Although you can always make changes to a database, a little upfront planning before you create a database can save you significant time and headaches later on.
Here are some planning steps and guidelines for creating a well-designed database.
- Determine the Purpose of Your Database: Write down a list of the reports and information that you want to come out of the database
- Determine the Fields You Need: Think about the data type for each field. Will the field contain text information? Numbers? Dates? Write down the data type next to each field.
- Determine the Tables You Need: Each table in the database should be based on only one subject. By breaking each subject into its own table, you avoid redundant information and make the database more organized.
- Determine the Primary Key: Each record in a table should have a primary key that uniquely identifies it.
- Determine the Relationship between Fields: One of the linked fields should be the table's primary key.
- Sketch a Diagram of your Database: Draw a box for each of your tables and write the tables’ field names inside that box. Draw a line between the related fields in the tables.
Guidelines for Good Database Design |
Each field or column should contain the same type of information |
This makes the table more meaningful, more organized, and easier to understand. |
Try to break up information as much as possible |
This gives you more power to sort, filter, and manipulate the list. |
Use multiple tables so that you don’t duplicate information in the same table |
Organize your information into several tables—each one containing fields related to a specific subject—rather than one large table containing fields for a wide range of topics. |
Don’t use duplicate field names |
Duplicate field names can cause problems when entering and sorting information. |