Competitor Intelligence Database

[cperry88]

I am working on creating a database that stores competitor information. One of the fields in my competitor products table is Price. The price point for competitor products changes periodically and I would like to store this trend. Do I have to add new fields every time I receive new pricing information (ex. Fields 'Price-2011', 'Price-2012', 'Price-2013') or am I able to update my sole Price field and have it store the data from prior dates? In other words, can I store the price of their product for 2011 and update that for 2012, without losing my data point for 2011?

[June7]

Not new fields, new records. Probably need a field for EffectiveDate or ActiveYN.

[cperry88]

Thanks June7.

Still a little foggy. As an example let's say I have the following fields and records:

Part Price Effective Date
XYZ $120.59 2/2/2011

I have now obtained pricing for XYZ that shows it has decreased to $115.50 with an effective date of 5/1/2013. Am I able to, without adding new fields, update the $120.59 record with the new price point, and still have the $120.59 stored in the Price field? Maybe I am not understanding how the Effective Date field operates. My main goal is to be able to look 9 months down the road at a report that shows the trend of XYZ product's price levels, without needing a new field generated every time new pricing information is received (in this example Price - 2/2/2011 and Price - 5/1/2013).

Thanks

[June7]

You would not 'update' the $120.59 record, you would have two records for XYZ.

This should not affect existing orders already associated with the $120.59 price.

The EffectiveDate field just tells you which is the later price. This can be used to limit choices in a combobox, although a Yes/No field would be easier to filter with.

The EffectiveDate field will also be useful to build a graph with.

[cperry88]

Hey June7,

Thanks - I believe I understand now. I was trying to avoid duplicating records for part XYZ but I see where that cannot be avoided when discussing price changes and the need to see that trend. You've helped immensely. Thanks a lot.