In-Depth: FileMaker Go and iPad scores big for AEC Industry

A few weeks ago Apple subsidiary, FileMaker, Inc., called to ask if they could show us their latest database software applications. Now we have been covering this company’s award-winning workgroup database software for years but this was the first time they called with this kind of enthusiasm. So what was all the excitement about?

The iPad of course!

Well…not precisely Apple’s popular tablet computer but the way in which developers and businesses are discovering that FileMaker’s database software tools offer them amazing ways to utilize the iPad (and the iPhone too) within industries with field-based services–particularly Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC).

FileMaker Number One in World

While many people know of database software companies like Oracle what few people realize is that Apple’s database software subsidiary, FileMaker, is a worldwide leader. FileMaker is the number one database software on the Mac OS X platform, the number one cross-platform (Mac/Windows) database software, and the number one database software on tablet computers worldwide. It is also the number two database software worldwide on the Windows platform, behind Microsoft’s own Access. The company actually sells more copies of FileMaker Pro on the Windows platform.

From this combined perspective FileMaker is number one in the world.

It has long been the case that FileMaker Pro has been a popular workgroup database tool within the AEC industry, particularly popular with architectural practices because the database tool offers programming simplicity, graphical presentation flexibility and excellence, and works seamlessly with both Windows and Mac computers.

(Architosh conducted an AEC industry software use report in 2002 and found that FileMaker Pro was the dominant database used by all AEC firms in the study with 20 or more employees, capturing nearly 70 percent usage. All firms over 20 employees in the study used a database application. Click here to learn more.)

A Sweet Spot for AEC

While FileMaker is used by most AEC firms, the big news these days is that the company’s FileMaker Go, an Apple iOS application running on both iPad and iPhone, plays a unique story for mobile application development. And with the iPad device being heavily adopted by AEC professionals–particularly on the construction and facilities side–the merger of iPad and FileMaker and FileMaker Go is hitting a sweet spot for these field-based industries.

Both architects and engineers are bringing iPads onto the construction site to tote their drawings and 3D models around with them. Contractors are using the iPad as a drawings and specifications storage device, as well as using it for field-conditions tracking and document markup. And now from the suppliers side of the equation AEC manufacturers are using iPads armed with mobile databases to solve particular data-heavy workflow needs in the field, better servicing the design-building delivery cycle.

Next page: Case Study – Looking at AEC Manufacturer Johnson Controls

Case Study: Johnson Controls

Ryan Rosenberg, VP of Marketing and Services, FileMaker, Inc., said:  “The Apple iPad is the perfect clipboard replacement.” Walk around any construction site today, or in the past, and you will undoubtedly see hard-hat professionals carrying around clip-boards. They are everywhere on construction sites. They get stationed within rooms in buildings, lined up in series within construction trailers, and carried around on the front seats of pickup trucks.

Yet the iPad device can replace all of these and hold both archived, new and live streaming data if need be, making information accessibility far more useful and expedient for building professionals. But how and what is the best tool (or tools) to do this with?

In steps the iPad with FileMaker Go.

Kevin Mallon, Sr. Public Relations Manager, FileMaker, Inc., noted, “people are looking at process improvement, project management and inventory works–all businesses where process automation and paper replacement is an ongoing priority.” “FileMaker Pro Go is a fantastic way for solving these types of problems for businesses and industry,” he continues.

Take the case of Johnson Controls, a Global 500 company with over 142,000 employees worldwide, and an industry leader in the AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) market. When Johnson Controls needed a mobile field solution to help them audit facility lighting systems they turned to the Apple iPad and FileMaker.

“People are finding FileMaker to help them create custom business software solutions for the iPad,” said Rosenberg. “That’s exactly what Johnson Controls did when they turned to Sterling Rouse, Developer at 360Works.”

Why Build From Scratch?

Sterling was already hard at work on an Objective-C based application for the iPad solution Johnson Controls envisioned when FileMaker announced Filemaker Go. The moment FileMaker announced their mobile solution he knew it was the direction to go. “Even if we were equally proficient at Objective-C development we would still make that choice,” said Sterling. “FileMaker is designed to be a rapid application development platform, which means that development is inherently much faster than it would be in Objective-C.”

AEC manufacturers, constructors and consulting professionals produce, document and carry mountains of data with them. Johnson Controls needed a way to accurately audit lighting systems in buildings. They needed a field solution and they needed to eliminate a time-consuming paperwork system.

“Developing for FileMaker Go is no different than developing for FileMaker, other than the fact you have to consider the form factor when building layouts for the iPad,” remarked Sterling. And the desktop database solutions you have already created can be opened up in FileMaker Go 1.2 on the iPad and iPhone with minimal alterations. Kevin Mallon noted that FileMaker Go is essentially the entire FileMaker code written from the ground up for the iOS platform. So it is fast and essentially brings the same FileMaker Pro that customers love on the desktop to the iPad.

Next page: Details and Top Five Uses for Architects with FileMaker Go 1.2 and iPad

FileMaker Go 1.2 Details

FileMaker Go 1.2 offers new features very useful to field workers. For starters, version 1.2 adds the ability to view charts if you are using FileMaker Pro 11 on the desktop or server. These are ideal for viewing bar, line, area and pie charts. What are the possible uses for AEC pros? Here are some…

Architects can visualize building program (brief) areas for new and existing structures using bar or area diagrams. Builders can use line and bar charts for construction scheduling charts. And AEC manufacturers can use pie charts to indicate energy use or savings summaries between various products.

Version 1.2 also now supports signature captures. This means “sign-offs” in the field. Capture the signature of an iPad user directly into a signature field in FileMaker Go or a hosted solution back at the office on FileMaker Server. This has myriad users in AEC.

Finally version 1.2 now supports printing via Apple’s new AirPrint technology. Now architects can print Architectural Supplemental Instructions (ASIs) and RFI’s forms directly in the field for the general contractor. Of course there are many options and uses for this.

Top Five Uses for Architects with FileMaker Go 1.2

Architects have been using FileMaker databases for years in practices around the world. But here are Top Five uses for using FileMaker Go 1.2 on iPads in the field:

• Building Program Audit Forms – Renovation work is growing in a sustainable culture that makes good re-use out of existing structures. Architects need a way to capture existing building information room-by-room, for new building programming and for quantifying data for engineering and building design.
• Issue ASI and RFI Forms – Architects often need to issue revised or supplemental instructions to contractors during construction that are both non-graphic and net neutral on the building’s cost–thus no need for a change order form! Architect’s supplemental instructions can be quickly generated during field visits and printed on site from the iPad. Likewise, both contractors and architects issue to each other request for information forms (RFIs) during construction. These too can be managed entirely with FileMaker and managed and created using iPads and FileMaker Go 1.2
• Capture Existing Conditions Photo Surveys – Using the iPad’s built in camera, you can take pictures and assign them to database records in FileMaker Go 1.2.
• Field Notes – Architects can take field notes during site visits directly in FileMaker Go 1.2 and (as noted above) take pictures to go along with those notes.
• Room Finishes and Equipment – Architects can carry with them complete room finishes and equipment schedule information inside FileMaker Go 1.2 and using portals and Web viewers access URLs to Web site data while in the field attending OAC (owner, architect, client) meetings.

In essence, with the Apple iPad an architect can bring everything he needs into the field, including his drawings and his consultant’s drawings using Apple’s amazing tablet computer. And using FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go software he can also better manage, visualize and control critical project data in real time while on the go.