“With more than 5,000 people potentially participating in this year’s parade, our new FileMaker Pro 9 databases will bring together all the required functions for the parade into one manageable, networked solution,” said Robin Hall, senior vice president, Macy’s Parade & Entertainment Group, in the press release.
Before FileMaker Pro was deployed, the database for the parade was originally built in Microsoft Access and its operation required programming knowledge beyond the basic consumer level. This caused delays and resulted in the need to export all work from Microsoft Access queries into Microsoft Excel documents to find specific information in a user-friendly manner.
MacDailyNews Take: Dumping Microsoft’s Access for FIleMaker Pro 9 is the equivalent of dumping Bea Arthur for Evangeline Lilly. Congrats, Macy’s! Niiice upgrade!
“With our new FileMaker database system, time-consuming tasks such as assigning volunteers parade responsibilities have been reduced from about 10 days to just one or two days, and more important, we can better meet the needs and specifications of each individual, group and staff member,” said Hall in the press release.
Future expansion of the Macy’s Parade database will involve Web-published content, including online registration for volunteer participation in the parade.
FileMaker Inc. develops award-winning database software. Its products include the legendary FileMaker Pro product line for Mac, Windows, and the Web, as well as the new Bento personal database for Mac. FileMaker Pro won 49 awards, more than its next eight competitors combined, in the past five years in the U.S. and a total of 130 awards worldwide during this time. Millions of customers, from individuals to large organizations, rely on FileMaker Inc. software to manage, analyze and share information. FileMaker Inc. is a subsidiary of Apple Inc.
@Predrag
You are right on when it comes to how Access worms it’s way into an enterprise. Full installs of Office have a way of encouraging that. Our standard workstation install does not include Access or Outlook (Notes/DWA is mandatory for company mail). Anybody who wants to move from a simple Excel DB to something relational needs to ask for appropriate software. In addition to being able to install Access we also have volume licenses for FMP and 4D, so we try to make sure that they get something that is appropriate for their needs and resources. IMO it should only end up being Access if their team has at least 2 people who already have at least moderate experience with the application who are willing to be responsible on an ongoing basis for application development and maintenance. If we are going to have newbies learning something and having that kind of responsibility for a system it will be FMP instead of Access as long as I have anything to say about it.
I purchased Filemaker at the first Boston MacWorld in 1985; I still have it (well, actually, FMP 9) on my Mac to this day. I marvel at the fact that, even after a long series of owners and developers, the software remains true to its roots — a testimony to the strength of its original design. In a review I wrote about it over 20 years ago, I described it as The Right Thing™ — an almost perfectly designed piece of software. That is still true today — few “productivity applications” are as much of a pleasure to use as Filemaker.
“. . . dumping Bea Arthur (Maude) for Evangeline Lilly (Kate from “Lost”). . .” In other words, a NO BRAINER!
Smooth move by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade back office people.
Now if only the Beijing Olympics would figure it out and dump Vista for OS X. As we have seen, China has got enough problems right now.
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
Why is this news in late May?
Good for Apple, but worthy of an off-season headline?
Next month we’ll read about Valentine’s Day logistics going with FileMaker as well….
@cubert:
I was jay(NOT Jay who still posts; but jay-little case). I’ve had a few things to say, and a lot of opinions over the last couple of years, but I doubt I raised anyone’s blood pressure too high over that time.
I like Woody Woodpecker-he’s an instigator!
confused: “Why is this news in late May?”
Why do people click on links to stories they don’t think are relevant, interesting, or important, scroll to the bottom, and post on how they don’t care for the story?
If it wasn’t worth reading in the first place, why did you click the link? if you clicked the link by mistake, why did you scroll to the bottom to post?
And more importantly, WHY DO YOU THINK WE CARE WHAT THE HELL YOU THINK?
STFU and stop wasting our time, dipshit.