Using two databases on different computers

[Guatemalan Project]

I have a project in Guatemala. My contact there keeps track of new children,
families, etc.
I, in the USA, keep track of sponsors, donations, etc. I assigned sponsors
ID and link them to children ID so that the children can receive lunches,
vitamins, school supplies, or another category of support.
My contact in Guatemala needs to receive that information, and I must
receive the new children, families, etc.
She sends me her database but I do not know how to update one from the other
so that both of us could be using the same information.
Please help.

 

[Guatemalan Project]

Dear Mr. Whittle: thank you for your help. I read about replication.
If I understand this correctly, there can be just one master. In my case,
we have two masters because my contact in Guatemala or I in the USA can, if
necessary, add tables, fields, and data. Would Replication still work in my
case?--
Guatemalanproject.com
Building sustainable communities
We are building a hospital for the people affected by Hurricane Mitch.
Your dollar will be appreciated

 

[Jerry Whittle]

As far as I know, there can only be one master. The only time that I set up
replication, all database design and structure changes were made only at one
place.

Possibly someone with more experience with replication has a better answer.

 

[John Nurick]

As Jerry says, this more or less rules out replication.

In fact if both offices are free to change the structure of the database
as they see fit there's little hope of reliable synchronisation. Some
degree of discipline will be essential, including stable keys in the
tables you share.

For example, if the Guatemala office adds a child to their database,
that record must get a unique, indexed, key value (e.g. a "ChildID"
field) that cannot be changed or assigned to another child. Then if you
use the same key value for that child at your end, and never change it
yourself, you can both be sure that you're referring to the same child.

I get the impression that you will be entering and editing data in some
tables, and the Guatemala office in other tables, but that there are no
tables that are edited and updated by both offices. I.e. you own some of
the tables and they own the rest.

If that's right, things are reasonably simple. They send you a copy of
their database, and you run a series of queries that (a) append to your
copies of "their" tables records they added since the last
synchronisation, and (b) update existing records in your copies of their
tables to reflect the edits they have made.

Then you send them a copy of your database so they can update their
copies of your tables.

But if there are some tables in which both of you add or edit records,
things can get a lot more complicated.