Help with charity type database structure

[Sandra Grawunder]

I volunteer for a charity where we have several databases
of patrons and contacts, all with different structures,
tables, forms, etc. I am working on a new database
structure so that we can eliminate all the redundancy.
Although it sounds like a simple address list would
suffice, we have several conditions and items that we
need to track:
1. Business vs. individual contacts
2. Association with the charity i.e. volunteer, board
member, etc. If volunteer we need to track the hours.
3. Event attendance i.e. Golf Tournament, World
Children's Day, etc.
4. Donations, by event and/or category and amounts.


After going around the horn several times here's what
I'm down to:
1. A master table, People/Places, which has a PK and a
Master Name field, address, etc. and an option group for
business, individual, etc. The main reason for this
table is to simplify the creation of a simple mailing
list from multiple entries in the linked table i.e. John
and Mary Jones yada yada yada.
2. A linked table, Relationships, which contains a PK
and personal info fields for one or more persons which
are associated with a record in People/Places, i.e.
husband, wife, etc. Each of these records contains Yes/No
fields for volunteer, board member, etc. and also Yes/No
fields for the events supported by this patron. I need
to do this by each person rather than the master table
because only one of the members may be interested in an
event, or only one may be a board member if you follow my
logic.
3. Various tables for donations, volunteer hours, etc.

So far so good, and everything works as expected as far
as sorting for different reports, lists, etc. My biggest
problem is creating an input form that cohesively
collects all this data. What I would like is a form that
opens with the master People/Places form showing the
master name and info and I presume a subform showing a
list of the people associated with the master name. From
there I somehow need to select a person from the list,
then move to a donation form or a volunteer form so that
data can be input and linked to that person.

Can I do this with tabbed forms? For instance, first
page is the master record. Second page is Donations with
list of people at top and subform for donations below,
third page Volunteer with list of people at top and
subform for volunteer info below, etc?

Does this seem logical or is there a better way? Any
advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

TIA,

Sandra Grawunder, Accidental IT Manager
Ronald McDonald House
Harlingen, TX

 

[Guest]

A couple of suggestions.
It looks like you need some sort of dedicated "Add a
person" form that decides from the input questions which
tables need to have records added. This form would then
create the records before moving on to the form you are
proposing with a tabbed control for the various sections.

You could be digging a hole for yourself by "and also
Yes/No fields for the events supported by this patron".
This infers that every time you add a new event, you will
need to edit your form and table to add a new field.

Have you considered using a pair of list boxes "available
events" and "patrons events". This way will remove the
necessity to redesign

If you would like more specific help on these points you
can contact me on

chris
at
mercury-projects
dot
co
dot
nz