Resources in Creating Your Own Database/App
-Different resources in creating your own database with little computer coding skills-
A lot of these programs market themselves as app creators. My guess is because the word "database" is a daunting task. Creating a custom API for your company sounds more appealing. Two out of the three really does create a user interface that is easy for a user to use. the third is possible but not the best.
I didn't know I had the capabilities of creating databases for small businesses until I started working at a startup. I found that tracking progress is crucial no matter what type of business. I found that I have a specialized skill set where I can take a complicated process in completing a project and break it down into logical steps. Then story the data that we would need to collect to get valuable metrics on how the company is doing.
The only problem to all this, some companies don't see the value in logging things we do. A lot of big companies have this done automatically with their own personalized application program interface(APIs) and software dashboards which makes logging in easy. Some workplaces automatically log your activity whenever a person logs into their computer. With the internet and world wide web at our fingertips these days and megabytes of data just streaming through our phones per second. I believe that every company no matter how small or big should find ways to easy track how their business is doing. I believe we can create an easy system of gathering data, even out great grandparents wouldn't mind using. Just logging of activity can prove invaluable to a company who is trying to see how well they are doing and how well their employees are performing.
There are a few database for small businesses that could be easily use without any knowledge of computer languages. I say these systems you do have to understand how your data flows and relates to each other. Some programs are cloud based some are strictly local, and some go from really simple to very sophisticated. Below are a few programs that I have tried and a breakdown of my experience. In no way are they ordered in any way of which one I prefer. These companies also didn't pay me to review them either.
pros:
- create your own application
- custom user interface
- versatile
cons
- expensive
- need to have some computer programming skills.
- Difficult to use all of it's functionality with little programming skills.
Filemaker is my favorite tool to use for its versatility and ability to create databases for people who doesn't know much about computer coding. It does take a little knowledge of computers. If you had no computer skills you can still create a very simplistic database. You can also create a very easy to make "user form" or dashboard for your customers or employees.
The set up is like almost creating a sql database but in a visual way. It's like how we would draw out mind maps and creating relational tables to describe how data flows. If your company understands how their data is flowing and how it relates to each other and you have an IT guy who can handle your server and put this database on your server and people on your team can access this securely.
Filemaker is ideal for small companies to large companies but can be costly. It can easily grow with your company if you chose to do so. There's a cost per user and also you can host your database on their cloud server if you didn't know how to host it on your own but there is an extra fee for this.
This Intuit owned program boast that you don't need any programming skills to use. The functionality is good for small businesses that doesn't need high security on their files. You can easily host it through their company.
The set up is relatively easy and it can give you a lot of information and a dashboard to see an overview of your projects. I like how the user interface looks like. It doesn't take much. It can use a cloud base. The easy set up can be costly. But it does boast that you can track your projects and gather analytics all in one program.
Airtable
This is the most affordable option. It basically uses the idea of spreadsheets as the basis of creating a table. So it's like a user friendly pivot table that automatically updates all the related fields. This can be used for personal project tracking or even small business owners to track their business. You do need an understanding of how spreadsheets work and how to create it to relate to each other.
Airtable is completely online so you would need to make sure the people can have online access. It does have an app that is free to use and people on your team can use it for free for up to 5 users any more you would have to pay for it. There are forms that you could create for anyone to fill out but the problem is that it is not customizable on the free version. On the paid version you can customize it to a certain extent.
On the free version it's enough for small projects. If the project involves multiple users then you would have to upgrade it to the premium. it does run slow on the mobile device. It also runs slow when multiple users are on the base.