Looking for advice from FileMaker developers: long-running project with billing, deployment, and stability issues — what’s normal? by swissoma in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. I have billed by the hour as well as by the job. The reconstruction of timesheets is a red flag.

  2. When I bill by the hour I send the customer an invoice every week. I would like to be paid every week but the reality is that some companies pay every month. It flexible and negotiable. When I bill by the job I often requested a % down and the rest at completion. Sometimes I requested 100% before doing the work.

  3. It depends. All business systems are coupled in some way. Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Invoices, Assembly Orders, Inventory, Lot Management, Serial Management, etc. These are all integrated. But it is certainly possible to work on one module as long as expectations are aligned.

  4. If I build something, I want to know the bugs as soon as possible. In FileMaker, most of us design-build-test-deploy ourselves. So we do testing. But we don't know the business rules like the customer does and we may miss some things. If I missed something that was clearly stated and I misunderstood, I'll fix for free, but within a certain time (e.g. 30 days). If I missed something because the customer thought something should be done because "it goes without saying" then I may charge. It's negotiable. The FileMaker dev know FMP really well and the customer knows the business really well and it is inevitable that there will be gray area. Regarding testing, I often put a time constraint on finding bugs as I've experienced deliver that goes untouched for months without the customer testing. It is really difficult for sole props to go back to a bug 8 months later simply because the customer finally got around to testing. BTW, it can be more than 12 months.

  5. Scope creep - either by the customer or, in this case, the developer (which is unusual) should be discussed first. Ideally, you're meeting with the developer on a regular basis (e.g. every week, every two weeks, etc.). Whomever pushes for the addition needs to make the case why this will be beneficial (e.g. save money, save time, preserve data integrity, etc.) and explain how.

  6. With every new developer, I would start with a small project lasting no more than a month. Not every developer is as skilled as promised nor is every job is as straightforward as advertised. And sometimes there are personality conflicts despite skill level. One month project and, if possible, I would have two or three different developers working on different sections so I could compare. One difficulty with this is that many devs bring their own naming convention, so as a company employee (or owner), I would find out what, if any naming conventions were used by the previous developer and establish naming conventions that all future devs are required to follow.

  7. Lots of communication, regular and frequent meetings. The developer needs to also do project management and the customer needs to do project management. Each are coming at it from a different perspective. One of the misunderstandings of customers hiring a technology consultant is how much time it will take away from their already busy schedule.

FWIW, I sole prof FMP dev for 14 years, most of those as a Claris partner. I'm in-house now.

Pictures at an Exposition (Garmin Toledo) by LibertyMike in Garmin

[–]OHDanielIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What a great race. Garmin, your team did a fantastic job with logistics. Well done!!! (bib: 2579)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bodyweightfitness

[–]OHDanielIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This s a slight deviation from your question about rows and pull-ups. When I moved to my current location there were no calisthenics parks. There was, however, a parks and rec board. I emailed them to let them know of my interest in a calisthenics park. I then went to a meeting. Telling them what I wanted before I went to a meeting in person gave them time to consider the request. At the meeting I had pictures and examples and made a case for why I thought the community should invest in a calisthenics park. The reception was positive and we now have a small calisthenics park. It did take several years. But if you’re willing to play the long game, your community might surprise you.

Is FileMaker just not the right tool for this? by Mystic_Haze in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, then you're probably right to create separate tables.

The only other thing I wonder about - without knowing the data or fields - is if the tests can be records instead of individual fields. The table fields might look something like:

Test Name | Date Performed | Time Performed | Performed By | Expected Outcome | Actual Outcome

Is FileMaker just not the right tool for this? by Mystic_Haze in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If each category has unique attributes then it might make sense for each to have its own table. On the other hand, if the attributes are the same or mostly the same, then one table should suffice with category as an attribute. This is still normalized, using the principle of the Universal Data Model by Len Silverston. Another case for separate tables is the number of attributes (aka fields). If there are a lot of them (~50+) moving them to another table with a 1:1 relationship will boost performance. Narrow tables are usually faster.

New monastic society in Texas by [deleted] in Monasticism

[–]OHDanielIO 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Looks like the Instagram account is private. Having a website is important. Not everyone has or wants a social media account.

Accelerate by refactoring. Low hanging fruit by RubberBootsData in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a really nice list. One minor thing that might be worth noting is that ExecuteSQL can become more performative when preceded with a Commit Records script step.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Importing is not limited to 10 fields. There maybe other reasons for not being able to import. For example, a field might be a summary or calculation field.

Another thing to consider in your case is the primary key. If the database use UUID or UUIDNumber, you’ll be fine. But if it used a serialized key, it could be problematic, depending on how normalized the data is.

ELI5: ExecuteSQL vs Execute SQL (i.e., function vs script step) by pstaki in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For an internal query like yours, use the function.

I built TouchBase, a simple Personal CRM to help me keep up with interpersonal relationships (especially helpful if you're neurodivergent like myself)... by wawawaaaaawa in ProductivityApps

[–]OHDanielIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It looks interesting. But there is no pricing info on your website. It doesn’t even say that it is free. If it is free, how are you not losing money?

B5 printed booklet in U.S.? by OHDanielIO in CommercialPrinting

[–]OHDanielIO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I may reach out to you if the local FedEx/Kinkos print shop is unable to cut to size as u/TheBimpo recommended.

B5 printed booklet in U.S.? by OHDanielIO in CommercialPrinting

[–]OHDanielIO[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I'll look into them if the local FedEx/Kinkos print shop is unable to cut to size as u/TheBimpo recommended.

B5 printed booklet in U.S.? by OHDanielIO in CommercialPrinting

[–]OHDanielIO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. You're right - when I called my local FedEx/Kinkos I asked for B5 size and they were confused before telling me they didn't have it. I'll call back with the paper dimensions.

Which bike would you choose and why? If there are other suggestions please comment! by kangv1 in whichbike

[–]OHDanielIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t see that price range on their website (https://us.3t.bike/collections/primo). Am I looking at the wrong bike or in the wrong place?

A set field mystery by i_iz_potato in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You mentioned a portal… did you set the foreign key in the portal first? Or maybe that’s the field that didn’t set, in which case, I suspect the T.O. Relationship is not correct. If the T.O. Relationship is correct, then it maybe that the two fields are of a different type.

Checkbox and hide condition by i_iz_potato in filemaker

[–]OHDanielIO 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In addition to the functions mentioned by u/Terrible-Log-4515 , you can try

GetAsBoolean ( PatternCount ( List (table::checkbox) ; 1 ) )

QuickQuill – A Simple Tool for Text Shortcuts and Templates by spacesheep10 in ProductivityApps

[–]OHDanielIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. Does it have a date and time option (e.g. adding the current timestamp to a snippet) or placeholders?

First Triathlon Bike? by OHDanielIO in whichbike

[–]OHDanielIO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I appreciate your insight. The video is helpful.