Last week my computer had a severe case of indigestion. Its newly upgraded operating system was choking on an old version of FileMaker Pro. How old? Four versions out of date -- gaads, I let myself get behind the times!
So I finally bit the bullet and bought FileMaker Pro 11. Now the computer is happily sucking in data and spitting out all sorts time saving forms.
Here's my new favorite form to track orders (see above, click to enlarge). Fellow artists that handle orders and must track inventory may find it useful too. I'm sure that there are myriad accounting/database software programs that do this well -- I've just never gotten the hang of Excel or others like it. Rather, I've been using FileMaker for more than 16 years to handle databases and generate receipts or invoices.
Anyhoo, the best feature in this FileMaker form is right in the middle of the page, the No. (number ordered) column -- it automatically keeps a running total for me. Woot! No more thumbing through paper order forms and making little tally marks on a piece of scratch paper.
So happy.
What's your favorite way to keep track of this sort of info? Let us know in the comments section below :-)
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8 comments:
I use Excel. I don't earm enough from my models to need to inform the tax-man, but just in case I keep a record of who, what, how many and then the money received, any fees from Paypal and another column for how much that translates to in my currency, as I take money in three different currencies (GBP, Euro and USD).
I really dislike the boxing up stage, where you have to mail-merge, print stickers and tally the contents of the box with the correct order details, that seems to be the worst bit for mistakes.
Then, it's filling in Customs forms (I wish there were a mailmerge solution for that!!), sorting out who needs airmail stickers....
I love sculpting, I like casting a lot but not the time it takes, but I really, really dislike boxing up and posting out!!
I'm trying to set up a database using Filemaker but I haven't really spent a lot of time on it. Do you use a homemade system, Lynn, or some sort of templates? I could not enlarge the photo of your order form :-(
Thanks for stopping by.
Kelly -- I'm with you in that I'd rather be sculpting, but I rather enjoy packing up and sending out. Especially the thank you notes, I love to write those :-)
Carol -- I do design my own templates; that's why I love Filemaker, you're not stuck with a spreadsheet. I'll email you some samples in a bit and we can talk about it more.
Carol, I can't click to enlarge the photo, either! Used to be able to do that with blogger... bummer!
The photo enlarges now -- evidently if you add a caption (which I had) it somehow interferes with the click-to-enlarge capability. More info re this turn of events at
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=27974a578f6094e7&hl=en
I did a trial version of FM Pro 11 and liked it very much. Much easier to use than Microsoft Access.
The only hang-up I had is that if you want the info in your database to somehow transmit to the web, you need to have web-sharing enabled on your Mac (e.g., a shopping cart). On mine that feature was not working and it seems to have stymied Apple, so I let it go. :)
And I went with MySql instead:
http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html
The capability of this software is vast. It can do accounting, manage photos, print reports, build your website. A draft of the website I'm building using it, is here:
http://www.elizabethlarose.com/pages/index.php
All the data in there, including show records, is coming out of a database parked on my beloved Mac.
The level of complexity before you're up and running is higher than FM Pro though. With MySql and even more so with Access, you have to do some learning before they will mind you. FM Pro works right out of the box, very refreshing!
Eliz
Eliz -- thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience with the different programs. I'll have to look into MySql the next time I need to upgrade. Sadly I wasn't able to see anything at the website, must be my browser...
Lynn, there is almost nothing on the website's front page except for a tiny drop-down in the upper left-hand corner. Hopefully you just missed it but I will check to be sure. :)
I think if you're not finding website management to be a pain, staying with FM Pro makes sense. I wouldn't have moved off that software if my web-sharing had worked.
I particularly liked that FM Pro came with pre-made forms (the interfaces through which you view tabular data), and that those forms were constructed in such a manner that it was very easy to see all your data.
MySql's forms are very poor by comparison. Instead, what is expected is that you will create an offline webpage on your Mac, and then tell it to talk to your database (Dreamweaver will do this). The webpage acts like a form.
That is all well and good, but it takes work to make those webpages. A busy person may not have the time! :D
Eliz
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