From the heart of Alabama, vital components in sight–saving surgery go out to patients around the world. The Alabama Eye Bank provides corneal tissue for transplantation, for research, and for medical education. It's a task with prodigious data–management demands, and a task that will take full advantage of the advanced capabilities of FileMaker Pro, the award–winning database software from FileMaker, Inc.

Business Challenge

The Alabama Eye Bank began its work over thirty–five years ago, and Scott Howard, director of Administration and Information Services, has been developing FileMaker Pro solutions to improve the flow of that work for more than seven years. "We manage tons of data as we screen potential eye donors, procure, place, and evaluate eye tissue, track receivables, and direct mail campaigns, evaluate hospital participation in eye donation, and plan for marketing and public relations," Scott explains. "Data are entering our system constantly, and FileMaker Pro literally revolutionized our operations."

Successful Solution

Some fifty FileMaker Pro databases handle a wide range of tasks at the Alabama Eye Bank, serving workgroups in the Administrative, Technical, and Hospital Development/Public Relations division, as well as the remote marketing representatives who log in over the web. "We looked at other eye–banking database systems," notes Scott, "but they would have forced us to change the way we work. FileMaker Pro allowed us to create a solution that fit our workflow. I currently use the entire FileMaker product line—FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Pro Developer, FileMaker Pro Server, FileMaker Pro Unlimited, and FileMaker Pro Mobile. I'm always looking for ways to improve our operations, and FileMaker Pro has been the main tool to accomplish this." This powerful system operates across a diverse system environment, with Windows NT 4, Macintosh OS 9.2.2 and OS X 10.3.2 machines all running FileMaker Pro applications. And plans are afoot to expand its web capabilities through the use of the Advanced Web Publishing features of FileMaker Pro 7. "I'm learning XML and XSLT," says Scott, "so I can leverage FileMaker Pro 7's new, more robust features for our web interface."

The huge file sizes now possible in FileMaker Pro 7 will allow me to do several things I've only imagined doing with our solution.

— Scott Howard, director of Administration and Information Services, Alabama Eye Bank