CHAPTER 7

Designing Your Small Business Database

A well-designed database will be easy to use, straightforward to adjust, and provide reliable outputs. A poor design, on the other hand, may still work initially but is likely to deteriorate with time. Problems may arise, such as erroneous or missing data and, eventually, the database is likely to be dropped by the business altogether.

There are set guidelines to help avoid problems when designing a database, but these do not cover all criteria. For example, much of what influences the database design comes from the goals and levers of the business discussed in Chapter 5. These help you find the starting point and the direction in which to focus. Thus, beyond satisfying a set of rules, your database ...

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