Need Help Connecting Databases

[animazing]

I have been working on a client and inventory database for an art gallery. The woman who we hired to set up filemaker has put everything in a mess for us. Right now the clients info are not connected to the invoices. So when something is sold the sales rep has to put in all of the info again..and that doesnt make sense at all.

We bought Filemaker to make life easier...not harder!

So I would like to know if we can connect the client database to the inventory/invoicing database. They are seperate entities and I hope we can connect the address/email/phone number/shipping address..etc..

The woman who set up our filemaker said that since we have about 4,000 clients and 5,000 pieces of art, it would be too much info to be connected and it wouldnt work properly. I have faith that Filemaker can handle this and that I can connect these...

Please help out as much as possible. I really really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

[color:orange]Cheryl[color:orange]

[David Jondreau]

It looks like your gallery would like someone in-house to understand Filemaker design, rather than hire an outside consultant again. Though keep in mind, the woman you were working with gave you very incorrect advice, and there are other, competent, consultants out there (like me!).

If that's the case, FMForums and TechNet are good places to start. You may also want to consider a copy of FMP 9 Advanced and paying someone to do training.

In the short run, the simplest solution would be to relate the Clients database and the Invoicing database via a numerical Client ID and have all the Client fields in the Invoice database changed to "Lookups" so the data gets entered automatically, rather than manually.

That's a simple procedure that should take an hour or two for a beginner to learn and implement.

[Fenton]

Wow, that woman was possibly the worst FileMaker developer ever (actually I don't think she qualifies to be called a developer). 4,000 clients is a small amount. 5,000 pieces of art is not a lot of records either. It may be a lot of graphics, but that is also doable, though there's a few options.

On the plus side, it should be not much of a problem to add the relationships needed, and tie your existing data together. Though some manual corrections may be needed where the data was not entered consistently.

[bcooney]

I feel compelled to assure you all that I am not the NY woman developer who "put everything in a mess!"

[comment]

Me neither.

[bcooney]

rotflol

[animazing]

Thanks for the advice...

I have been spending loads of time on filemaker and i almost feel like i would be in better shape if i started from scratch instead of had this woman come in and do it all wrong...

How much is it to have someone with your knowledge to revamp the invoicing/client databases??

[David Jondreau]

Please see my PM.