Hi I have tried many different ways to keep my customer database. I started out with the usual 2 boxes of 4X6 cards. In 1985, my first computer database was on a floppy based PC using PFS File, a flat file database. It worked fine until the floppy started to fill up. I then used Q&A, another flat file database on my first PC with a hard drive. I used this for some time. My next system was with Microsoft Access. I used a relational database system with this. I also bought Ken Hales PianoDB and tried that with Access. PianoDB just did not fit my needs, so I went back to MS Access alone, tweaked a bit more to my liking. I eventually started to hate Access because it was so hard to customize/troubleshoot without a LOT of reading of manuals. Very frustrating. I also have a very low opinion of the Microsoft product activation method.. I started looking for something else. I tried Time&Chaos but it was just too klunky for me, no matter how much I tweaked it. I eventually settled in with Filemaker Pro. I love this program! It is easy to learn and set up. Tweaking to ones liking is very easy compared to other databases I have used. The install CD contains both the PC and Mac versions. I use Filemaker Pro 8.5 as a flat file database. For each customer I have the usual info plus a place to have a photo of each piano. I take a picture with my cell phone of every piano I tune, and send it to my iBook using bluetooth. I can then import it into my customers file with two clicks on my laptop.That whole process takes about one minute. I have over 1200 customers in my database, so a picture can help a lot to remind me who the customer may be. Like any good database I can search for any combo of information.. like "Kawai RX-2s last tuned 1 year ago in Anytown..." Filemaker has a Pocket PC version that I used for a while which links with the desktop version to enable me to have another means of access to customer info. It is great if you just want to have a mobile version of your database.. I would not recommend it as a method of data entry. For reference only it is good. Since I always have my laptop with me I decided having the same info on my PocketPC was overkill. I stopped using the PocketPC version. I carry my laptop in my toolkit and enter the customers info onsite. This works best for me. I try to keep this system as simple as possible. I make invoices by hand, and track my income through my appointment book/ledger. If you buy Filemaker online you get a productivity package that includes some invoice templates that you can modify if you want. I can not imagine carrying a printer into a customers house. My toolkit is too full already. I use a postcard system to remind my customers of their next time for a tuning. I can export the relevant info each month into a mail-merge file, open it up in another program on my Mac called SOHO Labels and Envelopes and print my "last date tuned" info and customer address on my custom postcards. I made a simple web page with a screenshot of my database and a sample merged postcard http://neesium.com/database/ Michael Musial RPT Vacaville, CA _________________________________________________________________ Get in the mood for Valentine's Day. View photos, recipes and more on your Live.com page. http://www.live.com/?addTemplate=ValentinesDay&ocid=T001MSN30A0701
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