgrade!