Digitising document workflows in your company with Claris FileMaker – fast, secure, and on your own terms

Why digitise your document workflow?

The traditional document workflow in a company – printing, signing, scanning, and passing papers from hand to hand – is the source of many problems:

❌ Lost or damaged documents
❌ Unclear approval status
❌ Delays and errors when retyping data
❌ Difficulties with remote access
❌ No version control

A digital document workflow eliminates these problems and also:

✅ Speeds up processes in the company
✅ Increases transparency and security
✅ Facilitates remote work and data sharing
✅ Enables automation of approvals and archiving
✅ Reduces operational costs

Why Claris FileMaker?

Claris FileMaker is a low-code platform that allows you to build custom business applications – without writing thousands of lines of code. It’s perfect as a document management system because:

🔧 You can build a solution exactly tailored to your processes
🔄 Easily integrate it with other systems (e.g. CRM, ERP, email, e-signature)
📱 Access it from a computer, tablet, or phone – even offline
🔐 Full control over security and permissions

What can a digital document workflow look like?

Example: Offer and contract workflow in a small service company

Creating an offer – an employee fills in a FileMaker form based on a conversation with the client.
Generating a PDF – the system automatically creates a PDF document with the ready-made offer.
Sending and e-signing – the client receives an email with a link to the document and signs it online.
Approval and archiving – the signed offer is archived, and the system updates the status and notifies the team.
Handover to execution – the data is automatically sent to the orders or production system.

Integration with popular tools

Claris FileMaker supports integration via:

🌐 API (e.g. with DocuSign, Adobe Sign, Symfonia, Google Workspace)
🤝 Claris Connect – easily connect FileMaker to other systems
🧩 Plugins and scripts for generating documents, sending emails, archiving

Thanks to this, you can link your document workflow with other processes, such as:

Automatically issuing invoices after a contract is signed
Creating tasks in Asana or Trello after document approval
Sending documents to the accounting or ERP system

Advantages over ready-made SaaS solutions

Ready-made e-document workflow platforms have their advantages, but often:

Offer too many (or too few) features
Are difficult to customise
Have limited integration options
Are priced per user/month – which can be expensive

With FileMaker, you decide what you want and how it should work.

The cost of building a FileMaker system depends on process complexity and the number of users. For small businesses, it's often comparable to an annual SaaS subscription, but with the difference that:

🧠 You have full control
💡 The application is yours
🚀 You can develop it in any direction

What can be automated?

✅ Document approval by multiple people
✅ Email and SMS notifications
✅ Cloud archiving
✅ Generating document numbers and registers
✅ Integration with accounting, WMS or CRM systems
✅ Versioning and change history

Summary

Claris FileMaker is the ideal solution for companies that want to improve their document workflow – not by adapting to ready-made tools, but by creating a system tailored to their needs. With digitisation:

📈 You save time and money
📂 You maintain order in your documents
👥 Your employees know what needs to be done and when