FileMaker Support for Systems You Have Inherited

If the person who built your FileMaker system has retired, left or stopped answering, you are not stuck. Keene Systems takes over existing FileMaker systems: we learn how yours works, write it down, fix what is broken and stay available for whatever it needs next.

The single-developer problem

A great many FileMaker systems were built by one person. Sometimes it was an employee with a knack for it, sometimes an outside developer who knew the business well. Either way the system grew for years, and the full picture of how it works lives in that one person’s head.

That is fine until they are gone. Then a small problem, a report that stops printing or an import that fails, has no obvious person to call. The business keeps running on a system nobody can change.

Signs you need a new FileMaker support team

• Your FileMaker developer has retired, changed jobs or become hard to reach.
• Small requests take weeks, or never get done.
• Nobody knows the administrator password, or everybody does.
• You are not sure when the last good backup was taken.
• The system runs on a version or a server that is years out of date.
• Staff have built spreadsheets on the side because the system cannot be changed.

How a FileMaker takeover works

Taking over a system is a job in its own right, and we treat it as one. Our FileMaker Pro developers start by reading the file: tables, relationships, scripts, layouts and accounts. We note what is sound and what is fragile, and we check the things that are easy to overlook, such as whether backups are really running and who still has a password.

From there you have a team that knows the system. The first piece of work is usually the list of fixes people have been waiting on. After that we handle whatever comes up: a new report, a new field, a slow screen, an upgrade.

Three systems we took over

CitizenPath is an online service for preparing USCIS immigration forms. Its PHP website runs on a FileMaker Pro database. Our team now handles all of its development, and played a central part in getting the immigration forms onto the site.

Augustus Funeral Home is a Bermuda funeral home that tracks escrow funds for cemetery plots in FileMaker. After taking the system on, we upgraded it and relocated it to new hosting.

Professional Culinary Academy is a cooking school in Buffalo, New York. Its registration and class timetable live in a FileMaker system that we look after.

The fuller stories are on companies that use FileMaker Pro.

What FileMaker support covers

• Fixes. Errors, broken scripts, reports that have stopped working.
• Changes. New fields, layouts, reports and workflows as the business changes.
• Performance. Slow finds, slow layouts and record-locking problems.
• Server care. FileMaker Server updates, backups, security certificates and user accounts.
• Recovery. Damaged files and restores from backup.
• Upgrades. Moving to a current version of FileMaker when the time is right.

Support from us is ongoing development by the same people each time, used when you need it. There are no minimums or monthly commitments.

How we take over a FileMaker system

1. We talk it through. You tell us what the system does, who built it and what has gone wrong.
2. We secure it. We confirm that backups work and that only the right people have access.
3. We learn and document it. A certified developer works through the file and records how it fits together.
4. We clear the backlog. The fixes and small changes people have been waiting for come first.
5. We stay. The same developers are there for the next request, with no minimums or monthly commitments.

The next step is a short, no-pressure conversation. Schedule a FileMaker exploration call or use the form on this page.