The Support Group Blog

The fight against the rapid spread of COVID-19 required accessible and reliable testing. During the initial surge of the highly contagious virus in 2020, many organizations and laboratories pivoted to do what was necessary to help minimize the spread. A renowned research institution was no exception and made a bold decision to convert its labs to a full-time COVID testing and research center. 

The facility and its team of researchers were already familiar with clinical research studies related to chronic infectious diseases. However, the labs were completely remodeled to accommodate rigorous and efficient COVID testing. Then all they needed was technology to streamline how to analyze and report the test results.

Over the last 100 years, the advancement of medical science has affected all of our lives in immeasurable ways. It has allowed researchers to eliminate killer viruses like Smallpox and cripplers like Polio. And, thanks to the wonders of modern science, doctors were able to reduce AIDS from a virtual death sentence to a manageable chronic disease. All these medical miracles have been made possible through intense medical research studies. These studies need to do a few things very well, including count and measure. A lot goes into ensuring the accuracy and validity of the scientific tests and the results of those studies. Time is usually of the essence, and any slight deviations could lead the experts down the wrong path, possibly delaying the treatments people need immediately.

See how we helped a group of researchers, investigators, and advocates who evaluate the impact of AIDS on mothers and their children worldwide improve the workflows of their clinical studies. These dedicated professionals represent a few different organizations and institutions, but they share the common goal of treating and preventing the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the infection that causes AIDS. And a lot of their work is based on meticulous clinical trials.

EcoAmericas is a respected educational periodical which is published by Fourth Street Press. It provides empirical news coverage of the environmental conditions and climate trends in Latin America. The content is primarily accessed internationally by universities, environmental agencies and non-governmental organizations to promote awareness and action programs for the region's environmental issues. The non-profit publication prides itself on being unbiased and financially independent so that they can focus on providing objective articles and information to their readers. A network of regional correspondents reports on a variety of issues, including global warming, deforestation and illegal mining. Their work and this information are essential to generating public and political support for resolving these issues.

The New York University Tisch School of the Arts prides itself on the select group of students it admits to its prestigious institution to earn degrees in dance, design, film, photography, etc. The admissions process involves an intense review of each applicant's academic accomplishments, essays, portfolios and recorded performances, among other things. The faculty is responsible for adequately assessing each applicant's submissions and inviting just the right students into their programs.

Tisch turned to technology, specifically the FileMaker Platform, to help them manage their elaborate admissions process. For years, they had been using a mobile system that had been designed internally on FileMaker Go. Eventually, their system began to struggle to keep up with the ever-changing nature and growing complexity of their work. They approached The Support Group to help them efficiently redesign their admissions system.

The Nebraska Forest Service (NFS) first approached us to help them reduce redundancies and centralize their data so that they can focus on protecting their natural forest resources and educating their community. In addition to providing resources and training for volunteer fire departments, hosting workshops for the public and offering grants to communities, schools and other organizations that help manage and protect the trees and forests of Nebraska, NFS also tracks the number of wildfires that occur across the state. Many state and federal agencies require wildfires to be reported. And, recording the wildfires as well as the response efforts of the local volunteer fire departments helps NFS coordinate and provide a variety of federal and state grants to those volunteer fire departments.

Keyes North Atlantic (KNA) provides design and installation service and maintenance for electrical, heating, cooling, alarm and automation systems. They've been serving clients in Greater Boston and the surrounding areas since 1952. From gas-powered generators and high-efficiency heating solutions to thermal solar and variable refrigerant flow systems, they do it all including designing and engineering the projects. They offer a wide range of services while demonstrating the highest level of professionalism and excellence with every customer and project. They're able to maintain workflow efficiency and exceed customer expectations with the help of a workplace innovation platform – FileMaker.

The West Side Montessori School (WSMS) has been offering a Montessori program for early learners since 1963. The school has grown from fifteen students to over one hundred and they also offer a teacher education program (WSMS-TEP) for adult learners training to become Montessori teachers. Based on the Upper West Side of New York City, they also have locations in New Jersey and Beijing China. In 2015, they renovated part of the children’s gymnasium into an adult learning space for their WSMS-TEP students. Needless to say, growth and development are important to the founders, faculty and students, both young and young at heart. And so we knew a Workplace Innovation Platform, like FileMaker, would facilitate that growth.

If you've ever planned an event, you can appreciate the immense amount of organization, coordination and communication required to effectively manage all aspects of the logistics. Technology, when leveraged effectively, can be extremely helpful in the process. Oftentimes event planners don't understand when and/or how to implement technology to streamline and automate tasks and information.

The prestigious University of California at Berkeley (UCB) came to us to help them streamline their event planning and management systems. The University Development and Alumni Relations department is responsible for generating and maintaining support for the university through various outreach initiatives including events for the Chancellor and fundraisers. The benefits of these programs circulate back to resources for the students and help the university to maintain its position as a world-famous institution.

As you may know, The Support Group has been offering FileMaker consulting services for over 30 years. So when it came to finding the best software platform to run nearly every aspect of our business, where did we turn? To the FileMaker Platform, of course!

We needed a framework for tracking our sales leads and customers, managing our projects, invoicing our production plus layers and layers of reporting. Our Vice President of Technology, Vince Dolan, was given the herculean task of architecting and building the system we affectionately call, Harry.  The name was inspired by a dog from the animated television series, Stanley.

Behind the Gloss

Gloss Studio provides photo re-touching services to a number of well-known brands within the fashion and beauty industry. An eye for detail and quality are essential in this line of business, but running the business as smoothly as possible is also important. A lot goes into creating the attractive images we see in marketing materials, a lot of communication, that is. Once the photos are received from the photographers, there is a slew of messages between the producers and re-touchers at Gloss Studio as they turn raw images into digitally re-touched works of art. Documenting, tracking and reporting the work became cumbersome within FileMaker Pro and so they asked The Support Group to help organize and streamline some of their workflows.