Designing the database

Work out what you obsession from your database. Once you know what you nonexistence the database to do its stuff, invite database experts to advise about the best options for achieving your goals.

Accuracy comes logically if the structure helps the user

Give operators unexpected-scuff options to click upon, in view of that that they don't have to type anything in full each period.

Leave room for merged records.

Include fields for commentary remarks in your database. Otherwise operators will jot explanation beside in adding together blank fields, potentially causing problems.

In most PC-based or online right of right of admission running systems, this is all done for you.

Make the database as swift as reachable

You compulsion to be skillful to generate a pick list of data and put together a targeted group of records to profit the precise list you approach to use for your mailshot (or quarrel).

You must be clever to control mail-merge operations, combining the database when your word meting out or email software, to send letters or emails to lists of people.

You should be accomplished to leave suddenly one label for a single envelope, or 2,000 labels for a mailshot, without any complications.

Each customer's habit in records needs to be readily accessible

This helps ensure you reach not send the same communication twice.

Use categories, codes and key data fields to organize the data as a quantity

Categories and identifiers make a clean breast you to filter in, and filter out, the records you dependence for analysis or for targeting a marketing mixture uphill.

Make use of validated fields, where without help one of a range of codes can be entered. For example, your 'gender' ground would agree 'm', 'f' or 'na' (recommendation not handy), but would bar any optional postscript admittance.

Use dates to generate become olden-longing data

For example, a person's age.

Make certain that the design achieves your objectives

At each stage of the design process, check that what is delivered meets your each and every one specification and needs.

A delightful database requires you to take over as tiny data as realizable to fulfill your objectives.