Database Management

Capital Area Community Media Center

What are Databases?

• Why would I use a database? Why not use a spreadsheet?

• Spreadsheets are optimized for calculations, number crunching –

databases are for creating relationships between and sorting data.

• Databases streamline the entry, tracking, and reporting of data.

• Databases allow you to cross-reference different types of information.

• Databases allow you to create many types of reports/displays/documents

for different audiences and different purposes.

Examples of Databases

• Contact Client Databases

• Mailing lists

• Volunteer tracking
• Contact information

• Availability

• Areas of Expertise

• Asset and Resource Tracking

• Auto Generate Reminders

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Examples of Databases (cont’d)

• Information and Referral

• A resource list maintained by multiple organizations

• Needs frequent updating

• Donation Databases

• Record donation details / Track a history of donor details

• Create lists of potential/current donors

• Define multiple uses for single donation

• Generate donation reports

Planning – questions to consider

• What type of database do I need?

• Online or offline

• Ease of backups

• What kind of data am I tracking?

• Client information

• Grant and proposal information

• Contact lists

• Donor Information

• Event History / Registration

Planning – questions to consider (cont’d)

• Who will work on it?

• One author / Multiple authors

• Multiple workstations

• Home access

• What are my needs?

• Easy access to statistical information

• Types of reports generated

• What can my organization support?

• IT infrastructure

• Freeware/shareware/packages

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Planning – questions to consider (cont’d)

• How will the database be maintained?

• Who will need to access the database and how will the do it?

• If not generated automatically, who will generate reports?

• How can we safeguard against data loss?

Choosing Software

• Make sure that when choosing software:

• Your staff/volunteers feel comfortable using it

• It is easy to learn

• It can work on the computers you have in your organization

• It can import and export data between other software

• It comes with support and tutorials or

• It has a good online development community

• It has templates that can be used but are flexible enough to change

Examples of Database Software

• Microsoft Access (or OpenOffice - free)

• Easy to save in files that can be emailed, shared, saved to disk

• No maintenance required – no IT support needed

• MySQL
• Web-based, open-source (free)

• Multiple users, multiple contributors, many types of reports and output

• Requires a running web server – hosting services often offer it for free

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Collecting Data

• Plan to collect as much as possible

• Difficult to collect more once you’re already started

• Query for only as much as you need

• Naming conventions
• Be sure to name data fields in a consistent manner within the database

• Are the hard copies of your data labeled in the same manner as your database?

• Do the units in your hard copies correspond to the units in your database?

• Keep a record of changes, history, and data conventions – a manual for your
database.

Database Hierarchy

• Database File - the main file that encompasses

the entire database

• Table - a collection of data about a specific topic

• Field - categories of data within a table

• Datatype - the properties of the data (text,

integer, time/date, etc)

• Value - the actual data

Example Hierarchy

• File – database.dmb

• Table - donors

• Field - lastname

• Datatype - text

• Value - Robertson

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Database Design

1. Identify all data you need to collect

2. Identify data relationships (tables)

3. Break information into granular pieces (fields)

Database Design – Identify Data

What data do you need to collect? Example – outreach projects & volunteers

• Project Info • Volunteer Info

• Name/Title • Names

• Dates • Contact Info

• Locations • Interests

• Leader • Projects

Database Design – Data Relationships

Basic rule of thumb: keep things separate!

• One-to-one relationships

• Information is directly related, no separation needed

• Examples: user –> email address, outreach project -> name

• One-to-many relationships
• When one record may be referenced multiple times

• Example: outreach project –> leader/contact

• Many-to-many relationships

• When many records from one table are related to many records from another

• Example: projects -> volunteers

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Database Design – Data Relationships (cont’d)
Basic rule of thumb: keep things separate!

Projects Volunteers Project Volunteers

ID ID ProjectID

Name Name VolunteerID

Date Started Contact Info

Location Interests

LeaderID

Database Design – Granular Data

Basic rule of thumb: keep things separate!
Granularity gives you the same information in smaller chunks – makes information
more usable, useful, sortable, and allows you to create many different types of
displays.

Volunteers (OLD) Volunteers (Granular)

ID ID

Name First Name

Contact Info Last Name

Interests Address

Phone

Email

Interests

Database Design – Granular Data (cont’d)

Basic rule of thumb: keep things separate!

Volunteers (Granular) Volunteers (MORE Granular)

ID ID

First Name First Name

Last Name Last Name

Address Address (Street)

Phone Address (City)

Email Address (State)

Interests Address (ZIP)

Phone (Home)

Phone (Cell)

Email

Interests

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Using Data – Queries and Sorts

• Establish the purpose – what kind of information product am I creating?

Who is the audience? What kind of data will they need?

• Don’t be tempted to overwhelm your user with information just because it’s
in the database – only give them what they need.

• Once you know what data you need to display, you know what kind of
query (search) you have to write.

Microsoft Access Tutorial - Pt.1 - Starting

• Creating New, and Opening Existing, Databases

• In this tutorial we will ask you to

open a Blank Access database. Click on
the “Blank Access” button, then OK.

• While you can often use the wizards

and templates for most needs
you may not be able to use them
at certain times.

• You’ll also need to be able to adapt

the fields in the wizards - most of them
are written in a business model.

Microsoft Access Tutorial - Pt. 2 - Making a Table

• Click on “Create table in Design View”

• Design View is an easier method of

setting up fields for your table
before actually adding any data.

• In the leftmost column, write the name

of the field. You want to use.
If this were a database to track information
for events, then we would use fields
such as Location, EventName, StartDate,
EndDate, StartTime, EndTime, Attendees,
and Staff.

• Cool Data Tip: This is stage where you

will set up conventions for
cross-referencing data later.

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Microsoft Access Tutorial - Pt.3 - Inputting Data

• In the Design View, we can define the field names

and the data type for each field. For instance,
when we set up a StartDate or an EndDate,
we won’t need a full text input, but a
“Date/Time” input.

• This also lets Access know what kind of Data

it is dealing with when you create relationships
between tables.

Microsoft Access Tutorial Pt. 4 - Relationships

• In the database window view, click on Tools then

Relationships

• Select the tables you want to link together and

selecting Add

• Drag the primary key of the Parent table, and drop it in

the same field as the Child table

• Select Enforce Referential Integrity

• Click Create and Save the Relationship

Microsoft Access Tutorial - Pt. 5 - Queries

• Double click Create Query in Design View

• Select a table that you wish to choose

your data from

• Select the Fields you wish to view

• Drag and Drop the Fields into each column

• Click Run from the Query menu.

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Microsoft Access Tutorial - Pt. 6 - Reports

• Switch to the Database Window. You can do this

by pressing F11.

• Click on Reports under Objects on the left side of

the screen.

• Double click on Create Report Using Wizard

• Select the fields you wish to view. Click Next

• Select if you would like to group your files. Repeat

this for as many groupings as you would like.

• Select the layout, paper orientation, and style of

the Report. Click Next

• Name your Report, select Preview the Report

• Select Finish.

Data Glossary
• database: an organized collection of data (.dbf)

• view: a "window" to a database or databases (.apr)

• form or screen: a way of looking at information in a view

• file: an organization of views for a database(s)

• join: databases can be "joined" into one view file, so that information from more than one
database for one record can be viewed at one time

• report: a view that shows data from multiple records on a single "page"

• record: central entry into a database (ours is a person)

• fields: information categories for individual records

• finding: isolating and displaying a set of records based on data in one of more fields

• sorting: reorganizing a set of records in the order you prescribe

• read-only: a file that can only be read; in a read-only database, changes cannot be made to the
records, but view changes may be allowed.

References

• Microsoft Access Tutorial

http://www.bcschools.net/staff/AccessHelp.htm