Arthur Fuller
fuller.artful at gmail.com
Wed May 9 16:47:39 CDT 2007
I don't think that you want to know, JC. They are intellectually challenging but also guaranteed not to make so much as a dime in the forseeable future. A. On 5/9/07, JWColby <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com> wrote: > > >Lately I have been busted here for such opinions, but I plod on. > > LOL, boy do I know that feeling. > > >An organization has one or more contacts (if it has zero, why record it?) > > Just about the only point I take exception to. Often times things are > mailed to an organization, not to a specific person. A phone bill, an > electric bill. The phone company only wants to get the bill in the door, > it > will find its way to the right place after that. > > >In short, you have raised a non-trivial problem. As it happens, it is one > of my three favorite problems. I have spend a long time thinking about it > and have yet to discover a magic bullet. > > Amen, and amen. > > What are the other two favorite problems? > > John W. Colby > Colby Consulting > www.ColbyConsulting.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller > Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 4:32 PM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] A database design for contacts.... > > I've been down this particular road a couple of times, Jim. > > Your brief description masks many duplicate references (m:m tables), and > IMO > confuses contacts with organizations. (Lately I have been busted here for > such opinions, but I plod on.) > > A contact is a Person, not an organization. An organization has one or > more > contacts (if it has zero, why record it?). > > A physician may also be an attorney or a city counsellor (that's what we > call them in Canada, feel free to translate -- the point is this person > may > have run for office as the rep for district xyz and either won or lost, > both > of which facts may be important, depending on the app. > > Now: addresses. The simple fact of the matter is that most people who run > for office are affluent, and therefore the odds are that they own multiple > residences, one a home, another a cottage, another a shack in Martinique > -- > whatever. No slam intended upon such fortunate people. I want to > concentrate > instead upon the problem that Person X has three addresses, and her > domicile > therein is dictated by the month of the year. She will be in Toronto from > May to July, then go to Martinique for a few months, and ten to France > just > in time for the Cannes film festival. > > Addresses, therefore, are scoped by time. No point mailing her a letter to > Montreal when it's time for the Cannes film festival, and so on. > > This could grow even further complicated by the fact that she sells the > cottage in Nantucket and purchases another in New Hampshire. > > In short, you have raised a non-trivial problem. As it happens, it is one > of > my three favourite problems. I have spend a long time thinking about it > and > have yet to discover a magic bullet. > > Arthur > > > On 5/9/07, Jim Dettman <jimdettman at verizon.net> wrote: > > > > Hi All, > > > > In light of recent discussions on lookup tables, I'm curious on how > > different people have attacked the contacts problem. For example, > > let's say I need to keep track of Doctors, Attorneys, Therapists, > > Hospitals, Clinics, etc. A contact could be an individual or a group > > or company. For example, I might have three doctors working as a > > group called Plank Road Medical. > > You need to keep track of both the individual doctors and their > > contact info and the contact info for the group. Also the fact that > > they are all associated. > > > > Do you: > > > > A. Have a table for every possible type of contact? > > > > or > > > > B. Have one contact table which includes a contact "type". > > > > > > and the second question; how do you handle companies vs. individuals > > and link the two? Do you: > > > > A. Have a separate table for companies. > > > > B. Have a flag which indicates if the contact is a company or an > > individual and self-join to your single table. > > > > > > I know the right answer, but I'm wondering what everyone feels is the > > practical answer. Given the recent thread on Lookups, this is > > probably a good topic for discussion. > > > > Jim. > > -- > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >