Thanks for your post.
I've read the 4 rules to normalization several times over
now.
Yes, before yesterday basically all I had was a
spreadsheet made in Access. Which doesn't really do
anything.
So, from the original table I made with the following
fields:contract#, contract name, our contact person, their
contact person, date recieved, start date, end date, route
date, completion, $ amount, contract type, account#, PO#
(if needed), and who entered the data, I've broken it down
into two tables thus far.
I removed all the date fields, and put them into their own
table. I also created a field ContractID in both tables
that is a autogenerated number and the primary key in the
original table. Then I created a relationship btw. the
ContractID fields in both tables.
I am on the right track with any of this?
Should I break that original table up even further? I
don't see the need to, but then again, I've never used
Access before, so I don't really know what I'm doing.

Would it be possible for you to elaborate on
the "contracts tracking" database you recently created?
Like tables involved, and their relationships btw. each
other?

Thanks for the help
-Justin

-----Original Message-----
Justin

Having just completed a "contracts tracking" system, I
feel your pain!

I'm concerned about your statement "I probably need to
create
relationships", and your description of the repeating
fields in the
ContractType table structure. By your description, it
sounds like you've
created ... a spreadsheet!

Access is a relational database. Unless you start with a
relational,
well-normalized data model, you will cause yourself (and
Access) some
serious headaches, trying to come up with work-arounds.

On the other hand, if you step back from the computer,
pick up paper and
pencil, and sketch out the things/categories
(aka "entities") about which
you are interested, the facts about ("attributes" of)
those things, and how
one thing is related to others ("relationships"), you
will find Access to
have many very useful tools and functions.

I urge you to look into "normalization"... (or have I
total mis-read your
post?)

--
Good luck

Jeff Boyce
Access MVP


"justin" wrote in
message
...
Ok, so I'm starting over from scratch. It seems like the
more I read the more confused I become.

Anyway, I need to create this database where we can
input
data about our contracts (specifically; contract#,
contract name, our contact person, their contact person,
date recieved, start date, end date, route date,
completion, $ amount, contract type, account#, PO#(if
needed), and who entered the data), then we need to be
able to see which contracts have not yet been completed.
That is to say, we need to track our contracts to know
which contracts have all the necessary signatures, and
which ones are still out in the field needing to be
signed.

So far, I've created two tables. One ContractType, has
one
field with the same heading, and twelve
different "records", one for each type of contract.
The other table, ContractInfo, has a field for each of
those catagories I've listed above.
We've created a field labeled "Completion" which I've
made
into a Yes/No entry. I did this thinking this is what we
would use to check to see if the contract has all the
required signatures. Does this make sense?

Basically after this point, I'm stuck. What else needs
to
be done, so we can enter in the data, and search the
data
to see which contracts are still in the field? I know
that
I probably need to create relationships between the
tables, but what am I relating, and why? It's just not
making much sense to me.

Thanks again for all your replys and comments. Hopefully
I'll be able to finish this project sometime soon.

-Justin


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