Customer stories


AT Experts

Developer of FileMaker Pro-based project management applications enhances successful product line with innovative FileMaker Pro 8 features

Creators of powerful project management solutions for both corporate and individual users, AT Experts of Embrun, Ontario are long-term specialists in FileMaker Pro-based applications. AT Experts' line of products are valued by a wide range of corporate users, including Bell Canada, BCE Emergis, Bell Security Solutions Inc., and Nortel Networks. Individual users of AT Experts products can be found in such organizations as the Canadian Government, Canada Post, IBM, CGI, and Entrust Technologies. And now, with the advent of FileMaker Pro 8, AT Experts plans on making its products even more valuable to their users.


Business Challenge

No product ever maintained a faithful user base by simply staying put . The key to success in software development is not simply to meet the immediate needs of end users – but also to anticipate their future needs. For AT Experts, the emphasis is on meeting the demands of tomorrow's users today – while at the same time enhancing user-friendly product features, and striving for the perfect balance of usability and scalability. And for AT Experts, that goal finds a perfect match in the ever-evolving capabilities of the new FileMaker Pro 8. "We've used and developed in every version of FileMaker since 1.0," says company president Terry Billingsley. "FileMaker Inc. has been listening to the development community, and this comes through in FileMaker Pro 8."


Successful Solution

The AT Experts family of FileMaker Pro-based products is focused on two markets - corporate and individual users. One corporate product marketed to large-scale clients is Time To Information, a modular, web-and-desktop project management tool designed to supplant Microsoft Project. It can be used in any corporate setting, remains fully compatible with data created in Microsoft Project, and provides any answer to any project-related question within 3 mouse clicks.

Another large-scale product is ReserveIT, a specialized tool designed to help users organize the process of reserving laboratories, equipment, or meeting rooms in a large corporate setting. ReserveIT is 100 percent web-based, with recurring transactions, complete trails, and comprehensive reporting and administrative features. It also ships in two languages - English and French.

BEATS - the Business Employee Absence Tracking System – is a powerful database which documents worker absenteeism. It functions from both the web and desktop, and is fully scalable to fit the demands of any enterprise.

The company's line of consumer-oriented products is varied and versatile. There's LogIT, a runtime diet management tool available world wide; JobTracker, a worksearch organizer allowing users to fully manage every aspect of the job hunt, from resumes to interviews; and WattchIT, a unique product designed to aid homeowners in accounting for their ongoing household electricity consumption.


"FileMaker Pro is becoming easier to sell to IT administrators. It's now seen as a serious contender and alternative to other database such as Oracle and SQL Server – at a fraction of the cost."

Terry Billingsley, President, AT Experts


Customer Benefits

AT Experts builds much of its success on being responsive to its customers – keeping ever attentive to the call for new, more efficient ways of completing necessary tasks. New features available in FileMaker Pro 8 make that process a lot easier. "FileMaker Pro 8 promises to be FileMaker's best release," Terry declares. "Among the key attributes we've eagerly been waiting for are the tooltips, the dropdown calendar, and the tab controls."

Several of the company's products are calendar-dependent, making the drop-down calendar feature a welcome addition. "We'd previously done some pretty fancy development to create a calendar that users could choose from," Terry notes. "But now with the dropdown calendars these products look awesome. Our clients have asked for years for tooltips – and now we can provide them. They will also be thrilled with the ability to save to Excel and print to PDF – these two features fill a huge gap in providing extended reporting capabilities without relying on third-party solutions. And FileMaker Pro 8's excellent rendition of the desktop solution to IWP makes the end user experience second to none."

Most of all, the enhanced capabilities of FileMaker Pro 8 keep FileMaker-based solutions on a level playing field with other systems. "FileMaker Pro is becoming easier to sell to IT administrators," concludes Terry. "It's now seen as a serious contender and alternative to other databases such as Oracle and SQL Server – at a fraction of the cost."



Contact information

Contact Info for Customer:

Terry Billingsley
President
AT Experts
613-443-2842
tbill@atexperts.com
http://www.atexperts.com


Filemaker Contact:

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


Overview
  • Developer of enterprise and personal project management software applications using FileMaker Pro
  • Based in Embrun (Ottawa), ON
  • Approximately 20 employees
Industry
  • High Technology
Solutions
  • A full line of FileMaker Pro-based applications for large-scale corporate project management, including Time To Information (TTI) and ReserveIT, along with smaller-scale products such as LogIT, WattchIT, and Job Tracker – each designed to handle mission-critical information-tracking needs.
Benefits
  • Dropdown calendar and tooltips features of FileMaker Pro 8 eliminate need for developmental workarounds in meeting the demands of end users
  • PDF Maker and Excel Maker extend product reporting capabilities eliminating need for third-party solutions
  • Enhanced capabilities of FileMaker Pro 8 reduce development time, with resultant cost savings