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  1. #1
    RichardR is offline Novice
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    Table content and relationships help

    Hi there,



    I'm new to database development and was hoping that someone might be kind enough to tell me if I'm on the right track with my tables - in terms of how they are made up / linked together?

    A relationship report is attached to show what I've done thus far!

    In essence I work for a small management consulting firm and I'm attempting to build a CRM system to track our clients, campaigns and the sales pipeline. Any help or advice would be gratefully received. Please let me know if you need any further info.

    Thanks in advance,

    Richard
    Attached Files Attached Files

  2. #2
    CJ_London is online now VIP
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    difficult question to answer without knowing a lot more about what the crm is required to do.

    some general comments

    avoid spaces and non alphanumeric characters (£) in field and table names. avoid numbers as first characters in table names

    not easy to see but you appear to be confusing relationships with joins, they are different things. Relationships define the rules of how the tables work together. So for example you have a relationship between contact and proposal - fair enough. But you also have a relationship between contact>industry>proposal. Also Contact>company>Industry>proposal, and looks like several other routes as well via service and campaign.

    As you have it set up the company could be linked to industry A the contact to industry B, and the proposal to industry C. Is this what is intended?

  3. #3
    orange's Avatar
    orange is offline Moderator
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    I agree with Ajax - more info needed to make comments on tables and relationships.
    Do you have a requirements document ( or similar) identifying what your CRM should do/should support?

  4. #4
    RichardR is offline Novice
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    Thanks Ajax, thanks Orange,

    Thank you for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to help me. While I don't have a spec. down on paper, I'm happy to set out my key objectives which may make my 'spaghetti-like' diagram a little clearer!

    As briefly as possible, I'm ideally wanting the database to:

    1) Store details about our clients [company] and the contacts within each company [contact] including the company's industry (e.g. telecoms) and the contact's interest (e.g. database contract management).

    2) I then want to record a marketing initiative [campaign] such as a seminar and identify the event's focus (eg "contract management in the telecoms sector) and note the contacts who attended.

    3) The next stage would be to ID those who represent a business opportunity [lead] and then, when deemed appropriate, submit a [proposal]. If the proposal is accepted, it then becomes a [project] which would be worked on by consultants.

    4) Finally, the [sales] would show the details of the fees charged, for different elements of the project, delivered by the different consultants.

    I should probably point out that consultants suggested in the proposal may be different to those who end up doing the work. As clear as mud? I hope this gives you the gist of what I'm trying to create!

    I really appreciate your expertise and I look forward to hearing your views. Please ask away if this does not answer the key questions.

    Best wishes,

    Richard

  5. #5
    orange's Avatar
    orange is offline Moderator
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    A few comments/thoughts:

    Is this your first database?
    Are you familiar with database concepts --Normalization, indexes, Primary and Foreign keys???
    Are you familiar with Business analysis? And Feasibility Review?
    free tutorial from BA_Experts re Business Analysis. BA_Experts have several free youtube videos --all are great, factual with some humor. Here's another on Requirements Gathering , and one for Process Analysis

    Why are you building/developing this? Have you considered a commercial package or open source/free?
    It's difficult to make such a decision if you don't have your requirements defined/documented.

    I'm not trying to dissuade you, but there are several packages "out there". And building your own may be a great learning exercise, but you have to determine if building a CRM for your organization is the best use of your time and/or best utility for the organization.
    Things like ease of use, user interface, backup/recovery, user groups, faqs.... are often part of the package and have been tested/critiqued by many orgs in different businesses. Just sayin'

    Good luck with your decisions and project.

  6. #6
    RichardR is offline Novice
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    Hi Orange,

    Thanks for your feedback. Yes, this is the first database I've designed although I've been using commercial/open source systems for many years.

    I'm familiar with the concept of primary & foreign keys but not too sure when to form composite keys and link tables. I've watched a few training videos but have not yet found the answers I need! If you know any experts in London who might be willing to give me some guidance ...

    Thanks,

    Richard

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