Item: Quickbase
Rating: 7
Author: Alexis Ertzner

Overall Satisfaction with QuickBase

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

QuickBase is used across MIT for a variety of applications. I can only speak to how my department/I use QuickBase, which is to track the status of our events (including tracking event registration status, attendees, post-event notes, etc.). Of particular use is the notifications, which get sent automatically to prompt event managers to register their event, or calendar managers to update calendars if event details change. Since we run a lot of events with many moving parts and stakeholders, this system has really changed how we operate (and streamlined/automated it to free up valuable employee time).

Pros and Cons

Pros

Notifications
Easy to update and change fields, table-to-table relationships
Calendar view for our events

Cons

It is great that QuickBase can generate a calendar view, as well as an .ics file. HOWEVER, the ability to sync with other calendars (or to have the .ics file automatically update when there are changes) would be a game-changer.
Branching logic for field answers needs to be developed.
Better reporting on data (overall look and feel is not as competitive as programs like Tableau)

Alternatives Considered

FileMaker Pro

We used to use an Excel file (yikes!) to manually track the bare minimum details of events and projects, often on shared collaboration sites that had some tricky functionality (SharePoint Collaboration sites for Mac users, for example). QuickBase became supported by my company and allowed us to automate/streamline data collection and update once the app was built. [It's] easy to update as we grow the functionality (when the functionality is there). It is still a bit clunky and could definitely be more user friendly, but it currently fills a basic need we had.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is great for my team to track progress and details on events/large projects (including attendance, post-event notes, floor plans, who is the event manager, what accounts to charge, etc.). However, as a substitute for an easily viewable calendar to track events/projects with time-specific deliverables, it just does not work for mobile or for easy calendar syncing in the calendar applications (Google, Outlook, iCal) that our team and company use.

Comments

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Great for collecting lots of data, but not as flexible as I'd like