Struggling to work out how I need to design my tables

[AdrianHep]

Hey everyone, thanks for looking. I am new to this, although have “looked, and played” with a Lotus approach DB in the past (at an old company, was designed quite well to be honest)

I am trying to put together a " Christmas savings club" database for my father, (they are still using pen and paper, i think they ditched the quills last year.)

Basically, there is a list of people, where they each deposit on a weekly basis, but can withdraw each week if they should need to.

They hand write cards at the end of the year, showing ALL individual deposits/withdrawals… hours of work. I remembered that a report would be able to do this in 1 click, so suggested a DB, and offered to assist. I am literally stumped at the tables, and getting them set up properly…i cannot seem to make them work with what i have tried so far.

I realise i will need a table for people, I have also come to the thinking that i may need separate tables for withdrawals, and deposits, although this could be wrong.

I really do NOT want this to be done for me, as I am actually enjoying the experience of failing miserably. However, some helpful pointers would be GREATLY appreciated.

I feel as though this should be an incredibly simple DB, and cant figure out where i am stumbling.

Thanks in advance,

Adrian H

[Ratslinger]

Hello,

What on the surface seems to be a simple project can end up being a very large one. The reason being that it may not have been planned out properly. The database may seem simple - One table for members; one table for transactions.

Each table needs a unique identifier - a key. This can be an auto generated number which can, for the member table, suffice as the Account Number (ID). What other data to be retained is added: Name, Address, Phone, etc. Transactions are similar. A unique auto generated Transaction ID. The a field for the transaction amount and a type field for deposit/withdrawal and a date field for when the transaction took place.

Seems simple enough but take a closer look. How is it known what transaction belongs to which Account? If a withdrawal is made was there enough in the account to cover it? How do you view the balance of any one account? How do you print a statement for one or all accounts? How is the fund balanced and verified? These are just some of the questions which need to be answered BEFORE starting. If done as you go along it may add much more work to go back and re-do what was already done.

Knowing the basics of Base, a database and SQL are very important. The LO Base documentation can help → LibreOffice Base Handbook. Further down on that page is information on creating a relational database.

Depending upon the number of participants & transactions to be handled, how muck knowledge you already have on the subject (databases), and how much time you may want to spend on this, you may also want to consider doing this in a spreadsheet. The Calc documentation (spreadsheet) is on the same post as the Base documentation.

[AdrianHep]

Just seen this, I already have this as a spreadsheet, but it was the “end of year card” where all deposits/withdrawals i wanted to make a much easier task. if it was on my spreadsheet, i could have done it easily within the spreadsheet, however he used one done by someone else, and the sheet layout makes it a much longer work around. DB is something i want to dig deeper into anyway, so i remembered this could be done easily, and thought i would jump in head first. I’ve read a few of the guides, and watched a few videos. Will have another stab in the morning, but thank you for your swift reply.