Technology@Wooster

There are well over 150 Filemaker Pro databases on campus. Many of these databases are located on the College’s old Filemaker server. This server is a G4 Mac running Filemaker Pro Server 5. Many other Filemaker Pro databases are located on individual desktop computers.

IT has installed a new hardware server running the most recent Filemaker server software–version 8.0, and has begun working with departmental and individual database owners to migrate their databases to the new server and the new software version. Our goals are to provide a more reliable hardware platform, to migrate all Filemaker Pro databases to that new platform so that they can be more efficiently managed and reliably backed-up, to recover licenses by identifying and eliminating databases that are no longer in use, and to provide to the College community the enhanced features of the latest Filemaker Pro software. These features include user-based security using existing usernames and passwords, multi-table database design allowing database aggregration, and enhanced web interface.

We have completed the migration of databases belonging to the Biology Department, the Security Office and the Art Gallery, and are currently working with the PEC, Post Office and Web Services. We will be contacting other departments in the near future. If you have any questions about Filemaker Pro or this initiative, please contact Vince Di Scipio or Mary Schantz.