Database software for many jobs - selecting a database management system - includes 12 brief evaluations - Tutorial

Home Office Computing, Sept, 1992 by David Hallerman

So, you're running a business or profession from home, and--if you're like most people--you've got most of the following tasks to do:

* track your income and expenses

* print and track invoices, billing information, and other client statements

* keep a detailed list of your clients or customers: addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, phone conversations with you, and so on

* print mailing labels

* create mail-merged letters based on your mailing list

* track purchase orders and inventory for a product-based business.

When it comes to software ready to do those jobs, you have two choices: You could buy several programs dedicated to one or more of the individual tasks--mailing-list software, a checkbook program, a contact manager, and so on. Or you could buy one of the database managers reviewed here, and--with a single program--build your own software structures to record, organize, and retrieve business information.

WHERE'S THE ADVANTAGE?

Neither approach to data management is inherently better than the other. The advantage of dedicated programs over general databases is that they're typically easier to structure, since tools specific to the job are built in. For instance, any mailing-list program worthy of the name offers direct support for Avery mailing labels; the same help is found in only a few of the databases reviewed here. A database manager runs circles around most dedicated programs, however, when you need to set up data systems idiosyncratic to your business, profession, or style of working. You probably have specialized information of your own that no canned program is designed to track.

The two approaches to data management are no either-or dilemma, though--sometimes you'll want to combine them. For example, many sole proprietors of service-based businesses will find that a checkbook program such as Microsoft Money or Quicken best meets their financial record-keeping needs. Yet having a separate database manager as well means they can set up other appropriate information-tracking mechanisms.

But two questions remain: Aren't database managers hard to work with? And which one should I buy?

TYPES OF DATABASE MANAGERS

In the old days (about five years ago), you'd commonly find only two classes of database software on the market: flat-file managers and relational databases. With flat files, you deal with data in one file at a time--your customer list in one place, say, and invoices in another. The one-file-at-a-time concept, while easy to understand and manipulate, makes for a lot of redundant data entry. In contrast, relational file managers give you tools--typically a programming language such as dBase--to create both individual databases and linked sets of several databases that share information. That way, for instance, when filling out a bill in your invoice database, all you need to enter is the customer ID number to draw the name and address from your customer database. Clearly, relational databases have it all over their flat-file siblings when you need to manage a complex set of data. (For information on full-fledged programmable relational-database managers, see box "Database Tools for Experts. ")

But if flat file means access to only one database at a time, there are few true flat-file programs on the market anymore. Nearly all database managers now offer some relational capabilities to link information from various database files. Yet today's database programs retain the flat-file software's virtue of being readily set up through menus and dialog boxes. For this buyer's guide, we've evaluated a dozen database managers for MS-DOS, Windows, and the Macintosh. All let you link files to create sophisticated systems capable of organizing your business or professional information. And while the reviewed programs offer no esoteric database languages, that doesn't mean they're not programmable at all. Through such features as menu builders, formulas, and macros, several of these programs let you create custom databases.

FUTURES TO LOOK FOR

In addition to exploring the sample files and database templates supplied in the packages, we tested the 12 database programs using three databases: a 1,000-item contact list of names, addresses, and phone numbers; a mail-order business simulation, including three basic databases of Customers, Orders, and Inventory; and a research database with numbers and text.

But before we get to the software evaluations, let's look at how to shop for a database manager. We examined the software by first finding the common threads among the programs, regardless of the terms used by each package. Then we broke down the database process into four basic steps:

1) Setting up--installing software and creating files.

2) Putting data in--data entry and validation, calculated fields, lookup commands, and imported data.

3) Organizing data--indexing, searching, sorting, selecting, and summarizing (grouping).

4) Getting data out--on-screen, on disk, and on paper.

None of this information is complex, once the light of logic is played upon it. Here's what we mean.