Web-based and user friendly
November 03, 2016
Web-based and user friendly
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with QuickBase
We use QuickBase for a web-based multi-centre international tumour study. Since there are participating centres both in Canada and in Europe, we need a database that can be easily accessed from wherever the users are located. Data is entered at each site and participants are able to view compilations of data from the other centres. Data is exported for statistical analysis.
- Web-based access is the reason we chose QuickBase. In order to collaborate with sites both in North America and Europe, we needed a database that could be accessed from anywhere.
- QuickBase is an application we were able to build in-house, without having to employ developers to create a custom program from scratch.
- The database is fairly easy to modify and update.. New fields, or additional options for existing fields, can be added as required.
- Users doing data entry have found the database fairly straightforward and intuitive to navigate around in, without us having to build detailed instruction manuals.
- Creating user and group permissions can be tricky.
- While much of the database can be created by someone with little or no knowledge of coding, building some of the calculated fields and nested tables requires more advanced coding skills.
- The layout of forms is not as customizable as I would like.
- The cost of the application is quite high when one is using it only for one small application.
We were able to get QuickBase up and running much more quickly and cost-effectively than it would have been if we had to get developers to build us a custom application from scratch.
At the time we purchased QuickBase, we were not aware of any other platforms that we could use to build a web-based database ourselves.
Most of our database was built by someone with no formal computer training but with extensive experience using Microsoft Access and some other databases. There were just a few fields and settings that required the assistance of our IT personnel to get them functional. The majority of the database was built in just a few weeks, and we had it up and running within a month of starting the process, though we did spend more time fine-tuning things, and making it more user-friendly and intuitive. We have been using the application for over seven years now, and annually only spend a total of a day or so making updates/modifications to it.
- Improving our ability to drive insights from our data
- Improving collaboration across one or more teams
With the last update, we added a few fields as well as some additional pick list options to existing fields. Adding these went pretty quickly. It took a little longer to add these to existing forms and rearrange the forms to accommodate the new fields. However, we were able to do these ourselves, without requiring any IT support.