Quick Base improvements…Visio style reports & Automations

I don’t usually comment on new features and functions in Quick Base as they send out a monthly newsletter, however there are two recent features that are VERY HELPFUL.  Anyone using any tables that use a STATUS (or other pick list) that is updated over time, you should have a play with the new “Visio” style reports (Kanban) that are now available. For example a project with tasks that go from not started, in progress, complete, on-hold etc. work very nicely and are much easier to visualise and execute progress for the end user. Secondly, the automation functionality is very powerful for saving your users time and clicks when one event always makes other events happen.  For example, every new project has 3-4 tasks…when you make a project complete, all the tasks should be marked complete…if you cancel X some other record Y should be deleted or modified etc. If you have questions or think these things may be helpful, have a go or give me a call and we can discuss your use case and how to utilise these great new features that Quick Base has… Read More »Quick Base improvements…Visio style reports & Automations

Useful Apps in the Quick Base App Exchange

Let’s be honest, the vast majority of apps created in Quick Base are proprietary, industry or customer specific apps and they are fiercely protected.  They are the secret sauce for many process focused businesses, they are literally some of the core IP of the business.  So it is no surprise, there is no way those great apps are going to be posted on the app exchange for anyone to download and use.  Many of the apps on Quick Base Exchange are thin, half-baked apps that are worth exactly what you have to pay – nothing! Having said that there are two times when some of the apps are quite useful.  First, when you are a newbie and just getting started with Quick Base, especially if you are going it alone, it is useful to install and play around with a few apps to get a sense for Quick Base’s capabilities and some of the tricks. ABC PROJECT MANAGER 3 For example, ABC Project Manager 3 created by Kirk Trachy is a simple example of how you can use Quick Base to keep… Read More »Useful Apps in the Quick Base App Exchange

Helpful real world Quick Base formula examples

Here are a few formulas you can use to make your reports and QuickBase a bit better.   First off, many times in reports you have dates but want to view the month name and have the report shown in sequence…here is a simple CASE formula to accomplish just that Second, using NESTED IF statements will solve many of your issues in QuickBase.  Here is the syntax and an example for a NESTED IF formula to set up what do do based on the field value in the “Status” field… Third, many times you are going to want to make actions based on whether a field is empty or NULL.  This is a bit complicated in QuickBase because you need to do the evaluation differently when the Field Type if TEXT. For most Field Types you can simply use  However if the Field Type is TEXT you need to evaluate it differently One thing to note, in the Field Properties for NUMERIC fields, there is a tickbox that lets you choose Treat blank values as “0” in calculations.  This is important in the IsNull calculations…you… Read More »Helpful real world Quick Base formula examples

Can Quick Base data be stored locally in Australia?

Most Australian companies are happy to use cloud based apps and SaaS solutions.  They trade the hardware, management and backup tasks for simplicity, scalability and cost based on use.  Most businesses are not concerned about the physical location of their data as… it is simply somewhere “in the cloud.”  However, some customers with very sensitive data may have a preference or even a requirement to store their data locally.  Like many US based cloud based software companies, Quick Base’s data centre and servers are in the US.  So, the short answer to the question is your “data” is always going to be processed in the US mainland.  Having said that, a practical solution for many customers is to maintain a copy of the data in Australia. MAINTAINING A COPY OF THE QUICK BASE DATA LOCALLY There are three main options to maintain a copy of the data in Australia – API tools, WebHook tools and an ODBC connector.  First, Quick Base provides API tools and functionality to copy the data either in mass via the API call “API_DoQuery”. A link… Read More »Can Quick Base data be stored locally in Australia?