Question:
I have to design a database that will be used to do Business Plans. I know how to create the tables , I am just not sure if what I am planning will work.

I need to have various fields that will be text fields that the client will have to complete. My big concern which I am not certain about is: If I create a lot of tables and I set the relationship, is the best way to set it going to be the That the client Number will have to be put into every table?

Answer:

It all depends on what "business plan" means to you. In my experience, every project is different and therefore business planning requires more flexibility than a relational database can easily provide. Maybe you are working in a field where projects and business plans can be sufficiently standardized.

Knowing "how to create the tables" is not as important as knowing "when".

Any pile of facts can be put into a table.  To get the most out of Access' features and functions, you need to spend the time to normalize your data. This is best accomplished by first turning off the computer, then picking up pencil and paper and drawing boxes and lines.

Each box represents a different "entity" (a concept about which you wish to store information).  Take a look at the topic of normalization to get the entities down.

Then look for how the entities are related.  These are the lines.

For example, if you were building an Order Entry system, one Person (an entity) could have zero, one or more Orders (another entity).  And one Order could have one or more Order Items (another entity).

The idea behind the database is that we brake the standard business plan down in simple questions and that the answers get pulled through to a standard report , which will cover all the sections of s business plan. I took the basic Business Plan template from Word and I am using some of the info from there. My Switch Board Items will be:

Executive summary and table of contents .. Personal information . Details of personal assets Details of personal liabilities. Business description Market analysis .. Marketing and sales activities .. Products and ser vices... Operations . Source and application of funding Financial data . Notes Appendices or exhibits . Administrative considerations Market Analysis . Marketing and Sales Activities

My big thing is that I am just not sure how to link all the tables up , so that each record (Single Client) will be linked to all the tables. I also have to design it so that it can generate financials (cash-flow, income statement and balance sheet) from data the client provides. The idea behind this is to help young business, who does not have any knowledge on business plans to be able to complete the questions and have a business plan that they understand and that the banks will consider for funding as well.

The business plan template from Word, *will not give you* the design of the table structures in Access. To design the table structures in Access, you need to use a non-trivial, non-intuitive process called "database normalization". If you do not know what this is, you need to learn about it *before you go any further*. Google the Access groups for that term, there will be lots of references