Author: Justin Hesser

Companies that deal in custom application development are now helping small businesses navigate the often murky waters of health care selection and enrollment, a complex area where the choices are many and the readily available information is not always reliable. With custom database software, developers can create apps that simplify operations for SMBs by helping them choose the best health care options for their employees.

Earlier this month, the District of Columbia's health insurance marketplace, DC Health Link, launched an app designed specifically to help local small businesses manage every step of their health care coverage, from browsing different options to exploring enrollment alternatives for their employees. Per the official press release on the launch, the new small business app, called D.C. Small Biz Market, will allow users to browse health plans, determine their eligibility for special programs and locate brokers via GPS.

The app is the first of its kind introduced by an Affordable Care Act marketplace, but as the dust settles on the implementation of the ACA, it is not unreasonable to imagine that more like it could be developed in other states in the not-too-distant future. In fact, if this D.C. app proves successful, other software developing companies, not necessarily affiliated with the ACA, could be motivated to work on dependable small business apps of their own.

Certified FileMaker developers have the tools to build custom database software which, tailored to a specific geographic region, could become an essential tool for SMBs as they work to adapt to the changing health care landscape. A custom database of all available brokers and health care providers would go a long way toward making life much easier for managers and employees alike.

A series of webinars and training sessions designed to boost the use of database application FileMaker will be hosted by St. Louis-based technology consultant Skeleton Key, a FileMaker Academy partner of Kyo Logic, between August and October. The training series was presented at the FileMaker STL meet-up on August 5, fresh off the 2014 FileMaker Developer Conference, which was held in July in San Antonio and saw Skeleton Key honored with two awards. The company received the Business Alliance Excellence Award for Leads, and in the DevCon Developer Cup Challenge, Christopher Schmitz took first place just ahead of Kyo Logic’s chief technology officer Tim Neudecker.

Neudecker himself kicked things off with a free hour-long FileMaker Academy Webinar for developers and IT and project managers on August 19, which served as a prelude to Skeleton Key’s two St. Louis training courses. Skeleton Key has spearheaded the effort to promote FileMaker among local businesses in the St. Louis area.

The Developer Essentials three-day course will be held August 26-28 with a second session October 21-23. Attendees will have a one-on-one interview before immersing themselves in learning the basic tools of FileMaker development, including data modeling, layouts, scripts and security. A final individual review will help would-be developers apply what they’ve learned to their specific area of business.

Path to Certification is a more in-depth five-day course, designed to prepare developers who already have an understanding of FileMaker development for the FileMaker Certification exam. Like the Developer Essentials program, this training series is book-ended by one-on-one meetings, where the conversation will be tailored to the needs of each aspirant, in order to address specific areas which may require polishing ahead of the Certification exam.

For many businesses, mobility is the next big investment in their IT strategy. Some organizations are already implementing mobile strategies, whether it is officially supported by the company or employees using their personal devices for work tasks without the IT department's knowledge. Unsurprisingly, Apple devices are the first choice.

According to the most recent quarterly report by enterprise mobile services vendor Good Technology, Apple's iOS platform holds an 88 percent market share when it comes to business apps. When it comes to the devices themselves, Apple remains on top, at least with the more than 5,000 companies that were interviewed. The iPhone makes up 51 percent of activated smartphones, while the iPad accounts for 90 percent of tablet activations. Combined that is a 67 percent share.

The report also found 70 percent of enterprises believe that providing mobile devices and support to employees will be a "high" or "critical" priority over the next 12 months.

"We see more spending shift to software for mobile applications and middleware as well as the necessary management solutions to provision and manage mobile applications," the report reads. "At the end of the day, we may talk about mobile devices, but in reality it's all about the apps."

This means more companies can benefit from quality mobile applications and Apple has several. At the top of the list is FileMaker, the popular custom database solution that is designed for mobility and comes with a free app version called FileMaker Go, that is only available on an Apple iOS platform. The right FileMaker developer can help any company optimize the software.

Every company is looking for the best ways to access important data, even if the source is something they did not create.

For example, according to several news outlets in Europe, Prozone's has reached a partnership with Sports Interactive. The latter is the design company behind the popular computer game Football Manager, where individuals can live out their fantasies of running a real soccer team in Europe. The game features a deep database of over 550,000 real players, managers and staff, that contains 250 pieces of biographical information, contract status and positional details. The data is collected by 1,300 scouts across six continents.

With the new deal, these databases will not be accessed by Prozone, which is responsible for the video and performance analysis software called RECRUITER. It is used by Premier League clubs to better recruit new players and staff.

"For years we've heard stories of real-life managers and scouts using our data to help with the recruitment process," Sports Interactive Studio Director Miles Jacobson told the Mirror. "From now on, it's official…real managers around the world will be finding and comparing players using data and a search system that will be very familiar to players of Football Manager."

This partnership between a major sporting league and a video game company shows how important it is to have the right database of critical information. With the help of custom database software, any business will be able to create the best possible collection of data and analyze it in the most effective way.

One certainty of technology is that at some point it will fail. Computers and mobile devices are machines that run complicated software solutions that require updating. Eventually that hardware will start to break down and a software upgrade will have a glitch that causes it to start acting screwy. In most instances they can be easily fixed and the impact is minimal, however, that is not always the case.

A recent article from RT covered a press briefing that was given by U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf. She spoke about the problems that the U.S. Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) at the State Bureau of Consular Affairs have had that caused consulates across the world to lose the ability to issue visas.

According to Harf, the problem was born out of a system update. For several months the database had been experiencing technical issues but remained functional. On July 20, 2014, a software update was issued to fix the problems but had the opposite effect. For the next three days, the database was completely offline and was only partially brought online.

"We believe the root cause of the problem was a combination of software optimization and hardware compatibility issues," Harf said. "We believe there was no malicious intent. It's hardware and a software issue that we are working to fix."

During this downtime, over 200 U.S. consulates from around the world were unable to issue visas. This impacted businesses, personal travel, vacations and much more.

It is critical for companies to find and deploy the right custom database software. With the help of a solution provider that can design and maintain the system, any company gains a hand to avoid potential glitches.

There is a moment in some action movies when the hero, who is framed for a crime, gets pulled over by a police officer and a tense moment follows where they nervously wait for the database to be accessed that shows a warrant out for their arrest. While it makes for a memorable cinematic moment, it is something that happens on a much smaller scale many times a day in real life.

According to a recent article from KHOU — a Houston, Texas news outlet — officers in Dallas have computer systems in their cars that access two-important databases – National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Texas Crime Information Center (TCIC) – to look up a person's criminal history, outstanding warrants and stolen vehicles. These databases are critical to not only stopping crime but also keeping officers safe. It is always dangerous to walk into a situation without knowing all the facts.

However, recently an issue arose where 123 officers, 62 of which are out in patrol, were locked out of these databases. Some of these officers found out when they were on the field and attempted to login.

This happened because the Dallas Police Department failed to keep up with regulations. Officers are required to take a training course for two years to get or remain certified to access these databases. Any officer that is not certified or allows it to lapse, is considered unauthorized. The officers that lost access were the victim of a slow training process that caused them to fall behind and an issue plagued deployment that cost $4 million.

"The training team has been assigned the last two months almost on a full-time basis to RMS," Maj. Scott Bratcher told the news source.

Several officers who lost access spoke off the record about the fact that they have not been able to enroll in new classes to get certified. One went as far as saying that because of this, there is an increased level of danger for not only the officers but also the citizens because these standard criminal background checks can no longer be run.

Most businesses do not have potential life and death circumstances attached to their databases, but that does not make them any less important to handling daily operations for the company. With the help of custom database software, any organization can create a personalized solution and ensure that all employees are trained on it.

Whenever you get like-minded people together that work in the same industry, there is going to talk about who is the best. There is a lot of this going on at large industry conventions and the recently held FileMaker Developers Conference was no different. However, it did declare a winner and handout a championship belt to the winner.

Part of the convention is the DevCon Developer Cup. This competition had 16 participants that competed in five rounds of challenges. Using all of their skills, competitors created quick and elegant solutions to common problems that all FileMaker developers face. One person who fought for the cup this year was Kyo Logic's co-founder Tim Neudecker.

There to attend the entire conference, Neudecker competed against the best developers in the industry but joked that he needed to remember how to code. After two rounds, he found himself in third place and kept up the solid performance to avoid the cuts and make it to the final challenge. In the end, he fell just short of winning, coming in second.

Besting was Christopher Schmitz, an application developer from Skeleton Key, one of our FileMaker Academy Partners. He takes home the championship belt, his name was added to the trophy and he gets bragging rights for eternity. While Neudecker did congratulate his colleague, he did flame the fires of competition with a tweet.

"We'll I was the first of the losers, 250 points behind Chris from #Skeletonkey congrats Chris. Next year I will take you down Rocky style."

Kyo Logic is extremely proud of Neudecker's performance.

There are many reasons why a company would choose to create a new database. In many cases, it depends on what the organization is trying to accomplish, and that can be a substantial task. For example, according to a recent article from the Los Angeles Times, Anthem and Blue Shield of California are partnering to create a massive database of patient medical records.

The goal is to create a more comprehensive collection of information. Now doctors and nurses will be able to access the medical histories of nearly 25 percent of all California residents with a few clicks of the keyboard. It will create faster, cheaper and better health care by reducing repetitive tests and procedures. Imagine an ER doctor that is able to access a patient's medical records instantly.

"We need to bring healthcare into the digital age, and by doing so you can really improve the quality and cost of care," Paul Markovich, chief executive of Blue Shield of California, told the news source.

However, there are challenges to having the $80 million system online by the end of the year. The biggest one is the lack of standardization is data. Companies have different kinds of data, definitions and fields, adding to the complexity.

With the growing use of digital technology, the amount of data that is available continues to increase. To improve the analysis of this information, a custom database software solution can help businesses organize their data in a better way that speaks to their specific needs.

Whenever a popular technology system is upgraded, it is going to take some time for individuals who are familiar with the previous incarnations to learn all of the new features. During times like this, professionals seek research materials that help explain the changes and any new features that set the upgrade apart.

For a number of tech solutions, professionals have been turning toward the Missing Manual series. This popular book catalog from O'Reilly Media acts as a "______ for Dummies" for a software systems like iOS, OS X, Windows, Microsoft Office, Adobe and Photoshop as well as hardware including all the iDevices, Kindle Fire, NOOK, and the Galaxy S5.

According to a recent press release from O'Reilly Media, it has now added FileMaker 13 to that list of "Missing Manual" titles. It covers a list of the new and old features including:

• A basic walkthrough of FileMaker
• Using FileMaker Go for mobile solutions
• Combining data tables into a singular solution
• Using calculations and scripts to quickly crunch numbers
• Creating professional documents with charts
• Sharing a database across a secure server with FileMaker Pro Advanced and FileMaker Pro Server.

While picking up a book like this can be helpful some professionals, it does not match the hands on learning that happens when a company partners with a FileMaker development firm that is certified in FileMaker 13. Instead of trying to interpret what the book is describing, individuals gain the knowledge of an experienced FileMaker professional that can walk through the entire solution and dive deeper into a personalized software solution that meets your specific needs.