Jesse FeilerAuthor / Software DirectorPhilmont Software Mill

Jesse Feiler has been developing solutions with FileMaker for more than 20 years. He is the author of several books on FileMaker, the most recent of which is "FileMaker 8 @ Work: Projects You Can Use On the Job." Read on to learn more about Jesse, including some of the interesting work that he is doing with FileMaker and OS X's Automator technology.

How did you get started in IT?
When I was in college, I studied social psychology (fortunately for the world I didn't continue in that field). We did lots of surveys and questionnaires, and my professors were mystified by computers and how to use them to tabulate the data and perform statistical calculations. I discovered I loved it much more than social psychology, and wound up working for them.


How long have you been using FileMaker, and how did you get started with it?
I got started with FileMaker back with version 2. I'd had experience with mainframe databases, and had learned a lot about structuring databases. Even though we didn't have a relational database with FileMaker until later on, I still structured my data as if it were going to be in a relational database one day. My first project was for a woman who ran a local non-profit arts organization, and my job consisted primarily of telling her that certain data items didn't belong in the database (such as personal comments).


In what ways are you using FileMaker today?
I work largely for small businesses and nonprofits. There's a lot of what they call contact management work -- but it's really running-the-business work. Each organization is different in their approach to their customers and their products. Typically, my clients are people who are computer-savvy and who already use computers in their businesses, but they feel that they're not getting the most out of their software. There are people who have built databases on the FileMaker starter solutions who see additional opportunities and who realize that they don't have the time to do the work themselves. I also frequently run into people who think their problems are enormous -- in part because they're so close to them, and in part because they can't compare them to other businesses' problems.


Tell us about your company, Philmont Software Mill / North Country Consulting. How and why did you start the company?
Until the advent of personal computers and products such as FileMaker, my work was limited to large corporations. Although I often worked on small projects, the computing horsepower and the database systems that I needed didn't exist on the desktop. In the late 1980s I saw that it would be possible to do the kinds of projects I liked in a new environment -- the desktop and the world of small business. That's how my consulting business started, and that's pretty much how it has remained.

As the desktop environment has grown in power, I find it interesting to note that small businesses now often are ahead of large corporations in their uses of technology. With the Internet and products such as FileMaker, the playing field is level on the technology side -- and I believe that small businesses have the edge in their ability to move quickly.


Over the years, you've had the opportunity to work on projects for a wide range of clients -- from small businesses to non-profit organizations. What's the most interesting or challenging project that you've worked on, and why?
This is an easy one -- Daily Banking Statistics for the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. Overnight, it collected data from the Federal Reserve offices around the country. It was downloaded to a personal computer and massaged onto a single piece of paper. At 10:00 AM, members of the Open Market Committee held a conference call to discuss it; the result of the conference call was the Fed's 11:00 AM intervention in the government securities market. These deadlines were immutable. (The 11:00 AM intervention is described quite accurately in Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities.") As you can imagine, there was little margin for error. A failure of the system could easily wind up on the front page of the newspapers here and abroad. And just to make life interesting, this was the first time personal computers were connected to the Fed's mainframe systems in a project such as this.


What do you like best about your job?
The best part is meeting interesting people. As a consultant, I find myself learning new businesses several times a year. Because my work is primarily the design and implementation of FileMaker systems, I don't have much contact with clients after the project is done, so there's a constantly changing group of people to meet.


How has being a member of the Filemaker Solutions Alliance (FSA) helped your career and company?
The access to the various information resources is invaluable. In addition, I've been using the FSA product discounts more and more with clients.


You're also an author, and have written several books over the years. The most recent is "FileMaker 8 @work." What can you tell us about the book?
The book primarily consists of 10 projects. The code can be downloaded, and the book describes the process of creating the projects. I'm able to explain not only what I've done but why I've made some of the choices I've made. The idea is that you can take the projects from the book and use them -- perhaps even without modification -- for your own purposes.

What particularly interested me about this format is that the introductory material is minimal -- we just get onto the business of creating solutions.

It's only been out a couple of months, but the feedback so far has been very positive.


Do you have any other books planned?
Yes, but unfortunately we don't talk about them until they're announced by the publisher.


You're doing some very interesting work with the OS X's Automator technology and FileMaker. Tell us a little about that.
Automator is a great tool on Mac OS X. It is built very much on AppleScript, but it provides an automation environment that is much richer than just scripting. You combine actions into workflows. The actions can come from many places -- Apple, or third-party vendors such as FileMaker.

I combined a custom solution with actions that I wrote based on the FileMaker samples and wound up automating the production of a small business. They are very seasonal, so when they go into a production cycle, they don't have a moment to spare for several months. During their production, they're working away like crazy. By providing workflows that use FileMaker actions and InDesign actions, I was able to automate the entire production line. Several people work at the same time with a variety of workflows running against a shared database.

It was a great project, and, according to the client, totally changed the way they did business.

Moving data from a FileMaker database into a program such as InDesign has been one of the mainstays of AppleScript, but I found that with Automator I could do much more sophisticated processing than I ever could with AppleScript.

I can't wait for the next Automator/FileMaker project!


In "FileMaker 8 @work" you wrote, "Over the years, FileMaker has managed to simultaneously become much more powerful and easier to use." Looking back at the various releases over the years, what do you think are the most significant changes to the product?

1. Multi-platform support (FileMaker 2, 1993)
2. Networking. This isn't really a FileMaker feature so much as a feature of personal computer technology. Without networking, we wouldn't have anything like the environment we have today.
3. Relationships (FileMaker 3, 1995)
4. Multiple tables in a single file and the relationship graph (FileMaker 7, 2004)
5. Web publishing (FileMaker 4, 1997, and the XML/XSLT architecture that we now have)


What are your favorite new features in FileMaker 8?
The copy/paste functionality in the Define Database dialog of FileMaker Pro 8 Advanced is terrific, as is the table import feature. In addition, the new tab panel control saves an enormous amount of development time.


What other features would you like to see in FileMaker in the future?
I'd like increased support for rollbacks of transactions. Also, an integrated audit trail would be fantastic.


What's your favorite tool, plugin, or technique for developing FileMaker databases?
It's a technique. Sitting with clients IN THEIR OFFICE for an introductory meeting. Even when it involves several hours of travel, it's worth it. After that, most of my work is via email or phone.

When you sit in their office, you see who's there and how they work. You hear how often the phone rings. I look at their data and their reports -- the actual data always reveals things that a summary doesn't. And you learn their vocabulary. Nothing makes it easier for a client to start using a FileMaker system than if the terminology is their own.

I've just worked on a project where a critical report is called something like Daily Summary by Customer (DSC). In all honesty, that's not what it is -- it's a summary by product. But they've been calling it the DSC for many years -- first on paper, then on a spreadsheet. In the new FileMaker solution, it's still called the Daily Summary by Customer. We all know that that's not a good title, but it's their title. This may seem trivial, but using the client's terminology is a big key to a successful project.


What advice do you have for someone that is just getting started with FileMaker?
Do a project that will succeed. The only project I resigned from was one with a rather sophisticated user. He wanted everything including the kitchen sink put into the system, and very quickly I saw that we would never make it into test mode, much less production. Limit your scope -- the goal of the project is to get done. Then, because FileMaker is so flexible, you can modify it and enhance it. But first of all, finish something.


What technology has most changed your life?
Wireless technology, including cell phones. We still haven't explored all the consequences. Right now, I'm sitting at my desk in the middle of my office. I'm facing a bay window overlooking Lake Champlain. When I say that the desk is in the middle of the office, I mean that -- it's not against any wall. I'm using my primary computer -- a laptop, and there are no cables around. There's a wireless router in the corner with a printer attached to it, and there's another computer over there.

I could rearrange my office any time I want to without worrying about cables. And if it warms up a bit, I could pick up my laptop and move it and myself out under the maple tree and still have access to everything I need (including the Internet).


What are your favorite things to do that don't involve work?
Reading and dinner with friends.

Thanks Jesse!


For more information about Jesse and his company, visit www.northcountryconsulting.com or www.philmontmill.com. And to learn more about Jesse's latest book, "FileMaker 8 @work: Projects and Techniques to Get the Job Done," click here.