Drake’s in-house marketing and communications department uses FileMaker to track their jobs, budgets, production schedules, personal tasks, and administrative duties. Calling their system MCOPS, for “Marketing and Communication Online Production System”, they were running MCOPS on FileMaker 5.5 and were looking to upgrade and improve their system. We rebuilt the underlying architecture, added a dashboard for each user, and designed a new user interface for a better overall user experience.

The Challenge

Drake University’s marketing & communications department needed a faster FileMaker system that could better support their department’s workflow.

The Solution

Their solution was comprehensive and multi-faceted. In short order, we:

• Upgraded their system from FileMaker 5.5 to the latest version of FileMaker
• Rebuilt the underlying architecture
• Added a personal dashboard for users to see current projects and tasks
• Redesigned the interface
• Added a document management system to allow documents to be stored for jobs
• Added a Request of Quotation system to better integrate processes

To ensure a smooth transition to the new system, we rolled it out in two phases. First, we consolidated their individual files on their FileMaker 5.5 server into a single file in their new FileMaker Server. We also added user logins and a Notes module. The exciting second phase implemented the new interface as well as the personal dashboard.

Excited about the capabilities of FileMaker moving forward, a short time later Drake sent two marketing department employees to the FileMaker Developer Conference.

The Results

Overall, their new FileMaker system fosters a more efficient workplace. Specifically, their system is now much faster and more stable thanks to the upgrade and redeveloped underlying code. All this happens while users more easily track projects through their new dashboard and the redesigned interface makes the system easy to learn and enjoyable to use.

The streamlined processes and new interface provide a rock-solid foundation for future FileMaker improvements.