Re: Advice Needed on Designing a database

well, if the data is really that basic... for instance, do you need to store
just the amount pledged to give - and *not* the amount actually given each
week, month, year, whatever? do you need only a mailing address for each
member - or a physical address too? what if more than one member lives at
the same address, is it okay to list each separately with the address
essentially duplicated - or are you planning to use the database to generate
a mailing list, and don't want multiple mailings going to the same address?
and phone numbers / email addresses, are you sure you want to be able to
store only one of each, for each member - what about home phones, work
phones, cell phones, home email, work email?

as you can see, even seemingly simple data requires considerable thought
before creating a database. the only concrete suggestion i can give you,
based on the information in your post, is this: don't store a member's
age - unless you want to be constantly updating it! age is by definition a
calculated value, based on the time passed from date of birth to the present
(or any chosen date); as such it should not be stored as hard data in a
table. store each member's date of birth instead; you can calculate current
age whenever you need it, in a query, form, or report.

my only other suggestion is that you don't try to make the database itself
prevent "duplicate" member entries. instead suggest you use code on a data
entry form to check the first and last names and DOB of each new record
against existing records - and *warn* the user when it finds a match. then
leave it up to the user to decide if the new record should be added or not.
that will give you some flexibility just in case you actually have two John
Smiths born on the same date. if you have a very large membership, you can
add a middle-initial field, and include that in the data entry check, which
will provide even greater distinction between persons.

hth


"moving the database" <movingthedatabase@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:AF81807C-5FB3-4377-8331-1DD2A20EFCFC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello,

I'm trying to create a database for my church to store all the information
of each member: Lname, Fname, Age, Gender, Phone, Address, Email, ...
My objective for this is to be able to keep a record of each member and
their pledge amount. Also, avoid any members being entered twice (I cannot
use Social Security numbers). What would be your suggestion? Is there an
existing template or templates database that I can use? Thank you in
advance.

John


.

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