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In his book Databases: A Beginner's Guide, database expert Andrew Oppel writes, "A database is a collection of interrelated data items that are managed as a single unit." The presence of relationships between data items allows an organization to sort, retrieve, and manipulate large amounts of data in ways that aren't possible in data stores lacking structured, explicit relationships. Since FileMaker Pro is a DBMS, it might be helpful at this point to introduce basic definitions of database and database management systems. For an overview of all discount and donation options, see FileMaker's Product Donations page.
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FileMaker also manages a Nonprofit Volume Licensing Program that offers discounts of 40% to nonprofits purchasing five or more software licenses. Aside from the two discounted products in the TechSoup catalog, FileMaker also offers full product donations that nonprofits can apply for through Gifts in Kind International. Recognizing this, FileMaker, Inc., offers several low-cost options to nonprofits. Therefore, proprietary DBMSs are often priced beyond the budget of many nonprofits and libraries. If your present systems are causing frustrations like these, it might be time to consider FileMaker Pro, a database management system (DBMS) that allows you to create your own databases define all your databases’ fields and tables define the attributes of these entities and declare the relationships between them create the default forms and reports that guide data input and data retrieval to and from your database create secure web interfaces to your databases (to choose a few examples, FileMaker Pro provides templates to help you create event registration forms, surveys, and feedback forms) track key data metrics and communicate about them with colleagues, funders, and other stakeholders using standard and custom reports.įor the most part, database applications are complex, robust, and difficult to develop. Databases, Organize and Manage Data, Databaseĭoes your organization maintain several database systems, each built by a different vendor, consultant, or employee? Do these systems communicate poorly with one another, or not at all? If an active supporter's address changes, does someone have to log on to the member management system, the donor management system, and the volunteer management system to update each one separately? Do you have multiple applications all sharing access to the same data? Are you collecting mountains of data in multiple systems but finding it difficult to extract aggregate, summary information you can use to inform your organization's decisions?
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