FOAK: Simple(ton) customer databases

Right, I'm sure someone here will be able to point me to what I need (I
hope)

I'm looking to set up a customer database [1] but Ive never used
databases before so I'm looking for something simple that will allow me
to do the following.

Enter all the following information:

Name / Address / Phone and email details which I see as being the top
level info.

Now, I'm going to try and explain this best I can, I also want to be
able to enter all transactions they make with me including the item,
price, date etc and I need it to be searchable in the sense that I
could look up a customer and search for example, their most popular
buys or the total spent in a given period etc.

I'm assuming this is part and parcel of a databases function but would
also think it's the old adage that "what you put into something is what
you'll get out"

Also, I'm assuming that this would be doable in some form of generic
package like excel or Sun's Openoffice database package or should I be
looking at physically buying a particular piece of software?

Any recommendations would be great.

[1] Only needs to be run on a laptop / desktop, don't need anything
online

 

Donnie wrote:

I used Sage Act a while back - I think it would probably do everything
you're looking for and more.

I was able to produce quotes, record telephone calls/emails made/sent,
set chase up times, track orders very efficiently and so on. Saved me
huge amounts of time.

 

'Customer information'.

Normally one would do this in several layers:

Order Information
-Order number
-Order Date
-Customer
-Status

-Order Line Information
--Item
--Quantity
--Unit Price.... etc

Very much so. You also need to think of all the likely variations that
you would want to search or pull reports on. It's a right **** when
you've built something and someone says 'and can you also cut the data
this way?' when they'd previously told you 'the other way' was the only
way they needed it.

Well, excel isn't DB software, although it can be somewhat butchered to
produce data in a similar fashion.

Access is the standard Microsoft product.
Is Bento available for your chosen operating system?

 

I'd suggest going down the Structured Query Language (SQL) route if only
because the skills you gain will be transferable. There are many free and
non-free applications based on SQL. FWIW MySQL is cross-platform,
powerful, fast and free and can be run on a web-server on your own
machine. You'll need Apache and probably PHP too, both also free. It's a
steep learning curve (one that I'm currently near the bottom of!) but
very satisfying when things start to work (and make sense).

hth

 

doetnietcomputeren said:

You've summed up pretty much what I was trying to say

Using windows vista on the main laptop and the desktops on XP if that
makes a difference, as for Bento, never heard of that so I'm off for a
google.

Access I have on the desktop though quite an old version of it circa
1996 and only have openoffice on the main laptop.

I don't mind having to buy a programme though if its going to do what i
need as it'll be useful in the long run.

 

Derek Turner said:

Hmmm, I see what you're saying but I want to make a start on something
that will be up and running relatively quickly.

I don't have the time to learn SQL etc at the moment :-/

 

How much is your time worth to you?
Do you want to become a database software guru or quickly achieve a
working system that fulfils your requirements?

You may not have to reinvent the wheel if you search for templates or
examples. Might even be some based on openoffice or other free database
engines or 4GLs.

You can do almost anything with Excel and external data queries, but
something that natively supports a relational database model and SQL is
going to make it a lot more functional.

Some paid for development systems come with pretty well thought out
examples that can save a lot of work. Foxpro's 'Tastrader' comes to
mind.

An off the shelf package as Buzby mentioned may save you even more time.

I suppose it depends how much you want to expend in terms of cost to buy
a package and time to get to grips with it, given what it might save
you, or make for you, using the resulting management information.



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You could do it with Access, given a bit of thought about the structure
and configuration.

See other reply.

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I know you said you didn't want it online but.... there are loads of CRM
systems to choose from which will do what you wnat and more and will
take you no time to get up and running. some v cheap, like less than
£10/month for a single user.

Probably have easy excel-type downloads if you want a copy of the data
for local reference purposes.

 

Jeremy said:

It's not that I don't *want* it online, more that I don't see the need
but am willing to be convinced certainly

 

Pete Fisher said:

A lot when running a small business.

The latter.

Sounds good, I'll have a look

This is it, I'm not necessarily looking for something free moneywise,
as I value my time as much if not more, hence I'm certainly willing to
explore an off the shelf package, as long as its not stupid money and
it'll meet my needs.

Mentioning Buzby's post made me think to revisit the sage act and it
seems it can be intregated with sage instant accounts which I already
have. What Im not sure about looking at the sage site is what sort of
reports it can generate, still, I think I might download the free trial
and go from there.

 

Buzby said:

Had a look at it online and am going to download the trial to see what
sort of reports etc it can do

 

http://www.sugarcrm.com - it might be overkill, but you'll find out in 2
years time (if it wasnt, then good). You cant also get this as a pre-
built vm, which means installation is easy. Its also free.

 

Have you checked the price yet, £211.50 inc VAT for a single user
license of ACT! by Sage 2010.

We use ACT! Premium at work as it fits our requirements.

Don't know how practical it is to use SugarCRM on your own laptop.

http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/download/sugar-suite.html#installers

Look for stack installers for Sugar Community Edition.

I would have preferred SugarCRM as it does the same job, probably better
and meets my most important requirement, that of having an open source
*free* community edition.

If you need help I can probably help out as I ran a trial when we were
comparing it against ACT!

 

Have a look a fleabay 280446857370

 

Buzby said:

<adds to watchlist>