Did not know how to title this :) And sorry if its lengthy.
I created an app in a rush as a test for my company. It was not suppose to be handed out as it was not finished, but some supervisor somewhere found out about it and handed it out to most of the techs. Its a Service Call log application for our service technicians (which I am one). It keeps us with our service calls and the inventory we keep on our trucks.
I am wanting to sorta rewrite the application to add features and change the way some things are done. My one problem is that instead of using a table for customers, I just added an account name and store number field in the calls table. The user just entered in that info each time he/she entered a call instead of using a lookup table of accounts. Now I want to add that table. The problem is, and I know better now, that if someone visited a call several times they may have entered the info differently each time. For example, I service a chain of stores named Dodges Store. Sometimes I enter the account as Dodges, Dodge or Dodges Store. The store number is always the same, but the name of the account is not. Also, the store number is not a number we assign so Walmart may have a store number 345 and Target may have a store number 345 so I cant go off the store number which would have made this easier.
Whats the best way to copy the records to a new table but only create 1 record for each account. This way I can assign the accounts a number and use it for lookups in the next version to have consistent account info. I also want to be able to go back and update the account info in the calls that have already been entered into the database also. I want to be able to do this so I can run reports and such on particular accounts. I need a process to do this as there are about 40 techs spread around the country. Am I in trouble or can this be done with some success ?
Does this make sense ??
Let this be a lesson for newbies that you really should plan out your app before putting it together.
Thanks
Jason
I created an app in a rush as a test for my company. It was not suppose to be handed out as it was not finished, but some supervisor somewhere found out about it and handed it out to most of the techs. Its a Service Call log application for our service technicians (which I am one). It keeps us with our service calls and the inventory we keep on our trucks.
I am wanting to sorta rewrite the application to add features and change the way some things are done. My one problem is that instead of using a table for customers, I just added an account name and store number field in the calls table. The user just entered in that info each time he/she entered a call instead of using a lookup table of accounts. Now I want to add that table. The problem is, and I know better now, that if someone visited a call several times they may have entered the info differently each time. For example, I service a chain of stores named Dodges Store. Sometimes I enter the account as Dodges, Dodge or Dodges Store. The store number is always the same, but the name of the account is not. Also, the store number is not a number we assign so Walmart may have a store number 345 and Target may have a store number 345 so I cant go off the store number which would have made this easier.
Whats the best way to copy the records to a new table but only create 1 record for each account. This way I can assign the accounts a number and use it for lookups in the next version to have consistent account info. I also want to be able to go back and update the account info in the calls that have already been entered into the database also. I want to be able to do this so I can run reports and such on particular accounts. I need a process to do this as there are about 40 techs spread around the country. Am I in trouble or can this be done with some success ?
Does this make sense ??
Let this be a lesson for newbies that you really should plan out your app before putting it together.
Thanks
Jason
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