Components of a KEDB

[Wilburinio]

We are looking to build a KEDB from scratch. (I know . . . .)

Most likely will be an MS Access db.

Any experiences to share, particularly suggestions for the fields to populate the KEDB?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Wilburinio

[TomS]

Think long and hard about what you're about to do before you do it! No, really - it'll save so much pain later on. You'll need a lot of communication with all support departments and even more coffee. Here's a starter list to go on:

1. Work out EXACTLY what you want it to do. Will it link into any existing databases and are they in Access? What version of Access are the databases made in and what version are the clients running? (a common trip up point!)

2. Have any of your tech support lines already got something? Does it work well?

3. You'll need at least these fields:
Incident/Problem number
Name of person logging above
Related incidents/problems (probably a memo field)
Detail of issue
Workaround
Detail of fix
Checkbox to indicate error has a fix - you can then sort/filter errors by those whose root cause has been identified.

4. Make sure it has a working search function.

5. Finally decide if the user interface will be used through MS Access itself or will you write a front end in VB (or language of choice) to stop curious fiddling fingers?

6. Work out the rough cost relating to time to write all this, test it and copy in your existing errors - it might be cheaper to look at COTS stuff in the long run as you don't want your techs having to rummage through a bunch of apps to do their job.

7. Backups! AND make sure you can restore them.