Outlook's message gathering in Conversations

Conversations, calendaring: These are some of the new core features that Microsoft brings to the Mac community in late October with the Business Edition of Office for Mac 2011. These features show up in Outlook for the Mac, a version of the popular Windows mail client that’s making its debut on Apple products.

Outlook is included in two versions of the Office for Mac release: a Home and Business Edition priced at $199 and an Academic release at $99. Outlook has a mixed reputation among the Windows community, in part because it was wired into the PC environments so closely that hackers exploited its integration.

Microsoft doesn’t expect that to be an issue with Outlook for the Mac; the computer’s environment doesn’t offer the same sort of back doors for malware to muck up your business files. The Business Edition also includes familiar apps reworked for improved productivity: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and even Messenger. Buying a copy of Office 2008 until November 30 will earn you a free upgrade to the new release.

A promo video on Microsoft’s Office 2011 web page includes a comment from developer Amy Wang that they’ve “done UI (user interface) touch-ups that make these programs feel a lot more Mac-like.” Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit has been a real earner for the company that hovers right around Apple in Fortune 500 revenues. It’s easy to understand why these programs have a dedicated team at the company responsible for the widest choice for businesses, Windows.

The table below explains the pricing differences, but it’s Outlook that generates the $80 lift in the Business Edition.

Conversation takes all messages with the same topic and puts them together, a feature that you might notice if you click on a message in Apple’s Mail. But the Office method looks more intuitive and efficient, two advantages Microsoft is pushing with this release. There’s also integration with the Mac’s Spotlight searching, so you might be able to find a message faster than in Apple’s Mail. Spotlight, after all, has a dozen ways to dice up a search, while Mail’s only got a half-dozen.

Microsoft has details on how to qualify for a free 2008 to 2011 upgrade, as well as the new online upgrade functionality from the $119 entry-level Home and Student Edition, at the Officeformac.com web site.

PC users have been switching to Macs for many reasons, and easier use is among the leaders. An article from the Software Advice marketing Web site makes good cases for why Mac-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software is ready to help in healthcare. The article lists on-the-Mac solutions, then goes on to track the software hosted offsite, but available to Mac users.

Web-based EMR software is a growing segment of the market and one that is appealing to physicians in a wide range of specialties. Because web-based EMRs don’t depend on a specific operating system, a physician needs to only have a compatible web browser (Safari or Firefox for example) on their Mac to access the software online. There’s no installation of software on a physical machine; all data is hosted in the “cloud.”

The number of web-based EMR vendors is rising but only a handful have optimized their software to run on a Mac-based web-browser. The Software Advice site points to demo versions of these applications.

At the latest MacWorld Expo, the company was displaying a new inventory lot control solution for Mac-based businesses. A modest little kiosk, one developer/representative, and a lot of functionality in demonstrations on the floor. In a release for Accountek 6, company officials explained

Lot control is necessary in many industries and where detailed part identification information must be tracked in the event of a product recall.  Having a lot control system allows a company to completely track all parts received and shipped by their lot numbers.  The changes in Connected make it very easy to track and pick specific parts throughout purchasing and sales process.

Connected’s lot control allows a business to:

• Simplify the process of tracking parts throughout production.
• Meet the needs of your industry when lot tracking is a requirement for product recalls.
• Identify specific lots received by purchase order and pick and ship specific lots on customer orders.
• Build products and create your own lot number and expiration dates.

If you’ve got no idea what a lot is, as it relates to inventory, you can move on. But Accountek understands financials in a way that corporations use to communicate with each other. It’s assuring to know that even if the solution starts at around $5,000, there’s business-class accounting available that lets you soar above the muddied plains of QuickBooks.

While Filemaker has also made a run at small business with its $39 basic-level Bento database, Filemaker 11 is worth the extra $140. The Productivity Kit includes templates — ready-made database reports — to serve companies dealing in either goods or services. The Standard Edition Kit is aimed at sellers of goods, while the Service Edition includes templates for, well, services companies.

Filemaker 11 does ship with a raft of templates already, many suitable for the business user. But the company promises that the new kit’s free templates are “an integrated set of business tools and each module ties to the other, eliminating any need for duplicate fields, tables and data re-entry.”

The biggest advance in Filemaker 11 may well be its charting, and the Kit proposes to make that power ready to use, along with what the company calls “on-the-fly” reporting.

After a few days building and experimenting with the Bento database, it’s plain that the Filemaker advantages of customization are well worth its lift in cost. Starting with a set of templates that you can customize gives a small business room to grow and expand to new opportunities. Filemaker even includes a guide to database basics and one for working with Microsoft Office in the Productivity Kit.

Reports are the most obvious element missing from Bento, although that product does provide an Excel-like listing of the records in each database. Ready-made reports are the kind of solution a company would pay a consultant to create; it’s possible, with a good training resource like Lynda.com, to make these reporting templates go much further.

Filemaker says that its two editions of the Productivity Kit break out along these lines of business tasks:

Standard Edition (for companies selling goods):

• Manage contacts and suppliers
• Organize products and inventory
• Process sales orders
• Track projects and production
• Send targeted e-mails

Service Edition (for companies providing services):

• Track clients and vendor contacts
• Process service orders
• Organize information about service offerings
• Manage invoices and other key business data
• Send targeted e-mail campaigns

The kit also comes with a bonus e-mail marketing guide, one that Filemakers says included “valuable tips and tricks on creating customized email campaigns to market goods and services.” For that mission you need a means of delivery, and we’d recommend Constant Contact for your outreach.

That doesn’t mean the product isn’t worth the $4.99 it costs at the App Store. Bento arrived with a one-page home screen meant to serve as a manual, a handful of database templates (these are called Libraries in Bento) and three skins to style my creations.

But say, for example, you wanted to assign several attributes to an item in an inventory. iPad Bento doesn’t get the idea of multiple tick boxes for one record. It want you to create a field for every attribute like overseas item, tax free, custom sized and the like.

As a database Bento has gotten so minimalistic in its mobile versions that it seems suited only for a very personal information manager. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s good to know going on how much you can fit into this Bento’s box.

Virtual Network Computing allows any user to send keyboard and mouse input across a wireless network, or even through secure Internet connections, to a Mac application like MacPractice. VNC has been built into the Mac since the 10.4 Tiger release. But a multitouch mobile device like the iPad, with its larger screen, is pushing VNC into service at medical practices with the speed of an unchecked infection.

MacPractice has set up a guide on the interaction between its Mac and iPhone apps and the iPad. The link is made possible through Aqua Connect, which has integrated its remote access software with the MacPractice products. There are plenty of VNC clients available for Apple’s mobile devices, all aimed at letting a business use an iPhone or iPad connect with Mac-based software.

MacPractice president Mark Hollis says the link is enabling tablet access to EMR, prescriptions and e-Prescribe.

“The interface solutions we have tested allow doctors to use this incredible device in a patient encounter, enter the visit data into MacPractice EMR,” Hollis said, “and have access to medical and dental images, prescription history, all literally at their fingertips at the point of care.”

VNC services in the products enable multiple users to simultaneously access MacPractice on a single computer from numerous iPads. Doctors, dentists and practice managers can:

Access MacPractice from anywhere within the office with the iPad and get complete access to MacPractice untethered from the computer, as well as all the native iPad functionality. Doctors and nurses can carry all patient information from one exam room to another and use their finger or a stylus, plus an on-screen keyboard, to access the MacPractice database and add new patient data. If desired, data can also be entered by attaching a keyboard to the iPad or using the keyboard and mouse at the computer. Data is entered directly into MacPractice, eliminating the need to synchronize the iPad with the computer.

Access MacPractice from outside the office on an iPad. Full access to the complete MacPractice system from anywhere with an internet connection makes it possible to view and update patient charts from home, the hospital or satellite offices.

Enable multiple users to simultaneously access MacPractice on a single computer from numerous iPads. Multiple doctors access the MacPractice system on a single machine at the same time, with local sound and audio support and built-in encryption that satisfies HIPAA guidelines.

Use an iPad for patient registration. Patients can register on an iPad and complete HIPAA forms either in the office or from a remote location, such as the hospital or home. This not only streamlines the registration process, saves paper and time, but also helps reduce the risk of data-entry errors due to illegible handwriting or typing errors.

Complete medical EMR questionnaires on an iPad. Office staff using MacPractice can create a customized kiosk for each individual patient with all of the forms required for the visit and hand the patient an iPad on which to complete Health History, Social History, etc. Upon completion, the forms become part of the patient’s record in MacPractice EMR.

“Write” eyeglass prescriptions on an iPad, via integration with MacPractice 20/20, to allow ophthalmologists and optometrists to create eyeglass or lens prescriptions.

Chart restorative and periodontal conditions and treatment on an iPad and review x-rays with patients. Dentists, dental assistants and hygienists who use MacPractice DDS may use the iPad’s multi-touch screen to chart existing conditions and treatment, and review x-rays and photos with patients. They can even provide patient education material and entertainment for the patient during procedures using native iPad applications.

Inventory is among the business uses shown for the Bento iPad version

The new Bento for iPad screenshots are on display this morning, courtesy of media rep Kevin Mallon at Filemaker. In the set on Flickr are several shots that illustrate how this combination of the Apple tablet and Apple-subsidiary’s base-level database can drive a business’s data needs.

Filemaker has always benefited from business interest in its products. There’s only so much cataloging of the garage, the music and film collections, the stacks of books or model trains you can do with a database. Filemaker grew off the backs of small business needs. Bento is a tool robust enough to serve a small business, but with a plucked feature set to get average tasks done.

Databases need data entry devices desperately, so a keyboard has seemed essential to their success. Bento has an iPhone app that has won great reviews. But significant amounts of data entry require a keyboard. This is a lesson learned at commercial IT enterprises, like the sort I cover for the HP market. The mouse-click always fell far behind the productivity of fingers on keys. So this app will be one of the more severe tests of the iPad’s built-in soft keyboard.

Filemaker was being coy about the crossover pricing on iPad and iPhone versions of this app. (Some iPhone apps will be running at no extra charge on the iPad right away.) We’d expect about $9.95 on release, because Apple’s selling the iWork apps at that price.

Filemaker 11 makes it easier than ever to take business data and create a snapshot of your information to help plan. It's also got dynamic links to auto-update such graphics

The canvas of the Filemaker database is wide and rich for Mac business users, an enduring data capture resource that looks even more vivid in the newest release of this tool. Filemaker 11 rolls out today with a big palette of charting and graphics shortcuts, the kind of built-in prowess that makes a great case for using the $299 solution instead of an Excel spreadsheet.

If it feels crude  to substitute a spreadsheet for a database, Filemaker’s Product Group Manager Rick Kalman says research shows otherwise. About 40 percent of the 15 million copies of Filemaker have been used by small business or small groups within larger companies. Already familar with Microsoft’s iconic spreadsheet, they press Excel into record-keeping of business inventory, sales or contacts. In doing so they limit the power of seeing their business portraits from every aspect.

The primary competition for us is Excel spreadsheets and paper, frankly,” Kalman said, “and that’s a pretty good target.” The features run well beyond the Excel hints and assistants that suggest you might be managing a list. And Filemaker 11 adds a feature that’s fast-becoming a Mac software standard: the Quick Search window in the top right of many programs, such as nearly every browser.

There's nothing like this in Excel, and the new Filemaker includes templates to go to work immediately with a professional-class database

Graphics stood out in the one-hour demo that Kalman led us through about a week ago. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple is among the best of Apple’s captive partners at creating tools ready for businesses, and the Filemaker 11 is ready to show off a company’s products, people in client databases or internal staff and contractors, even a new feature that interacts with Twitter to push in-progress photo updates for custom designs like guitars or Web sites or illustrations. But the concept of pictures extends beyond the fresh graphics tools in Filemaker 11. A new Snapshot link “flags a specific set of records at a point in time, preserving the same layout, view and sort order. Any changes made to the file are automatically updated in the database. This Snapshot Link file can be emailed to anyone who has FileMaker Pro 11 for easy collaboration.” That means that changes to you data can automatically be updated in a collegue or client’s office if they have Filemaker Pro 11 at hand.

Filemaker 11 arrives at the latest stop in a 26-year line of development for the software that started in 1984 as Nutshell, created for the PC DOS marketplace. Before long the software was shaped into the Mac’s premier database tool and delivered to both PC and Mac users. Microsoft’s Access is a worthy competitor on the Windows side, but some small businesses don’t consider their information repositories to be the most valuable asset that doesn’t clock in or report on a time sheet. It’s short sighted, and Filemaker 11 goes an impressive step to meet these customers more than halfway.

The software has a starter-marriage cousin, Bento 3, which has gotten rave reviews and even enjoys an iPhone app to bring its data into the mobile world. But while Bento data moves into Filemaker easily, the transfer of Excel spreadsheets to get started in Filemaker 11 is a new feature.

Users who have extensive databases in Filemaker formats would be well-served to read through the product’s documentation to make a clean transfer that will preserve all your layouts and data fields. Import features for Filemaker databases go right up to Filemaker 11, but you’ll want to have an FP7 format of your database (used by Filemaker 7-11) ready for import. Filemaker is reaching back to the Version 8 and 9 customers with upgrade packages.

There are 31 database Starter Solutions in the new Filemaker 11, many designed for the business user

A starter solution for invoices helps you take advantage of the data-ready layouts and databases included with the software. A quick-start screen is also new, one of the many features Filemaker has added to get a business rolling quickly with an ample array of data tracking solutions. Populating these databases with existing data gets to be a matter of looking over their data fields and managing the match-up of your data with these fields. This data-match process still needs some work for the average user. Excel imports can only be done if they’re the latest XSLX format, so if your Excel is 2004 or older, you’ve got file conversion to consider, or an upgrade to a newer version of the spreadsheet.

Of such details are transitions to Filemaker from spreadsheets made. There’s enough goodness in this new version to justify an upgrade from 8, 9 or 10 (the older software must be upgraded by Sept. 23 to qualify for the discounted price.) If you’ve bought Filemaker 10 since Feb. 7, your Filemaker 11 upgrade will be free.