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Metropolitan Taxicab Commission
A regulatory agency, overseeing vehicle-for-hire service in the metropolitan St. Louis region, manages its critical data with FileMaker Pro 7
Regulating St. Louis’ taxicab and vehicle-for-hire industry, the
Metropolitan Taxicab Commission efficiently oversees the operation
of more than one hundred licensed companies and thousands of
professional drivers. The imperative to manage critical data concerning area
employers, vehicle fleets, and drivers is chiefly focused on
enhancing safety and promoting operational efficiency. A powerful FileMaker Pro 7 database system enables the
Commission’s small staff to access, analyze, organize, and execute
various facets of their operation to the benefit of industry
members, residents, and visitors alike.
Business Challenge
The Metropolitan Taxicab Commission was created in 2003 by State
Resolution, at which time the city and county of St. Louis ceded
regulatory authority to the new agency under the terms of a new
Vehicle for Hire Code. “One of the first major issues was dealing
with the collection of data for licensing,” recalls Enforcement
Agent/IT Manager Drew Barker. “Of the various licensing activities
and functions, licensing the drivers was uppermost on the list.”
That complex process would require the collection, organization,
and storage of comprehensive data on each driver, as well as
photographs for identification purposes.
Faced with the challenge of creating a unique database system
from inception, Commission members focused on the search for an
appropriate software application. “An associate of the Commission’s
general counsel relies on FileMaker Pro to manage his family
business,” Drew continues. “He presented a demonstration advocating
the selection of FileMaker Pro for our licensing operation, which
earned the Commissioners’ endorsement; he was then hired to
undertake the development of what became our
first
FileMaker
Pro database.”
Successful Solution
The original system developed by the Commission’s associate
began with a Drivers’ Database containing information on the
licensing and documentation of individual taxicab drivers. This
database contained detailed personal information about each driver,
including a current photograph and record of performance-related
actions which affect license status. Alongside that database, another separate database documented
and tracked the holders of ‘Certificates of Convenience and
Necessity,’ the certification that authorizes a taxicab company to
operate vehicles for hire within the city and county of St. Louis.
Supplementing both main databases were two others: an Inspection
database containing data about each vehicle licensed to each
company, and an Activity database documenting the Commission’s
ongoing enforcement activities. The original system was constructed in FileMaker Pro 6, but with
the advent of FileMaker Pro 7, developer Mark Richman of Skeleton
Key oversaw the migration of the system into the new version.
“Converting the files was fairly painless,” he comments, “chiefly a
drag- and-drop procedure. There were a few minor issues concerning
the differences in FileMaker Pro 7, such as how and when records
are committed, but these were easily identified and addressed with
a careful review and testing of database functionality after
conversion. The hardest task, honestly, has been pacing ourselves
in making all of the modifications that FileMaker Pro 7's new
features allow us to explore, such as consolidating files and
enabling Windows authentication for our security model.”
Customer Benefits
In its original version, the Commission’s database system
provided effortless access to vital data, lending speed and
efficiency to what could have been tedious paper bound tasks. With
the upgrade to FileMaker Pro 7 speed and efficiency has increased
to significantly higher levels. “We’ve seen noteworthy improvements
in speed and implementation,” Drew declares. “So many new features
of FileMaker Pro 7 exceed the capabilities of FileMaker Pro 6. For
example, the maximum file size is much greater – which is very
important, since with our ever-expanding driver database was
nearing FileMaker Pro 6’s maximum capacity. As we grow, it’s
critical that our database maintains pace with that growth.” Commission Director Mike Tully adds enthusiastically, “the
transition to FileMaker 7 has facilitated our ability to extract
information for my monthly reports to the Commissioners.”
FileMaker Pro 7 also enhances development efficiency. “One
particularly useful new feature,” notes Mark, “especially
considering that we had a short timeline for performing the
conversion before making it available to the users, was the ability
for us to work on the file structure -- the tables, fields,
layouts, and relationship graph -- while the file was in use. This
allowed us to correct problems and add enhancements without having
to log out connected users, thus changes we implemented were
available to the users
as they were working
. We even
consolidated some files, migrated data among tables and edited the
relationship graph to reflect the consolidation, all in real-time,
without as much as a hiccup from the users' perspective.”
Small wonder, then, that the Commission remains fully committed
to its choice of FileMaker Pro 7. “Of course, opportunities to
consider other solutions have arisen,” Drew acknowledges, “but
we’re extremely confident with our decision: that FileMaker Pro is
the best available product to fulfill our unique needs, now and
into the future. We have carefully considered the well-established
reputation of the company and the permanence of its products, and
have evaluated the overall features and capabilities of FileMaker
Pro 7 such as its platform compatibility and expansion capacity,
and we believe that no other platform favorably compares.”
“Converting the files was fairly painless, chiefly a drag-and- drop procedure…The hardest task, honestly, has been pacing ourselves in making all of the modifications that FileMaker Pro 7's new features allow us to explore, such as consolidating files and enabling Windows authentication for our security model.”
Mark Richman, FSA Developer, Skeleton Key
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Drew Barker
Enforcement Agent/IT Manager
Metropolitan Taxicab Commission
314-241-7600
drew@stl-taxi.com
http://www.stl-taxi.com
Mark Richman
FSA Developer
Skeleton Key
314-962-8888
mark@skeletonkey.com
http://www.skeletonkey.com
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- A Missouri State Agency responsible for regulation of vehicles-for-hire throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area
- Based in St. Louis, MO
- Currently employs a staff of 8
- Government