How BIG is to BIG when it comes to tables

[Gregpen]

I am looking to create a DB to track client information, I am not to sure what train of thought to follow. 1st up the data I collect from clients totals about 140 fields. these could be grouped into a number of catagories such as "Goods purchased - I am not selling these items to the client, I just need to know what they are purchasing for info puposes", "Personal Details - Such as Surname, Firstname, address etc. there may also be a need to include a previous address for the same client. Surname possibly being the only field needed to run a query on in this group", "Some financial info - Assests & Liabilities etc, some calculations". There are a few others as well, The problem is all this information is relevant to 1 application, as groups the info is of no use to me. So do I create numerous tables of related fields to try to speed things up or just one table to hold all info from one application. At present I take all this info down on paper, and when dealing with 100's of apps a month I would like to be able to recall an apps info quickly rather then searching 100's of paper apps. Thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thx to all in advance

 

[clares]

Hi

Database applications can be of varying sizes depending on the nature of your requirements. Perhaps, before considering a access development, is there a cheap 'off the shelve' solution on the market. If not Access is a powerful tool that uses 'relationships' to erradicate data reduncancy and duplication. I guess many well developed solution (depending on size of course) may contain many many tables, each containing many fields. The use of relationships (two dimensional tables) provides the ability not to enter a persons name twice, the relationships created makes it available in other areas of the system (very simplictic example).

Not sure of your 'Access' experience and knowledge, but a project like your sounds needs a great deal of thought in it construction and struture. Not sure if this helps

 

[blueshark]

Tables can be 2GB large (assuming you only have one table because access databases can only be 2GB). So you need not worry about running out of space. What you have to worry about is performance.

I agree that it may be worth a few hours of searching for an off the shelf product, but there is nothing better than having something that does exactly what you need it too; no more, no less.

Before you start building your database sit down and try to isolate each piece of information that you collect. I always try to avoid "holes" in the data sheet. If there are holes then I consider that information to be separate from and/or auxilllary to the primary (filled-in) information.

Through the use of forms and subforms you can have lots of tables and still only have one interface.