newbie help with Excel based database

[d_benet]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and essentially new to anything beyond using FileMaker in its most basic way. I work in a technical job and while I'm computer literate, I'm definitely not an expert. I have used File Maker Pro 7 for many years to keep track of annual equipment inspections. This was a very simple database that linked the inspected equipment to its owner and tracked any changes over time. It used a single page form that listed owner, contact information, type and evaluation criteria of the equipment for each year's inspection. I've recently upgraded to a new iMac running OS 10.8 and we also just acquired a digital testing machine to perform the equipment inspections. This machine operates on a platform that records data directly into Excel where charts of performance are generated for several different tests. These charts are replacing a previously analog view of performance where single values were entered manually into fields in each entry into the database. I would like to somehow create a File Maker Pro database that is compatible with our previous database but now includes all the performance charts from the new digital machine. I downloaded a trial version of File Maker Pro 12 to see if I can make this work, but quickly realized I was beyond my knowledge of the program and database management in general. Here are some more details of what I'm hoping to accomplish and some potential hang-ups:

1) We have several hundred individuals each with one or more pieces of equipment that must be inspected annually. I would like the database to remain similar with essential fields containing all the "meta-data" such as customer name, contact info, equipment type, and serial number so that the database may be searchable for any of these fields.

2) Next I would like to somehow link or view the performance criteria of the inspection in each entry. These new performance criteria are in the form of Excel scatter plots and/or raw data from the machine in Excel. Each test generates about 1000 data points in 4 different columns so its a fair amount of data. 

I know how to save each chart as a picture and import pictures into each entry in the database, however there are many charts for each inspection and this will be extremely time consuming in the long run. It seems like there must be a way to import these automatically, or even import the raw data and generate the charts in File Maker automatically. I also learned about the recurring import feature, but it doesn't appear this will work for me since a new Excel file must be generated for each inspection. The machine performs several tests, each of which is generated in a separate worksheet within a specific Excel file for that individual's piece of equipment for that year. 

I would greatly appreciate if someone could tell me if this is even possible and if so, how to proceed. I've reached out to some database manager friends of mine, but would really appreciate any helpful suggestions or ideas.

-Thanks

[RodM]

maybe not for me to say,,

but its easier if you ask 1 question at a time..  first appearance is to much info ..  sorry

[comment]

 I would like to somehow link or view the performance criteria of the inspection in each entry. These new performance criteria are in the form of Excel scatter plots and/or raw data from the machine in Excel. Each test generates about 1000 data points in 4 different columns

 

It sounds like you only need a link from the equipment's record in your database to the Excel file (or files) containing the equipment test results. That could be very easy or not - depending on how exactly does your test machine save the results.

 

For example, if each piece of equipment has a unique ID and there is also a similarly named folder containing the test results, then that's practically all you need.

[Emma in England]

I would import the Excel into a new table, and show it in a portal on the equipment's record.

 

Do you have a record for each piece of equipment? And does that record have a unique ID? If so, does that ID also appear in the Excel spreadsheet? Or is each spreadsheet related to one piece of equipment?

 

Since this is only once a year, would importing the spreadsheets manually be a problem? It could be automated if they have sensible names...