Customer stories
- Solutions guide
- Creative Pro
- K-12
- Higher education
- Government
- Non-profit
- Small business
- Medium to large business
- >Customer stories
Shady Oaks Nursery
Mail Order Nursery Runs its Business with FileMaker Pro
There's more to a great shade garden than just choosing plants and
hoping for the best -- and for Shady Oaks Nursery of Waseca,
Minnesota the development of plants that won't just grow in a shady
environment but will thrive there has been raised to a high
science. Using advanced micropropagation techniques, Shady Oaks
specializes in hybrid plants bred especially for shady conditions,
and now offers more than 1800 varieties, many available nowhere
else. Since its beginning as a mail-order nursery nearly twenty
years ago, Shady Oaks has gained a national reputation -- and an
ever-growing customer base.
Serving those customers requires organization -- both in the
office and in the lab. And that's where FileMaker Pro makes the
difference. Recalls company IS manager Keith Sykora, 'We needed a
database to store and retrieve customer information, mail them our
marketing materials, process their orders, control our inventory,
and produce reports for the needed feedback to effectively manage
our business. Inventory tracking was especially a challenge for us,
as it involves several scenarios with our two divisions from
purchase orders to micropropagation to cuttings to seed production
to field divisions.'
The Stravin Group of Addison, Texas built the solution -- devising
a FileMaker Pro database to track the business from every angle.
And that system has grown right along with Shady Oaks -- from a
first-generation FileMaker application to a cutting-edge system
using the latest versions of FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro
Server, running in combination with Citrix terminal services to
allow faster speed and expanded function on existing
hardware.
Forty files are being actively served. They contain more than
2,500,000 records which cover every aspect of the company's
operation, from research and development to sales and customer
service. The largest file contains about 1GB of data with 612,000
records with all forty database files totaling just under 3GB and
growing on a daily basis. Most of the served files are tied
directly to Shady Oaks' core system, but FileMaker databases are
also used for many individual data collection activities. "The
system is designed with a single file interface which gives us a
high degree of control and flexibility in managing things such as
security, deployment, and network usage” says Keith. "Due to the
complexity of our system, the single file interface itself has
several hundred unique relationships to the "back end” files
holding the data and business logic. And while some people have
suggested that our system "pushes the bounds” of what should be
done with FileMaker. In practice, however, we experience tremendous
stability with over 99% uptime and zero data loss.”
Keith is clearly proud of the system that's been designed. 'The
FileMaker solution has met the challenge by providing a system that
is easier to manage, runs on less expensive hardware, and the
maintenance is significantly less than the Oracle system we had
considered. The training and learning curve is very manageable with
the FileMaker solution,' he says. 'We are able to track our
inventory and make adjustments in production to accommodate
customer demand. We can retrieve a wealth of information on our
customers and our products to aid in serving the customer.' As
Keith sums it up, 'the combination of FileMaker and Citrix in our
current system has performed extremely well for us.'
Improved efficiency in handling information means increased
productivity for employees and better service for customers. And
for Shady Oaks Nursery, FileMaker Pro will provide fertile ground
for future growth.
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Keith Sykora
IS Manager
Shady Oaks Nursery
507-837-4946
keith@shadyoaks.com
http://www.shadyoaks.com
http://www.shadyoaks.com
Developer
The Stravin Group
972-713-9353
sykostek@stravin.com
http://www.stravin.com
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- At Shady Oaks, a burgeoning mail-order nursery, a FileMaker Pro solution organizes customer information, processes orders, tracks inventory and more. The solution is built on FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server running in combination with Citrix(R) terminal services -- delivering faster performance and expanded functionality using Shady Oaks' existing hardware
- Information Technology
- Retail/Wholesale
- Small Business