LANDSCAPE DESIGNER'S BUSINESS FLOURISHES

Flexible Freeform Database askSam Keeps Information Organized

by Marti Remington

Republished with permission from PC Today, March 1995

http://www.pc-today.com

     As a consulting architect and landscape designer, Raul Alvarez successfully practices what he calls "guerrilla warfare."  Working from his home office in Key Biscayne, Fla., Alvarez tackles small projects himself; he assembles a work team for larger assignments.  His small business, Environmental Design Consultants, attracts clients from across North, South, and Central America.

     One weapon in particular serves Alvarez in nearly all aspects of his business: askSam, a freeform database from askSam Systems.

A PLANT INDEX - Alvarez has compiled information on more than 1,400 of the plants he uses in designing landscapes.  No matter where his clients are located, Alvarez can quickly find the climatologically correct species to include in his drawings.

     He started using the database eight years ago, entering short records on plants, such as names of trees, shrubs, palms, etc., and noting whether they were fast or slow growing, deciduous or evergreen.

     "I put all that information in so I could say, 'I want a tree for a parking area that has yellow flowers in the spring,' " he says. askSam would give Alvarez the botanical names of those trees, as well as common names used in the areas in which he works.  Busera Simaruba, for instance, is called Gomba Limbo in the U.S., Almacigo in Cuba, and Indio Desnudo in Nicaragua.

     To find information on a plant, Alvarez can type in the botanical name, any of its common names, or the four-letter code name he uses on his drawings.  He also cross references books he uses on a regular basis.

     With the Windows version, Alvarez has begun scanning in text of newspaper articles he has amassed over the years.  In addition, he scans miscellaneous ideas and clippings into his Catchall file in askSam.

     Alvarez has ordered a color scanner. "I'm going to take all of my slides and prints of plants and bring them into askSam," he says.  For each record he'll have a picture of the whole plant, a close-up of its leaves, and of any flower and fruit.

ORGANIZED SPEED - Being organized has its advantages.  Alvarez remembers several years ago when a client from Puerto Rico called on December 28, needing a drawing from him by January 3.  

     After receiving a diskette of his client's plans (created in AutoCAD), it took Alvarez only two days to lay out an entire landscape suited to Puerto Rico.

     "I went into askSam and pulled out all of my parking trees, all of my accent plants, everything that lived in the Caribbean -- from my Caribbean list."  He made his selections and put their code words into the drawing.

     His client received the work on the morning of January 3, and the blueprint -- including landscaping -- was plotted in time for an afternoon presentation.

SEARCH & ASSEMBLE -  Unlike more structured databases, askSam can find information with partial-word searches.  For example, Alvarez once needed a particular contractor to dig holes for trees he was planting, but couldn't remember the contractor's name, and the company wasn't listed in the Yellow Pages.

     He opened his construction equipment file in askSam, typed BACK*, and viewed all hs contacts who has backhoe in their records.  He quickly found 'El Moro,' the local contractor he was looking for.

     Alvarez has enlisted askSam to find just about anything he needs on his hard disk.  In organizing an interior design project, he uses Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to record building areas, furniture purchases, and dates for shipping, approval, and installation.  But he can't search through Excel.

     "Now I copy all of that into askSam, into a particular project.  The whole spreadsheet," he laughs. "What I cannot do with Excel, I do with askSam."

     Alvarez says whenever he works at his computer, the askSam icon is "always on top." Whether he's using WordPerfect, Excel, or Quicken, he can easily reach his project files, plant and nursery files, 'to do' list, or his huge Rolodex -- which, with its flexible fields and auto dial feature, he prefers to a personal organizer.

     For Alvarez, the freeform database is an indispensable competitive weapon.  With it he can assemble a perfect set of plants, a locally based work crew, or a group of contacts from anywhere in the Americas.

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     Since this article was published, Mr. Alvarez has received his Masters of Landscape Architecture from Florida International University.  He has also been awarded the Commission for the Landscape Design for the Botanical Gardens in the Chankanaap Park in Cozumel, Mexico; and serves as a consultant for the beautification of the campuses of Florida International University.  

Raul Alvarez

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTANTS

710 Ridgewood Road

Key Biscayne  FL  33149

Phone:  305-361-5997

Fax: 305-361-2933

Email: RAULANA@worldnet.att.net

askSam Systems

Post Office Box 1428

Perry FL 32348

http://www.asksam.com

Email: info@asksam.com

Phone: (800) 800-1997  or  (850) 584-6590

Fax: (850) 584-7481