Approach Database and PSM

[David ilvedson]

List,

I've heard this from Gregg before and although Piano Service 
Manager is everything "I've" needed in a database/scheduler for 
my customers, it made me wonder just what do other piano 
technicians want from a database for their business?  Please 
respond with your wish list.

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA

Gregg Newell wrote: 
"That program was never really what I needed in the first place 
and ,I believe, grossly overpriced." 
> 
> I'm sorry PSM didn't suit your needs as well as you hoped. I worked 
> very hard on it to make it as widely useful as possible. It's still used
> by quite a few technicians and continues to sell well. It runs fine on
> DOS, Win 3.1, Windows 9x or Macintosh/RealPC. A free demo version is
> available at our web site. Its the only program of its kind I know of
> with 800 number support.
> 
> While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, I would take issue with
> your assertion that it was overpriced. Frankly, for the amount of time I
> put into the project and the number of copies I sold I would have been
> better off to just tune pianos. The market is very small in our field,
> necessitating that complex specialized software be priced higher than
> say a program like Microsoft Word which will sell tens of millions of
> copies.
> 
> I have close to 1000 hours of programming and beta testing in the program.
> At least several hundred hours have been spent by Marty and I over the
> years helping "newbie" computer users who simply didn't have a clue what
> they were doing use PSM or their computer. The amount of support time
> required by a program of this type is enormous.
> 
> I'm not really complaining, and not sorry I wrote PSM. The programming
> expertise I gained with PSM and other programs gave me the skills to
> write RCT, which is very successful.
> 
> >Now the only reason I won't have what I need is if I didn't create it
> >correctly. 
> >	I have already opened all the database files in both Approach and in
> >FileMaker Pro so I know it's possible. I guess the step now is to create
> >a form to import all the info into. PSM does split up the info into more
> >than one database as you so intelligently suggest. I did not find a file
> >that showed the main screen or form which opens 3 databases initially.
> >They are customer, piano, and schedule (this last one alternates with
> >the invoice database). These are all tiled on screen at the same time one
> >above the other. This is the view I wish to create for my wife ( at
> >least initially). I will sit through the tutorials but that is a little
> >like asking directions when we're lost isn't it? :>) 
> 
> I hope you are successful in this. Filemaker Pro is a great program. I
> did not know that it could even read dBase 3+ or Clipper (PSM) files. I 
> would be very interested in helping you in this project. I'd love to
> see a set of Filemaker Pro templates which could be used in Windows.
> 
> You may even rediscover why I've had to charge what I did for PSM. It
> takes lots of time and expertise to set up the user interface,the screens
> and relationships.
> 
> I've thought many times of writing a Windows 9x and Macintosh version of
> PSM but the market size for that niche product didn't make it worth while
> in the last few years and it doesn't seem to me that it is worth it now
> either. I'm going to reevaluate this later this year. If anyone has 
> comments on this feel free to email me privately. I would have to almost
> completely rewrite the program.
> 
> Maybe programs such as Filemaker Pro will eventually make specialized
> database programs such as PSM obsolete. That would be fine with me!
> However there are large numbers of users who are simply not as computer
> savvy as you and can't set this up.
> 
> -Dean
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  Dean L. Reyburn, RPT      RPS, Inc.          email:  dean@reyburn.com
>  2695 Indian Lakes Road                      web page: www.reyburn.com
>  Cedar Springs, Michigan, 49319 USA
>  1-888-SOFT-440 (or 616-696-1002)                    Fax: 616-696-8121
> 
> 
> 
> 
David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA
ilvey@jps.net