FileMaker vs Excel

A COMMON QUESTION FOR FileMaker developers: How does FileMaker compare to Excel?  Probably second only to: How does FileMaker compare to Access?  Agnes Riley of ZeroBlue covered this topic a while back, and even provides an example of how some will try to make Excel do the work of a database–never a good thing:

Everyone I know is familiar with Microsoft Excel to some extent. Some people are more well-versed than others and can do complex data management. Not long ago I met with a consulting company who is working with one of the largest companies in the country to install hardware nation-wide.

Spreadsheet Icon

The original process is so cumbersome that they now have a lot of things fall through the crack. By the time an order goes through the myriads of departments and processes, the requirements change and the parts required, as well. But the warehouse doesn’t know how to handle that. So they called in a consultant to help. The consultant doesn’t know FileMaker, so they created a giant web of Excel sheets that actually do a really nice job at filling in the gaps and getting the orders straightened out. FileMaker could’ve given them reports and live dashboard so they can see which orders have mismatched elements or which orders need to be fulfilled in the near future.
Excel does well at lists and formulas, some reports, graphs, and similar types of things.  Where it is good, it’s usually great.  But it doesn’t do database well.  Kinda like pounding that square peg into a round hole.  For more detail, visit the link.

More…FileMaker vs. Excel | Zeroblue | Filemaker Info.

 

Liked Liked
Need FileMaker Development Help? Or to purchase FileMaker Software?
Contact FM Pro Gurus for help