Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Afterseeingtheproblemsassociatedwithasimplespreadsheet“database”suchasthisone,
you can imagine the types of problems you would encounter with a more complex data-
base. If you're currently using a spreadsheet as a database, you can improve the database's
quality, speed, and versatility if you remove it from the spreadsheet, take it through the en-
tire database design process, and implement it in a suitable RDBMS.
Dealing with the Spreadsheet View Mind-set
When you begin to work with a true database and RDBMS, you must break away from
a spreadsheet view mind-set. This means that you'll have to resign yourself to the fact
that certain ways of viewing the data are now unavailable—you can no longer use typical
spreadsheet layouts. For example, consider a typical spreadsheet report shown in
Figure
Figure 14.3. An example of a typical spreadsheet report
