] To say it very
basically, a database is a program that allows you to save and
find information. You can then group and analyze your information
and get summaries (especially of numbers).
The information is organized in 4
ways;
1) Files: A file is similar to a file
folder. It's a place to keep related information.
2) Records: A record is all the
information you keep on a person, item or transaction. A file
would consist of a number of records - like the pages in a file
folder.
3) Fields: A field is the place you keep
specific parts of a record. Name, address, and phone number are
examples of three often used fields.
4) Layouts: A layout is a way of viewing
the information you've collected, both on screen and on paper.
[Now that the icky stuff is over, let's get down to what they
can do for you.]
I made a file I called "Phonebook" to
keep track of the people I come in contact with. Aside from the
usual fields consisting for Name, Address, City, State & Zip
code, I've included some other interesting fields. I have a
"Notes" field where I keep general info on the person. You're not
limited to just a few words, you can type huge amounts of
information here. In my "Letter" field, I can type the person
(guess what) a letter - without having to quit and go into a word
processing program. Of course you can cut and paste just like any
other program. So you can take part of the letter to one person
and include it in a letter to another person. A "Codes" field has
just numbers in it. The numbers refer to specific topics of
interest. For example a "1" might mean the person is a musician
and a "2" might mean they are an artist. And, of course, I can
create mailing labels in this file.
In FileMaker, fields can contain text,
numbers, dates, pictures, calculations, and summaries. I used the
pictures format for a field and created a file called 'Pics'. In
this file I keep the same kinds of pictures you might keep in your
scrapbook file. But I can view more than one clipping at a time. I
also use codes to identify similar pictures, and there is a field
that describes the pictures. It's really easy for me to find all
pictures that deal with stars, for example.
Once I got the hang of calculations, I
started using them a lot. For example, in my customers file I can
figure out what a club is likely to earn when I do a show for
them. I just type in their seating capacity, ticket price, dinner
charge, and any free drinks. That way I can determine if I should
charge them more or less than my usual fee. Before MacInTax, I
made my own file to figure my taxes for me. I even made one that
helps me figure postage - the fewest number of stamps of which
denominations.
I'll be working for a bunch of doctors in
Reno at Christmas time. I need some doctor jokes. I'll just open
up my "Comedy" file and perform a find for the words 'doctor',
'nurse', and 'hospital' to find the jokes I need.
Where did I put that old LAMALUG
membership file? I look in my "Disks" file. Since I keep all my
disks in numerical order, I can find the disk.
I keep a mailing list of people who want
to be notified of my upcoming shows. I improved that one recently.
I have it look up the city and state (from another file) when I
type in the zip code. And I have it find duplicate entries as well
as sort and count by zip so I can take advantage of bulk mailing
rates.
I save magazine articles I find
interesting, but I could never find them when I needed them. So I
created a "Magazine" file. I cut the articles out and put them in
a 3-ring binder & use my own page numbers. Now I can find any
article and I often find quite a few related articles. Someday I
hope to scan all the material into the computer and do away with
the 3-ringers.
Did you ever put something away really
well? So well you couldn't find it? Now I code my 10 favorite
locations and keep track of what goes into them. All I have to do
now is remember to update the file when I move stuff. So far I
haven't done too well with that.
A large insurance company located here in
town had trouble keeping track of their case folders as they moved
around the building. Some files would be missing for up to a
month! They came up with a system of attaching bar code strips to
folders and locations such as employee's desks. Two times a day all folders are scanned
along with their location. That info is transferred to their
database. That way most any folder can be located within 1
day. (Update: These days what used to be paper documents are on a central computer server and available to everyone in the company simultaneously. Approval signatures are handled electronically.)
One of our members has a company that
sells food and medication for exotic birds to pet stores nation
wide. They asked me to create a system for taking orders by phone
from their customers and generate the billings and mailing labels.
It had to include automatic lookups of prices, shipping rates,
discounts for large orders, previously recorded customer
information and to generate quarterly reports for tax purposes. I
think it works pretty well, but you'd have to ask them how they
like it.
I use FileMaker and my databases every
day. And I really enjoy creating new files. These are my computer
games. See what a database can do for you.