FileMaker Refresh Program

The FileMaker Refresh Program is an initiative to execute a strategy towards refreshing a company’s Secondary Business Systems, namely those systems developed in FileMaker™. The scope of the program is to identify all current FileMaker business systems within an organisation and offer their IT departments assistance in providing their clients with ongoing Application, Support & Maintenance in a controlled and disciplined hosted environment.

The Problem

Traditionally, FileMaker has not sat comfortably within IT departments because it is not an enterprise development platform and therefore generally considered unsuitable within their Standard Operating Environment. However, the business takes a very different view as it lends itself to budget friendly, rapid application development – without having to rely upon IT for a solution.

As a consequence, there is often a proliferation of FileMaker development within the business by people who will inevitably call upon IT or Certified FileMaker professionals for help. These key people are often the single point of failure for many business units as they come to be relied upon. They become the in-house systems developer, administrator and subject matter expert, leaving the unit exposed when they move on or change role. Over the years and under the radar of IT, many of these FileMaker systems grow and are depended upon by many different work groups who use the system to work collaboratively. Often there are upstream & downstream dependencies which can have an impact on critical enterprise systems or become a critical system themselves. Because these systems are developed & supported internally by a few key individuals within the business, important IT procedures & governance issues are often overlooked. These may include: system backup regimes; business continuity planning, disaster recovery and documentation. IT has little control over this predicament even though these systems rely heavily on the infrastructure provided by them.

The refresh program includes the registration of FileMaker systems and the identification of those systems for possible consolidation, decommissioning, remediation, upgrading and/or migration to IT mainstream strategic platforms and Standard Operating Environment infrastructure. Organisations that have invited us to execute and implement the FileMaker Refresh Program include: Optus Communications, Screen Australia, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Australian Copyright Council, Demeter Laboratories, Oslo University Hospital, OzHarvest and The Music Network.

To download a copy of the FileMaker Refresh Program click here