I get it Dave! Not enough time to do what you need. I spent quite a few years developing and refining my FM files at Ithaca College. My database was different from Alan's but it worked for me. When Alan introduced his database, I was tempted to merge my data but I realized that would take too much time and stayed with mine. Perhaps there is someone at your IT department that is FM knowledgeable that could help you?
Again, I do not think that Alan completed the Guidelines formula in his last database. It is not in the current version available from the CAUT site. I figured out how to upload my FM formula database so see the attached. This is how it might look if you want to incorporate the formula into your database. That would again take time, of course. Another way you can go is to make a relationship with your database to the one I created. That would take less time to get the formula up and running.
You will note on the instructions of my Guidelines database, that there are ways to do bulk entries that will save some time. Also, there is a layout showing a couple of maintenance budget projections. These budget projections were developed by Fred Sturm when the CAUT committee produced the older version of the guidelines some years ago.
Not long before I retired from Ithaca College, I looked into what it would take to develop a web based database for CAUTs. It did not take too long to realize that it would not be me setting that up! Such a database could be very robust and work well for many techs in academia. It might even be hosted on the PTG site? Anyway, food for thought for anyone out there interested in exploring that possibility.
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[Don] [McKechnie,] [RPT]
[Piano Technician]
[
dmckech@ithaca.edu]
[Home 607.277.7112]
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-18-2024 12:42
From: Dave Conte
Subject: FileMaker Pro help
Thanks, Don.
Yes, I have been working with FM to figure this out. I actually updated to the most recent version.
I think Alan was running a 14.x version. I think mine is 19.x but was updated through Claris when I was still using the cloud version to have a team member do the data entry. There was not enough time in my or the student worker's schedule to do ancillary data input. We had input going back 10 years as it was.
I saw that Alan had a populated database for the workload, but I could not find a fillable blank or any way to auto fill the data on a blank record. I am woefully understaffed and can not spare the time to do the data entry now and student help is gone. I need a way to streamline this so I can take it to admin and try to get some staff. It's just me with 132 instruments. Alan had a few dozen instruments. He could spend time doing admin tasks.
There must be someone other than Alan that knows more than me (which is not saying much) about FMPro. I tend to break data driven and digital stuff.
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Dave Conte, RPT
Piano Technician in Residence
The University of Tennessee
College of Music
Knoxville TN
(817) 307-5656
Owner: Rocky Top Piano
Original Message:
Sent: 08-17-2024 14:44
From: Donald McKechnie
Subject: FileMaker Pro help
Hi Dave,
I just had a look at the last FileMaker version of Alan's database and it does not show a completed Guidelines inventory and workload formula. Perhaps your version has the completed formula? If you do not have the complete formula on the Guidelines layout, perhaps someone does and can share it with you. That would be the best!
If you do not get a file to share, you will have to add the fields that are missing and define the calculations. After that is completed, you will need to add all the parameters for each piano. Sorry, it is not a quick job! I have the FileMaker database for the workload formula that I developed over ten years ago. It might be helpful for you until you can integrate the formula into you database. Unfortunately, I cannot upload it with this message. For some reason I get a message that it is an unsupported file. If you want the file, let me know and I will email it to you.
Best,
Don
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[Don] [McKechnie,] [RPT]
[Piano Technician]
[dmckech@ithaca.edu]
[Home 607.277.7112]
Original Message:
Sent: 08-16-2024 09:23
From: Dave Conte
Subject: FileMaker Pro help
Hello, all.
I run FileMaker Pro desktop version (which means no support from Claris), but am by no means an expert.
Anybody know of someone who is adept at navigating and working with the database now that Alan McCoy is retired?
I need to populate some data to generate the Workload report as outlined in the CAUT "Guidelines".
There is no time available to manually input the data so I need to know how to populate it from my database.
Thanks for any help.
Dave
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Dave Conte, RPT
Piano Technician in Residence
The University of Tennessee
College of Music
Knoxville TN
(817) 307-5656
Owner: Rocky Top Piano
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