One New Project Entry form to rule them all
Is there any way to create a form (for lack of a better or correct word) to enter in all the information for a new project? To expand on this. 1. A new project comes in and our admin clicks the Ne...
Forum Discussion
I think that you need to rethink the structure of your tables. If the data you are entering is really one for one with the Project record, then that data just belongs on a Form in separate sections, or even separate Tabs, now that we have Tabs.
If the Projects details are really child records, such as Tasks, then the best user experience will be to enable an option on the Advanced Settings for the Projects Record which say to save automatically when adding a child record.
So the user will just stat to do the data entry on the project record and when it comes time to add a true child, they will click ADD Task and the Parent Project record will save automatically. When they save the Task it will return to the Project.
If the Projects details are really child records, such as Tasks, then the best user experience will be to enable an option on the Advanced Settings for the Projects Record which say to save automatically when adding a child record.
So the user will just stat to do the data entry on the project record and when it comes time to add a true child, they will click ADD Task and the Parent Project record will save automatically. When they save the Task it will return to the Project.
- Without going into gory details, I have tried to create a true database via normalization. To that extent I have a table for Contacts and a table for Companies, one for Project Information (name, address, & ID numbers) and one for the salient Project Data (size, location, etc.)..so on and so forth.
I have a Tasks table that stores the many parts of a study we perform, but parts are relationships from other tables also like Resources.
I am trying to get away from our current setup, a spreadsheet, and make it easier to handle and start to learn our efficiency. That said, it sounds like you are recommending combining many of the tables into one, using tabs to separate what was once multiple tables, and then limiting the table count to something more along the lines of Projects, Tasks, Resources, Contacts/Companies?
Or, am I swinging to far in the spectrum and exaggerating? - I think that you're understanding my suggestion correctly.
For example if there is just one large text box for project description then that inherently belongs on the project record. But if one project has many tasks or one project has many contacts, then those two tables would be separate child l tables. - For us 1 Project has many (rotating) Contacts & potentially different Companies (if the project is sold), _many_ Tasks that start from various points depending upon what the project chooses to do, and there are many Communications with various people. That was the reason for the multiple tables.
Maybe I will take a look with a fresh eye, or a coworker that is not involved but is database knowledgeable, to see what happens.
Thanks.
