Can filemaker do this????

[spelius]

HELP

This is a big one for me. Do you know any experts in File Maker Pro that could advise us.

Contact Software/Database Requirements

Expediciones Chile is a adventure travel company in which clients from the United States come down to Chile to participate in kayaking, rafting and other activities. Currently the company is based on a Macintosh platform using Now Contact (TCP/IP) as the primary contact management software tool. The server for Now Contact is at a static ip address. The sales force can update with the server. However if one of the sales force is unable to connect to through TCPIP they can continue to enter data in their copy of the contact manager, confident they can update when they are able to connect to the internet.The last few years the company has begun to outgrow this software and we are looking around for better options. We are debating two solutions: 1. Goldmine (requiring a switch to pc platform) 2. File maker pro 5 allowing us to stay in Mac

A] Presently we have about four forms clients fill out on our web site. These forms are then transferred to us via e-mail. Currently all of the information on the forms must be manually transferred to our software. Will Goldmine or FileMaker eliminate this inefficiency by allowing us to transfer data directly from forms filled out by our clients to our Goldmine or Filemaker Database? Ideally the fields of our database would be filled in from clients inputting information on the website.

B] Because of the remote location of our business we need to have a client server relationship between our computers. We envision a master server set-up in the United States with a static IP address. Our laptop computers would then be able to update and share information with the server on a periodic basis. Ideally we would like to run as much of the business as possible from our laptops serving primarily as independent work-stations. However, we don't want to be dependent on the internet to access Goldmine/Filemaker just to periodically update files. Is such an arrangement possible with Goldmine or Filemaker?

C] We need to have a minimum of 20 fields and 50 categories. Catagories are customer/business classifications. (ie. Kayak Clients 1998, Raft Clients 1999, etc.). Is this possible in Goldmine?

D] Does Goldmine or Filemaker have a rolodex type feature for business contacts who are not clients? (all we need is name, phone number, e-mail address)

E] Does Goldmine/Filemaker give you the ability to view all of your clients and contacts in one window with just abbreviated information? (Company, First, Last, Phone, E-mail)

G] Can you access the e-mail program by simply clicking on the e-mail address in Goldmine? Can you also do the same for web pages?

H] Does Goldmine have mass e-mail capabilities? Can the program allow the user to e-mail prospects in a variety of different categories? Can temporary categories be set-up for such e-mail purposes?

I] Can Goldmine be used for form letters via e-mail that can merge e-mail addresses and names in the letters?

J] What type of find feature does Goldmine have? In our current program we need only type in the first three letters and it auto scrolls to the list of names that begin with those letters. Does Goldmine operate similarly?

K. Automatically enter a new email senders, name, email address, phone etc into the database. IF that email or name is already in the database a warning should be given.

Please advise

Christine

[BruceJ]

FileMaker can do the above. I'd be glad to offer my serivces in trade for a vacation but I'm not a web developer and that's what you really need.

[LiveOak]

The thing to keep in mind (Re: Does FM have contacts?) is that FM is a tool for developing a contact management application. Unlike Now Contact, FM is not a contacts manager. Just like Microsoft Word can be used to write a novel, but MS Word isn't a novel.

"Ideally we would like to run as much of the business as possible from our laptops serving primarily as independent work-stations. However, we don't want to be dependent on the internet to access Goldmine/Filemaker just to periodically update files. Is such an arrangement possible with Goldmine or Filemaker?" I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you stand alone, client server, or "sort of"? The best arrangement is to have a common server and enter all information while networked to the server. The notion of separate copies of files which a mystically and periodically synchronized is almost impossible to implement for complex solutions.

There are email plug-ins for FM that should allow automatic entry of from emails. You will still need to review all entered data for correctness. If your web site is open to the public, you can get a lot forms full of junk submitted.

Expect to spend some money or time creating the solution in FileMaker. FileMaker is a tool kit, not a finished house.

-bd