FileMaker DevCon backstages – Day 3

Day 3 at the FileMaker DevCon divided in 5 sessions:

• Session 1: Brillant FileMaker Integration Solutions
• Session 2: The power of Bidirectional Relationships
• Session 3: FileMaker as a powerful ERP Solution
• Session 4: FileMaker Security in the Enterprise
• Session 5: FileMaker on iOS and External accessories

Session 1: Brillant FileMaker Integration Solutions

In this session we saw several solutions that show the power of FileMaker in concert with other software like Wordpress for web sites, Quickbooks accounting, Slack for messaging, Mailchimp for email, wooCommerce for ecommerce, Amazon Web Services for document storage, Basecamp for project communication and Strip for credit card processing. Discussions included

• Custom fmignite implementation case studies in different industries including creative services, manufacturing and art gallery
• Brilliant SYNC integration for ecommerce web site and form submission, making it easy for wordpress and FileMaker to talk to each other.
• Health care and medical case studies with an overview of HIPAA security standards for keeping ptient information private with complete integration with FileMaker

The discussion also focused on ways to connect FileMaker to the web

• FileMaker web direct is really suggested for internal use and not for wide open internet use
• FileMaker API for PHP better suited for large web intergration
• Simple FM

This session was very informative and showed how FileMaker can integrate with external software.

Session 2: The power of Bidirectional Relationships

This session focused on bidirectional relationships and the power inside FileMaker Pro.  It showed how most solution did not take advantage of this feature. We learned how to develop faster and how to get better performance to achieve the smaller and simpler graphs, and how to change existing graphs to utilize the bi-directional relationships and understand how relationships between tables are used. We saw how to pull data down to a portal and also how to change the relationship using the same tables and push data down making it bidirectional.

Session 3: FileMaker as a powerful ERP Solution

When FileMaker is combined with power of the synergize plugin, you really can push FileMaker into those areas where the market is dominated by SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, NET Suit Sage and many others. They showed how the Synergize Apps for FileMaker, web and all mobile platforms can give the edge needed. The advantages of creating your own ERP solution as opposed to using cloud based systems.  This was a session I was looking forward to because of GTI’s involvement in building our own ERP system called total manager. The synergize plug in is able to send data to a web page that mirrors the ERP system, while enabling to build on the fly dashboards that are user configurable.  The use of Synergize helps eliminate the use of many relationship graphs in the ERP system and speeds performance up dramatically.  This was very impressive!

Session 4: FileMaker Security in the Enterprise

This session is probably one of the most important topics to cover because security is a big concern and FileMaker has made huge strides in this sector because FileMaker is gaining ground in the enterprise space. In the session, we explored summary of mistakes and successes experienced developing and deploying FileMaker in the defense sector over a three year period with a focus on focus on how to meet information assurance and other compliance requirements. We focused on how to enable encryption at Rest on enterprise solutions.  We took a FileMaker solution and encrypted it to show how secure it was. We talked about Threat, Vulnerability, and impact.  The threat factor can not only be electronic but also physical to the data center so we talked ways to secure server rooms and data centers. We also covered going through risk assessment. (See Triad Picture) After FileMaker 13 they enables encryption security at REST and this made FileMaker usable to store sensitive information.  In the demonstration, they took FM starting point a free solution offered by Richard Carlton Consulting and used the tools within FileMaker to turn on encryption so the solution stays secure.  The presenter used the developer tools within FileMaker to fully encrypt the database

Session 5: FileMaker on iOS and External accessories

This session Alexey Dubov shows his app FM Linea available in the app store to explore ways to connect external devices like barcode readers, and the internal camera as a barcode reader, connect printers using airprint technology, and how to use touch ID.  Type of accessories to connect to iOS devices like:

• Barcode readers
• Magnet card readers
• RFID readers
• GPS systems
• Bluetooth devices
• Pinpads keyboards

The picture shows ways to use RFID with many items in the box and with one count and scan multiple items with one scan.  This session demonstrated other ways FileMaker is used on mobile devices and external accessories, very informative. Simon Elkrief, Vice President of Business Development