What is FM Starting Point?

FM Starting Point (FMSP) is the logical continuation of the FileMaker Pro Starter Solution templates. If you have FileMaker Pro 10 or 11 installed on your computer, then you already have FileMaker’s “Starter Solutions” on your hard drive. RCC has weaved several of these Starter Solutions into one file and heavily enhanced it’s available feature set, creating an effective, integrated business solution: FM Starting Point.

Where does FM Starting Point fit in?

With the development of FileMaker Pro 10, a team was formed to redesign the Starter Solutions to take advantage of new FileMaker Pro 10 features and correct long-standing bugs in the Solutions. This team was comprised of FileMaker, Inc. staff and RC Consulting team members. During the development process, the team considered several ideas to enhance the Starter Solutions; but these were ultimately rejected due to the need to keep the Starter Solutions as simple as possible for new users of FileMaker Pro 10. FM Starting Point includes these ideas and more. Since that time in 2009, FileMaker Inc. has released version 11 of their world famous database system. We have updated the FMSP to take advantage of some FileMaker 11 features, while adding a few new capablities people were looking forward to have.

It’s difficult to quickly summarize all of the features of FM Starting Point. FM Starting Point is equipped to manage business contacts (people who might be customers, or vendors, etc.), accounts, products, and projects, and more. It uses FileMaker Pro 10's built in emailing capability. FM Starting Point can even send invoices via email with an attached PDF. The list goes on and on — but it’s free, so check it out for yourself!