| As with any project, taking time to plan ahead now will | | | | ahead to what you will want to do with this information |
| save you and your business a lot of time down the | | | | later. This information, for example, can be used to |
| road. A common mistake with database development | | | | estimate shipping costs for the following year based |
| is that the designer fails to think ahead. This usually | | | | on the previous year’s costs. |
| leads to the development of a database that is unable | | | | Once you have completed your list, it’s time to |
| to handle all the needs of the company. Unfortunately, | | | | begin the basic design of the database. At this point, |
| once a database is created and implemented, it is very | | | | many designers begin to think about form creation and |
| hard to go back and make changes. This is why | | | | reports. However, the most important step following |
| planning ahead is so crucial. I have provided a few tips | | | | brainstorming is in developing your tables. Once these |
| below that will help you to avoid these common | | | | tables have been created, they will be difficult to |
| mistakes. With a little planning and some hard work, | | | | change later. For this reason, take your time and make |
| your database will be able to work at its full potential. | | | | sure you have everything you need. |
| Before even looking at your computer, sit down with a | | | | The next step is to test your tables. Take information |
| tablet of paper and brainstorm. Create a list of all the | | | | that you already have available to you (previous sales |
| things that you want your database to do (i.e. inventory | | | | logs, etc.) and see if all the information can be placed |
| tracking, client contact, billing, shipping, etc.). Once you | | | | somewhere that will be easy to access. This will |
| have done this, create a sub-list for each of the items | | | | ensure that you can at least collect what you have |
| you came up with from the previous step. This list | | | | already been collecting. |
| should include any items or useful information that will | | | | As a final piece of advice, add a “comment” |
| need to be collected. For example, if you would like to | | | | field to your tables so that notes can be made |
| track shipping, you will probably want to collect | | | | pertaining to the data. This is especially helpful when |
| information such as: date shipped, method of shipping, | | | | trying to look back at information later. A simple |
| price of shipping, shipping details such as weight and | | | | comment can help to clarify information that might |
| dimensions, date delivered, etc. Remember to think | | | | otherwise be very difficult to understand. |