Week 11: Database (muddy)

Database software is not my favorite to work with.  To be honest, it seems a bit out of date.  When I was working with Filemaker Pro, I just didn't enjoy the entire process.  I appreciated professor Olson going in-depth with the tutorials, and it made a lot more sense in that regard.

I don't think that the features were too hard to get down, but the overall process was a tad tedious.  I feel that it was important to learn more about database software, but since I will be dealing with a more presentation-oriented career, I may be a tad bias.

I liked the organization factor of using this software.  When watching the lectures that professor Olson presented, I felt like this type of information was going to be a lot more enjoyable to work with than Excel.  To be honest, they were very similar and maybe that is one of the main reasons I didn't do as well in comprehending the software.  Even though I felt this way, I wanted to research and see if anyone else had any negative views on the program.  It seems I was not the only one.  This website Click Here, illustrated a numerous amount of pros/cons and it made me realize that these programs are becoming a lot less used than ever before.  Hopefully there will be some improvements in the user friendliness in the future of designing database programs.

For a more in-depth blog on my experience with the database project, please view my previous blog posts.

Database Project: Filemaker Pro (Clear)

I have to say I was a little afraid of this project, but after going through professor Olson's steps, it was a lot easier to understand.  I liked the hands-on approach from using Filemaker Pro and appreciated its simplicity after obtaining further knowledge through more usage.  I have heard that Filemaker is not as helpful or user friendly as Access, but I didn't see the huge issue in its services.

I liked how you could categorize all the people by their county in which they lived.  This was a lot more professional looking and I thought it was helpful in organizing all that data.  The find options were a little strange and I wish those would be more easy to work with.  The sort button has to be the best thing about Filemaker Pro.  You can analyze a lot of data by the simple click of the mouse.  Picking the way you want to organize it was also a really helpful factor.

Before I took ISM 3004, I had no idea that database software like this was even used or existed before.  I have heard of Access (but didn't know anything about it), but since becoming a proud macbook user last year, I knew I had to adapt to using a program I was unfamiliar with.  But that is indeed the reason we as students take courses like this.  I look forward to more hands on projects, considering I struggled with Excel as much as I did.  Being able to manage your employees, salaries, even the dates a customer quits using your facility, is really important information to know as a hopeful future business person.

After completing the scavenger hunt, I viewed this video.  It helped me get a quick understanding of how to operate through Filemaker Pro more effectively, and perhaps it can help you guys use this software more effectively in the future as well.

Thanks for reading everyone.  Have a great weekend.