For when you've outgrown Excel and are ready for validation that keeps your data up to your standards
September 07, 2017
For when you've outgrown Excel and are ready for validation that keeps your data up to your standards
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with FileMaker Pro
I use FileMaker Pro Advanced as my own personal data warehouse. I authored a FileMaker database whose scripts import data from disparate sources, allowing me to perform advanced analysis. Although FileMaker Server is fully capable of functioning as a system of record and serving data to many users simultaneously, our organization does not utilize FileMaker in this way.
- FileMaker provides an approachable way to design databases. If someone is familiar with Excel, their knowledge of rows, columns, and sheets translates to records, fields, and tables.
- Scripts allow for easy automation. Once users are familiar with how to use FileMaker's built-in UI and menus to modify data by hand, those actions can be chained together into scripts, which can be triggered by a number of circumstances.
- FileMaker's Script Debugger is available only in Pro Advanced versions, not Pro. I believe it should be available in all versions of FileMaker, because it's a critically valuable tool for both the beginner who is learning how scripts behave, and the experienced user who is debugging very complicated scripts.
- The tool used to build expressions (the "Specify Calculation" window) could benefit from some visual cues to indicate which parentheses and parameters belong to which function, especially with complex nested functions. For now, I've actually used FileMaker to build a standalone tool that does this.
- It allows me to answer others' questions about our data. Functioning similar to a data warehouse, it allows me to perform complex searches that would otherwise be impossible or cumbersome.