Participant mailing database

[runtheeast]

I am working on improving/redoing a database I have been using and need some input as to the best way to design my database.



My company does 80+ events annually and I am able to produce a CSV export with participant information (name, address, etc.) and store that information to be able to send out mailings promoting future events. The 2 problems I run into the most:

1. If you did an event 5 years ago (and never since), I don't want to keep sending you stuff. So, I need to devise a way to record either the event date or the date when a record is inserted so I can then later go back and use a query to purge the database of old records.

2. Duplicates- Tom Smith may register as Tom, Thomas, or Tommy and may put his address as St., St, or Street. All of these produce duplicates, or if he does multiple events (as many do), I have him in there multiple times. I am currently using street address and zip as a compound PK which helps but doesn't totally solve this. However, by doing that, I am creating problem #1 above.

So, I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions on how to better do this database. I am fine with scrapping the whole thing and starting over (what I'm thinking I'll need to do anyway). I can reproduce the CSV files going back a few years, so no problems there.

Thanks!

[June7]

No 1 should be easy, 2 is not. Cleaning out duplications where the 'duplicate' is not an exact copy is near impossible to automate, especially with data as variable as names and addresses. This is why periodicals (especially the freebies) might have a 'If you no longer want to receive or are receiving duplicate mailings, please notify us or go to our website and remove the subscription ID' blurb on them.