Designing a database for water flow data

I want to use Access 2003 to analyze flow data from our city's water
distribution system in order to track water rights issues as well as
maintenance issues. This entails a daily flow total from each of about 30
sites. I want to be able to compare flows for any period I choose (such as
January 15th through February 15th) within the span of a year. The problem
I'm having is how to organize such a load of information. Should I build a
separate table for each site, or each month, or should I have all these flow
totals in one table? Thanks in advance for your help, as I am very new to
this.

Kyle

It's considered poor form to post the same item twice in the same group (or
even in several groups). All the folks here are volunteers.

If you are in a hurry, consider finding someone you could hire (the old
consultants' rule -- you can have it good, fast, cheap -- pick two!).

Jeff Boyce
Access MVP

"Kyle - Park City Water" Kyle - Park City
wrote in message ...
I want to use Access 2003 to analyze flow data from our city's water
distribution system in order to track water rights issues as well as
maintenance issues. This entails a daily flow total from each of about 30
sites. I want to be able to compare flows for any period I choose (such
as
January 15th through February 15th) within the span of a year. The problem
I'm having is how to organize such a load of information. Should I build
a
separate table for each site, or each month, or should I have all these
flow
totals in one table? Thanks in advance for your help, as I am very new to
this.

"Kyle - Park City Water" Kyle - Park City
wrote in message
...
I want to use Access 2003 to analyze flow data from our city's water
distribution system in order to track water rights issues as well as
maintenance issues. This entails a daily flow total from each of
about 30
sites. I want to be able to compare flows for any period I choose
(such as
January 15th through February 15th) within the span of a year. The
problem
I'm having is how to organize such a load of information. Should I
build a
separate table for each site, or each month, or should I have all
these flow
totals in one table? Thanks in advance for your help, as I am very
new to
this.


Can you give us more detail on *exactly* what you want to keep track
of? For those of us, namely me, who don't work on water systems, what
is meant by "flow"? Cubic Feet/Second? What? What sort of temporal
granularity are we looking at for comparison? Are we looking at raw
data, or lists of averages per day or per hour?


Sincerely,

Chris O.

The data would be daily total flows in KGAL (thousands of gallons). Each
site around the system reports back to our main computer with that data. I
want to be able to compare the different flows to see where water has been
lost or gained (i.e., between two different sites). The city is divided up
into pressure zones (it is very mountainous), and by keeping track of how
much water flows between the zones through our flow sites, we can see which
zones are problematic. My main question is how to organize the flow data,
which will be entered on a daily basis, in an efficient and useful manner.

Thanks again.

"Chris2" wrote:


"Kyle - Park City Water" Kyle - Park City
wrote in message
...
I want to use Access 2003 to analyze flow data from our city's water
distribution system in order to track water rights issues as well as
maintenance issues. This entails a daily flow total from each of
about 30
sites. I want to be able to compare flows for any period I choose
(such as
January 15th through February 15th) within the span of a year. The
problem
I'm having is how to organize such a load of information. Should I
build a
separate table for each site, or each month, or should I have all
these flow
totals in one table? Thanks in advance for your help, as I am very
new to
this.


Can you give us more detail on *exactly* what you want to keep track
of? For those of us, namely me, who don't work on water systems, what
is meant by "flow"? Cubic Feet/Second? What? What sort of temporal
granularity are we looking at for comparison? Are we looking at raw
data, or lists of averages per day or per hour?


Sincerely,

Chris O.