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change, but with sufficient data reliability that any change will not adversely affect information already entered.

Knowing what you want your database to do and having a vision of its final product or products dramatically affects its upfront design. For this reason, in my design consultation with my customers, I emphasize the end product's impact on design time. I make it clear that if the customer wants additional reports and products not already agreed upon, those new functions could require design changes and more expense.

3. Keep meticulous database design records for every object you create.

As you make your tables, keep a note of your field formats and special rules. When you create a new form, keep track of what table or query that form is based on. For relational databases (two or more tables connected by a common field), keep design notes on what tables and fields are involved. Do the same with reports and any macros you design to navigate your database.

It is tempting to whiz through database design and to fix problems on the fly. However, all this whizzing and fixing in the end will cause design problems down the road, especially during design additions or modifications. MS Access has built-in tools that prevent damage to the database, and you can even run the database documenter to troubleshoot. However, there is simply no substitute for journaling your work.

4. Test the database design thoroughly.

Enter only a few representative records. Test your forms, queries, macros and reports. Even the best designed database has bugs. The time to get bugs fixed is before the customer enters tons of records.

In the end good database design is like good design for a bridge. Before the first rivet is put in place, the designer knows everything that needs to be known about the work the bridge needs to do: its traffic load, how it must sit on the river bed, etc. Likewise, in database design, before the first bit of data is entered, the database designer needs to know everything the database needs to produce: the reports and management information that makes our working day so much easier.

Learn more about this author, Jerry Curtis.
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