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General FAQ:
Why did we build FM Starting Point? When we worked with FileMaker, Inc. to rebuild and clean up the “Starter Solution Templates,” a premium was placed on simple functionality that would be easy for brand new FileMaker users to take apart and customize. Of course, with simplicity elevated to such a high degree, overall usefulness of a database can be quite limited. There is, therefore, a genuine need for a more robust FREE starter solution for FileMaker users; this tool meets those needs. Additionally, this makes for great advertising for our company of 20 FileMaker Developers, who have an exceptional record of successful projects and happy customers. Where can I find the FREE FMSP Template in Chinese? Click here for Chinese Language version! Why did we build FM Starting Point? When we worked with FileMaker, Inc. to rebuild and clean up the “Starter Solution Templates,” a premium was placed on simple functionality that would be easy to “take apart” and customize for brand new FileMaker users. Of course, with simplicity elevated to such a high degree, overall usefulness of a database can be quite limited. There is, therefore, a genuine need for a more robust FREE starter solution for FileMaker users, and this tool meets those needs. What is new in FM Starting Point 2? With the release of FileMaker 11, we decided to update our FM Starting Point template with a few new features. A few of these include Charting throughout the system, inventory tracking between the Invoice and Products module, and hourly rates in the Timesheets module. You will find a brand new Summary tab in the Projects Module that collects information form the Inventory, Expenses, and Timesheets tables to produce a graphs showing the current status and profitability of a project. All this and more you will find in the new version. Once again, FM Starting Point 2 is a FREE solution so you can go ahead and download it as soon as you get FileMaker 11. Will FM Starting Point 1 Still be available? A new link has be put onto the FM Starting Point website for downloading our last release, FM Starting Point 1.0v15. From now on, there will not be any more revisions of this database unless any significant bugs are found. We do not expect that this will be the case. If you find any bugs in FMSP1 or 2, you can report it at our tech support forum where we answer any questions you may have concerning FileMaker and FM Starting Point. Is FileMaker Inc. responsible for this Database? No. FM Starting Point was influenced by the redevelopment of FileMaker’s “Starter Solution Templates” which are already included for FREE with each install of FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Inc. has not underwritten this enhanced solution. FMI staff provided feedback for the included features, and we greatly appreciate their assistance. All quality assurance testing was performed by RCC and not FMI. How is this different than Data4Life? Some FileMaker users are aware of another FREE database offered, called Data4Life. Data4Life is designed for personal use, and not business use. FM Starting Point targeted towards small businesses, work groups, and non-profit organizations. Both solutions are FREE. Data4Life is located at www.data4life.net Does FM Starting Point connect to QuickBooks? FM Starting Point can connect to QuickBooks (on Windows only) via the use of third party plug-ins. The Mac version of QuickBooks has some limitations that prevent it from communicating with a Plugin. Unless you are a FileMaker “power user” then you might need to get some help from a FileMaker developer with this task. Please consult the FileMaker Consultant directory at http://developer.filemaker.com/search/ or visit RC Consulting website at http://www.rcconsulting.com Does FM Starting Point connect to iCal or Address book on a Mac? FM Starting Point can connect to these other applications via the use of third party plug-ins. Unless you are a FileMaker “power user” then you might need to get some help from a FileMaker developer with this task. Please consult the FileMaker Consultant directory at http://developer.filemaker.com/search/ or visit RC Consulting website at http://www.rcconsulting.com Can I Share FM Starting Point with other people, in my office, or around the world? Yes, and Yes! FM Starting Point is a FileMaker database, and FileMaker databases can be shared anywhere. You can share the database by using FileMaker Pro’s (client) “Peer to Peer” sharing abilities, which allows up to 10 remote users to connect to the database. Of course each user will need their own licensed copy of FileMaker Pro. A more robust and reliable solution is to use FileMaker Pro Server software, on a dedicated computer. FileMaker Server supports automatic backups, so you never have to worry about backing up your FileMaker database. So why are you doing “Document Storage” in FM Starting Point? Document Management is becoming a critical technology for organized businesses. Business documents are being converted to PDFs for storage with desktop scanners, with most business trying to dump the files onto a file server “somewhere.” Businesses hope to be able to go back and find those documents if they need them. That’s going to be difficult because of the lack of organization. With FM Starting Point bundled with SuperContainer Hosted Lite, you have a FREE solution that will greatly help your ability to store your documents, attached right to the projects information in the database. Receipts or POs can be scanned and attached to your invoice records, etc. All totally FREE, and high speed. (as fast as your internet connection will allow). To Learn more, visit the SuperContainer FAQ. Is there an instruction manual for FM Starting Point? No. There are several instructional on screen help videos to help get users rolling in the new system. We are also commenting on the scripts and various features…within the database template. FM Starting Point is design for new users…so it is not too complex. Few people read the manuals anyway. They just hack there way through a product. However, if someone wants to write a manual, and then give it away to everyone, let us know and we’ll post it for you. What are the different kinds of Email I can send from FM Starting Point? Primarily, the email capabilities are within the "contacts" modules, where you can shoot off a myriad of different "canned" emails. These will be plain text emails, since that is what the new built in FileMaker 10 feature supports. Email may be sent through a users email client OR use the new “Direct Send” capability of FileMaker Pro 10. Can I use FileMaker 7, 8, 8.5 or 9 to run FM Starting Point? We always get asked this question. The answer is “somewhat.” We are designing FMSP for FileMaker Pro 10, without ANY thought for how it might run in previous versions of FileMaker. It will load into these versions of FileMaker, but there will be some broken features, and downright weirdness if you try to run it in FM7. Can I use FileMaker 5 or 6 to run FM Starting Point? No. Please trade in your model-T Ford for a newer car. Can I run FM Starting Point on a browser? (i.e. can I use free software and then use my free browser too?) No. FileMaker has a VASTLY better user interface…than the lowly web browser. Can you help me migrate from the Starter Solutions…to FM Starting Point? That's a good question. We sure can, but that's not a free service. Please feel free to contact RCC at info1@rcconsulting.com … or … if you have a talented local consultant, who is responsive, contact them for assistance. There is no special magic to FM Starting Point. Any good FileMaker Developer can work inside of the tool easily. I need support for FM Starting Point and FREE seems like a good price to me. RCC’s FREE support forum for FM Starting point is here: http://forum.fmstartingpoint.com/ |
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