Summarizing Unique Values

[Jarvis]

I am developing a database to help manage job costing for my cabinet shop.

 

This database includes 6 fields:   WORKER - CUSTOMER - START - STOP - ELAPSED TIME - TOTAL TIME.

 

Start & Stop are timestamp fields.  

Elapsed Time calculates the number of minutes between start & stop.

Total Time is a Summary field that totals all of the elapsed time results.

 

If I perform a find on the customer field I can see how many minutes everybody has worked on this project.

Similarly I can total minutes by worker.

 

I would like to be able to sum individual contribution of all  customers or all  workers.

In the attached example the  Customer report would, for example,  read:

 

Ajax Project 7

Jones Project 8

Smith Project 39

 

TOTAL TIME 54

 

 

This report would find all instances of unique values and sum their individual contributions.

Optimally as I added new customers or workers the summary field would update automatically.

Something like this tied to a chart would be very useful for global comprehension of how my business is stratified.

 

Is there a way to summarize & report based upon unique values within a field?

jobcost.fmp12.zip

[David Jondreau]

Like this?

 

Click on the grey Customer or Worker heading to see totals...

jobcost.fmp12 2.zip

[Jarvis]

Thanks David, that is exactly what I was looking for.

I can't see any difference in field structure, layout, table occurrences or anything at all. 

 

How did you do that?

[bruceR]

Take a more careful look at the layout.

 

This kind of reporting is easy and native to FileMaker.

 

David used sub summary layout parts.

[Jarvis]

Thanks Bruce, somehow that layout view escaped me.

 

Is there any way to act on the data?

 

For example, if you have the sub-summary could you have another field that told you what percentage of total hours came from a particular worker or customer.

Could you graph the result?

 

I think a  bar chart comparison would be very useful here.

Could this data be integrated into a chart in a dynamic way?

[bruceR]

Yes.

 

https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/fmphelp_13/en/index.html

[Jarvis]

Thanks for your help Bruce.

[Lee Smith]

Really?

[bruceR]

Lee: Jarvis is a tool user. Self-sufficiency is a basic life force for tool users. Being given too much is demeaning.

 

Jarvis indicated he isn't yet familiar with a lot of basic FileMaker concepts, and getting them piecemeal here isn't very efficient.

 

Knowing where to look for the foundation, and FileMaker - written examples, is an important starting point.

 

Then he can augment that information here, with questions and practical examples.

 

That's the way it looks to me, though certainly others may see it differently.

[Jarvis]

Bruce,

 

If I thought asking for help was demeaning I wouldn't ask for it.

I am a subject matter expert in my own field but not in database

 

If you look at my profile you will see I am quite comfortable describing myself as a wannabe.  

I have been a member of this group for almost 12 years and have asked maybe 500 questions or so.

I usually lead into these questions with the declaration that I am dumber than a sack of hammers.  

I have found that a little bit of humility in this situation goes a long ways.

 

Over the years there have been some very helpful and patient people on this forum.

I include you in this group  (more in the helpful than patient tribe).

They have helped me a lot.  I run my cabinet shop on Filemaker because of them.  

I have developed a really wonderful method for parsing information where it is needed, when it is needed in a format that supports lean manufacturing.

I couldn't have created this database without the help of the gurus on this site.

 

I participate in other forums as well.

When I can help, I am very generous with my knowledge.

One of the up & coming venues is a site called  Houzz.  I owe my business to Houzz.

 

My business strategies at this time is to give away my knowledge.  

I have seen this method work very successfully for others.

When a civilian asks a dumbass question  I help them and support my answers with photography and CAD drawings.

There is no question that I am giving away hard earned knowledge but in the process I am also establishing credentials and building a brand.

This has been a very successful method of driving customers to my business.

 

Look for more dumb questions on my part and don't worry about hurting my feelings if you choose to answer them.

I appreciate your help very much.

[bruceR]

Nobody said asking for help is demeaning.

[Lee Smith]

@ BruceR.

I was being facetious, I thought the sentence, that he has since edited out, was just missing a word, or LOL or ha, ha. I never thought for a minute that he really meant how it read.