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CURE International Finds Anvil Dataworks to be “Just What the Doctor Ordered”
With 10 hospitals world-wide, utilizing multiple systems, CURE International needed a better way to track its patient data so the information
could be standardized and analyzed more efficiently. They couldn’t find an off-the-shelf solution to meet their needs, so they turned to FileMaker
Pro and chose Anvil Dataworks, a FileMaker Platinum Partner, to develop the ideal solution.
“I was impressed with FileMaker’s flexibility,” said Trevor Bunch, a volunteer with CURE who managed the project. “We needed something that people at all experience levels could master and we wanted a system that was cross platform,” he added.
The Patient Records System Anvil Dataworks developed was written in FileMaker 10 and turned out to be just what the doctor ordered! The system keeps
excellent track of patient data, illness, treatment, medication, discharge instructions, social demographics, and counseling.
Thanks to this system, CURE is functioning better than ever.
Data is being easily entered and accessed by staff in all areas of their operation and both Macintosh and PC users are getting their jobs done.
Plus, several features were added to minimize the effects of any language barriers. For example, the system features visual icons to help users
navigate throughout the system. It also utilizes FileMaker 10’s new feature, script triggers. Script triggers allow systems to run scripts based
on user actions, like clicking a button or inputting data, thus automating database tasks and avoiding data entry errors.
Anvil Dataworks Certified Developer Chuck Melton developed the system for CURE in Maryland, and traveled to Honduras for onsite installation and training.
“We put a lot of thought into the system design upfront, before I ever left my office in Maryland,” explains Chuck. “This allowed me to maximize the time I spent with Trevor and his team at CURE,” he continued.
“I was glad to have chosen a certified developer like Chuck,” said Trevor. “His experience was priceless.”
The Patient Records System will be rolled out to other CURE International hospitals, with Ethiopia the next likely site. Future systems will be tweaked
to adjust to local hospital processes, but the data model across all the hospitals will remain the same. And CURE International plans to include
Anvil Dataworks in those plans, every step of the way.
Atlantic Precious Metal Resources Relies on FileMaker Pro to Keep Up with Demand
One company’s junk may be another company’s treasure. That’s what
Atlantic Precious Metal Resources (APMR), aprecious metal recycling company based in PA, has built its business on for the past 22 years. They collect metals in various states from jewelry, dental fillings, bench sweeps, carpeting, foils, and wires and break them down into pure metals of gold, silver, platinum and palladium then resell that product. While most of their processes were automated, the automation system was antiquated and required many hours of manual labor. Plus, with today’s precious metal market so volatile, determining the price to offer for the scrap as well as the price and timing at which to sell the end metal is extremely complex. The IT Manager knew that upgrading the automation software would allow them to do less with more and standardize the pricing model based on ever changing market conditions.
Anvil Dataworks came to the rescue with a plan to update an old FileMaker Pro system into a more current version. First we completed a Business Process Review, which helped the company identify the details of each process that was to become automated. After employee interviews, Anvil completed process drawings and documentation that traced the flow of metals, documents, and information from start to end between vendors, customers and employees. When the BPR was complete, everyone agreed that the most important objectives of the new system were to:
- Automate integration of data from the instruments that analyze the scrap metal
- Automate pricing of metals
- Integrate web data for clients and vendors
Once development began, we created scripted custom imports to automatically transfer data generated from a plasma spectrometer and anx-ray gun used to analyze samples directly into the FileMaker system, thus saving manual labor hours for retyping and guaranteeing weight accuracy which would impact pricing later. Second, we connected the internal FileMaker Pro system to market-driven precious metals pricing web sites to provide daily valuations of metals. With more accurate information about the raw scrap material and more accurate information about the value of the metal, the company can automatically generate pricing models in the system. Finally, we published some of the data to the web, so clients and vendors can quickly get information they need. The whole system generated a positive ROI within a short time.
"
Things are working out great with the new database. We are right in the middle of our busiest season and Jessica has been able to maintain entering more material than we've ever entered before. The importing of our scan results has saved so many hours, we have been able to keep pace with what's been coming in. Special thanks to everybody at Anvil Dataworks!" Tom M.
If your business could benefit from process automation, contact Client Services at Anvil Dataworks at 240-425-4426.
The Resource Network utilized Anvil Dataworks for systems integration.
The Resource Network system was conceived as a creative use of best-of-breed data system, at the core of which is a custom FileMaker
database used for communications and events management. This database contains more than 40,000 chronological events such as meetings,
public events, and business correspondence.
Aside from the FileMaker system, The Resource Network also requires that standard Microsoft products be employed, such as Outlook for e-mail and calendar functionality, and SQL Server to house a repository of information on every country and public figure in the world — 500 global sales regions, 4,155 country sub-units and thousands of cities and communities. Additionally, the system incorporates Salesforce.com SaaS functionality, including a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application used in managing contacts, accounts, and opportunities.
The key to the unique value that The Resource Network hoped to provide, however, lay not in the parts but in the whole.
“Our aim was to develop in FileMaker what we call ‘synergy point’ applications,” said Rick Rodgers, Managing Director. “These would connect information from all of these sources, including synchronization with Outlook e-mail and pushing information to my mobile device.”
Data connectivity would be the critical element of this synergy. It also presented the greatest challenge to making the system a reality.
The Resource Network partnered with Anvil Dataworks to assemble all of the pieces of the puzzle. “We had to exercise a great deal of creativity,” recalls Wayman Ka, Manager of Application Development at Anvil Dataworks.
With 11,200 companies, 12,300 contacts from 205 countries, and 800 opportunities in Salesforce.com, The Resource Network can today use its FileMaker synergy point applications to grid that information with geocentric information contained in its SQL Server repository as well as with the information, communication, and events management capabilities within FileMaker itself, to provide clients with a rich multi-dimensional perspective.
NIH maximizes efficiency with automated Purchase Request Tracking Solution from Anvil Dataworks
Twelve years ago the National Institutes of Health Office of Purchasing and Contracts (OPC) was using a purchasing system based on paper requisitions that were transpo
rted around the campus by courier. The system was used to order critical, time-sensitive supplies for the Clinical Center, 16 research institutes and eight components, such
as the National Library of Medicine, the Division of Computer Research and Technology. Inherently flawed, the paper system was subject to breakdown due to any small variat
ion such as bad weather or human error. Errors caused delays and delays inflated costs. The paper system had no ability to track or report requests and no accountability.
Anvil Dataworks (dba Corporate Network Services) was contracted by NIH to develop the first automated Purchase Request Tracking System (PRTS) using FileMaker v5.0. The flex
ibility of the FileMaker software allowed for input from OPC as well as the original 150 users and allowed the Anvil developers to create a system customized to the NIH nee
ds. The automated system virtually eliminated delays since forms were routed instantly and accurately. Costs were controlled and purchase requests could be tracked through
the approval and purchase process. The system allowed users to log on using a username and password protection scheme and afforded the ability to list the outstanding purch
ase requests, create new purchase requests, or in the case of approving officials, reject a purchase request. Reports can be generated by departments to track expenditures
.
Anvil Dataworks has supported the NIH PRTS system since its development, updating the software versions, adding new features and making changes to PRTS as the needs of the
users have changed. Last fall, Anvil released PRTSv2 which was developed in FileMaker v9. The data entered by individual organizations was seamlessly integrated with the le
gacy NIH Administrative Database (ADB), which tracks budgets, property, contracts, and more for all of NIH.
"The PRTS system allows NIH to track our purchases quickly and accurately," said Janice Brunson of NIH OPC. "It has saved us a great deal of time and money over its long
tenure."
In this latest version of PRTSv2, all of the order routing is based on a relational design between users and departments with customized permissions depending on the order
status and user. PRTSv2 can provide a comprehensive status log for each order, generate schedules based on initial dates, duplicate orders, calculate totals with applied di
scounts, and support unlimited documents. Support for the system includes a dynamic announcements page, issue tracker, and a screen to request new users log ons.
Through its long history with NIH Anvil Dataworks has molded the PRTS system into exactly what NIH wanted and needed. The PRTS system has grown over the years to support ov
er 800 users and process over 80,000 purchase orders.
The Strouse Corporation found new productivity with business process automation.
The Strouse Corporation has always been a champion of Filemaker systems. What began as a small, in-house development project for one workgroup slowly grew into a company-wide system that worked well for the manufacturing business, but had a lot of duplicative and disparate functions that did not create a seamless user experience. The Strouse Corporation knew that the system could do better, but they also knew they needed help to get it there. So, they called on the experts at Anvil Dataworks to migrate and re-develop their system into what it yearned to be.
The first step of the process was to examine the business processes and determine how the company functioned and where departments overlapped. Anvil Dataworks discovered that the FileMaker system was relied on for almost every aspect of the business including: CRM, production and inventory management, orders and invoicing, engineering, quality control, and estimating. This made the process examination essential as Anvil Dataworks was able to determine where each process crossed into a different business unit and provide seamless integration between business units.
At the completion of the first phase of development, The Strouse Corporation was able to complete all of their same tasks far more efficiently and accurately, without having to look in disparate systems to validate their data.
"
Our new FileMaker system lets our information flow from one group to another and allows us to access everything about a customer or order in one location.
This has increased our productivity and sped up our overall processes," said Brian Holz, Director of Operations.
The foundation Anvil Dataworks provided to The Strouse Corporation in their modernized FileMaker system has allowed both companies to begin work on a second phase of development. The scope of this phase is to add many long awaited features to the system, including:
- Business Intelligence Dashboards
- Barcode Inventory Management
- Automated International Shipping Paperwork
- Electronic Time Entry
- Web Store
- Automated Reporting
The return on investment that The Strouse Corporation realized from their initial project, along with the proven stability and expandability of the system designed by Anvil Dataworks, has allowed the company to automate and streamline their business processes. This has the benefit of increasing worker productivity and reducing processing times for orders across the board.
