Creating and maintaining databases

My boss has asked me to create a few databases for him using Microsoft Access for one and Excel for the other. To make a long story short, this very possibly could be a huge undertaking. The first is a contact database and the second is to help organize the billing systems of three different companies. I will be starting this from scratch, so I imagine I will be spending a considerable amount of time getting the ball rolling in addition to playing catch up to get all of the data entered. This project has nothing to do with my regular job (tour guide).

I am not sure how much I should ask to be paid. I'm thinking that setting an hourly rate would be better than a flat payment on the off chance the databases take more effort than I am anticipating. Does anyone have thoughts on rates? Thank you!

Outsource it to India and charge your boss twice what the Indians charge. Sounds like you will have a mission on your hands, especially with access, and especially as it sounds like you havent done this before. If it really is a huge undertaking, you probably dont want to use access at all. Actually now that I think about it, couldnt you just remove bits from northwind? Thats mostly contact and billing isnt it? But otherwise I would know what I would charge per hour, (and if I had all the details I could work out what I would charge for the whole project), but I have done this sort of thing before so that particular number wont be relevant in your case.

I actually hate Access, but I think it will give my boss more room to grow. I've managed databases in the past, but my previous projects were not quite like this...and it's always been a part of my job so I haven't had to set billing rates. At my previous job my billable rate was $190/hour, so clearly I cannot charge my boss that much! Would 10-15 euros per hour be reasonable?

I'm thinking of using Access for the Contacts and Excel for the bills, so yes, mostly contact and billing (by billing I mean my boss wants to manage the bills he has to pay).

@Kza- what do you mean by "remove bits from northwind"? Outsourcing sounds like a great idea, I will investigate...

So you are setting up an Excel spreadsheet for him to manually enter the bills that come in and manually update the list as the bills get paid? So you have to make up names for lots of columns then? Should not take longer than an hour...

The contact database should be pretty easy I reckon.

I reckon 25 Euros per hour should be OK for such tasks

Northwind = sample Access database that ships with the product (or used to, at any rate).

Good point Crawlie. My boss was all gungho Access but I convinced him Excel is better to use if you're dealing with numbers. And yes re entering bills and manually updating as to payment status. What he really wanted is definitely out of the scope of what either program can do, but it is better than what he has now, which is nothing!

Well northwind is the example database that comes with access (from memory) its probably changed now, havent had to use it for a few years. It did a variety things, like orders at least, and I think it had contacts in it too.

I was only really kidding about the outsourcing, it all depends on the scale of the thing. If I were you, I would charge a rediculous amount so the boss says no and I dont have to do it. But I would be suggesting something based on MySQL with a web front end anyway. That has to provide more room for growth and flexibility than access, as well as being less annoying and having lots of code on the net you can steal for ideas.

It sounds as if your boss wants someone to enter in a load of names and addresses into a database because he cannot be arsed to do it. No real maintenance required there.

Oh, and come up with column names so he can see what invoices he has not paid or whatever.

It is not exactly rocket science is it? So. As Kza says. Try and charge him a fortune for it

If I were you, I would tell the boss he'd be better off outsourcing the project to India and charge him X euros an hour to manage said project. But thats just me. Capitalist good for nothing, no skill albeit occasionally perky and keen pig.

I am having work permit issues... and this is sort of a condition for me getting to stay. He saw on my CV that I have experience with databases, so he wrote to the KVR that he needs me for this reason in addition to my regular job. And the more I think about this, it shouldn't been too bad at all. The hard part is going to be organizing what is at the moment very unorganized.

off topic - perhaps, but have you by any chance spent time in C'ville?

You could try to impress your boss and gain marketable skills by picking up on soon-to-take-over-the-world-open-source database-software like mysql. That's if you've always hated mainstream and ever did homework for someone else.

Tell him to bugger off and buy a copy of Intuit Quickbooks for a few dollars. That will cover all his billing and contact database issues without arsing about. Plus he can export the data and mess about as much as he likes.

You can then just charge him for database entry and outsource to a poor starving TTer who wants beer money.

No point re-inventing the wheel.

http://www.smallbiztechnology.com/smallbiz...ermanager.shtml

Any of the stuff they write here ringing any bells:

"3. I know many businesses have developed their own simple (or often times complex) databases using Microsoft Access, File Maker Pro, or other tools to hold important customer information. While this is a good step, it can be expensive to build a database (if you hire someone), is not flexible and might not be able to grow with your needs ."

Quickbooks could be really good. I will show him some of the online demos. Thanks JE.

And yes, I have spent a bit of time in the lovely Charlottesville, VA. I graduated from UVA. @PeterC, you're the first one to pick that up!

MySQL is really straightforward (I use it on a number of sites I have created). If you want to use this then let me know and I can get you started.
Cheers.

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/commerce/cata...000000007994303

$80

Fortunately exchange rate is running our way so be around £50.

wahoo

I graduated from The University twice. Haven't been back to Hooville in awhile though. On days like these I do miss Spring in VA.

Peter

Why not just get a real Bussiness CRM System. It will do everything you mention and export data to many different kinds of outputs.
There are many CRM systems out there, so look around.

The one that I get asked to install the most for small business is Zoho CRM (Click link for online Demo. If you like it and think it would
work for you PM me, and Ill send ya more info and provide a demo site/copy you can mod all you want..

You might also want to look at Zoho Vitural Office (Online Demo)

Thank you everyone for the information and suggestions! It has been most helpful

I'd suggest that too, but I'd go for MS SQL Express and Visual Web developer studio. Both free. The new ASP.NET 2.0 and Atlas extensions make whacking together a web app a piece of piss.
Obviously this being Germany, everyone will hate you for using Microsoft stuff. Actually, seeing as this is Germany, buy SAP instead. Everyone uses it, must be good...

No no no.

Clearly you need to first write your own dbms using btrieve or something similar, then write the application in assembly language. Damn wimps.

Are you some kinda wierdo ?

First he has to build his own midrange computer using carrot based transistor and the create a operating system using Cyrillic characters. Only then should he think about creating his own dbms. Young people these days, I dunno.