Customer stories


Ben Levitan

Industry standards representative for a major cellphone service provider uses FileMaker Pro to keep track of vital project data

 Ben Levitan is a man on the move. Representing his employer at meetings where standards for his industry are drafted and adopted, he's got stacks of information to collate, to manage, and to organize. And he does it all with FileMaker Pro, the award winning database software application for FileMaker, Inc.


Business challenges

 Once a month, somewhere in the world, representatives of the leading cellular telephone service industry gather to discuss the standards that will govern the operation of their networks. Whether it's the issue of number portability or the latest wrinkles in cellphone technology, these meetings require a great deal of preparation.

Ben Levitan understands that. He represents Nextel at these meetings, and he shows up with plenty of documentation to support his proposals. "Of course, each participant's ideas are developed to minimize cost to their own company and maximize benefits,” he notes. "In the cellular phone industry some proposed designs will require my company to make major changes, and some will require few. This is decided by reviewing hundreds of documents a month. At any given time there may be more than 100 projects underway dealing with such issues as picture phones, enhanced 911 access, wireless websurfing and international roaming.”


Successful solution

 "I use FileMaker Pro for hours every day,” Ben declares. "Documents are dumped onto a server at the start of each meeting, perhaps up to 500 at a time. My FileMaker Pro systems allow me to simply download all the documents on the server with one click and in seconds present me with a report on the titles. I can quickly filter the documents and decide which ones I need to read immediately and which ones can wait. And one more click opens the document itself—whatever the format—so I can read it on the spot.”

Ben designed his system specifically for his own needs, and he estimates that it's made up of more than 300 database files, all interrelated, including files for documents, completed standards, acronyms, and contacts, along with web page generators. "This couldn't be done without FileMaker Pro,” he maintains.

"Even better, when I need a new report or need to add new factors or view data from a different perspective, it takes me only minutes to modify my databases or create new related one, right there on the spot, by myself.”


"With FileMaker Pro 7, I can find all the people related to a single zip code without carrying unnecessary fields through multiple databases."

Ben Levitan, industry standards representative, Nextel


Customer benefits

 The enhanced relational features of FileMaker Pro 7 will make Ben's system even more effective. "Contact databases are a great example,” he explains. "All my databases are centered around people, each with a name, but I use a number to track them. Now I can relate their name to an address, and I can also relate their address to a zip code. In earlier versions of FileMaker Pro I had to carry the person's database number to the address database or carry the zip code to the person's database account. And that might require a workaround because some people have multiple addresses. But not any more. With FileMaker Pro 7, I can find all the people related to a single zip code without carrying unnecessary fields through multiple databases.”

Ben's looking forward to using the other new features of FileMaker Pro 7, especially Custom Web Publishing. "It's so exciting now,” he concludes. " With FileMaker Pro 7, I feel like a kid in a candy store.”



Contact information

Contact Info for Customer:

Ben Levitan
Industry Standards Representative
Nextel
703-856-3222
ben.levitan@nextel.com
http://www.nextel.com


Filemaker Contact:

Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com


Overview
  • Represents Nextel in cellular telephone industry standards meetings
  • Based in Raleigh, NC
  • http://www.nextel.com
Industry
  • High Technology
  • Small Business
Solutions
  • Fully searchable and fully interrelated data and project management
  • Report generation
  • Contact database management
Benefits
  • Simplies meeting preparation by rapid access to necessary documentation