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Maca
Database Guidelines
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10-26-02
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Table of Contents
I. Responsibilities 1
II. What the Database Manger is not
responsible for. 1
III. Applications under the jurisdiction
of the Database Manager 2
IV. Technology Mandates. 2
V. Restrictions of content or usage 2
VI. Relationship of the Database
Manager to the Board of Directors. 2
VII. Accepting information for the
database. 2
VIII. Profile of current “day to day”
types of tasks 2
IX. Skill set requirements versus Capability
Level 3
B. To
provide mailing labels for:
1. The
Mailing of Chess Horizons
2. Mailing
label service for other organizers promotional mailings
3. Maca
promotional mailings.
C. To
provide information to aid and assist organizers and members
1. Web
based Membership Status
2. Web
based Ratings lists
3. Printed
Membership status lists for organizers (no confidential information)
4. Information
for Journalists ( ID, Name, City and State)
5. Demographic
data
6. Membership
trend Data
D. Loading
and retrieving of information for the Maca Registration Database
E. To
replace non-USCF ID numbers with actual USCF numbers when they become
available.
F. To
provide monthly back-ups of the applications and data. The back-ups must reside in a physically
different location than the primary data and shall be placed in the
organizations archives.
G. To
inform the Membership Coordinator of the need for Membership cards to be issued
or of any issues arising concerning membership status.
H. To
assist the Membership Coordinator in determining the appropriate resolution of
any issues arising concerning membership status.
A. The
issuing of membership cards
B. The
receipt of membership monies
C. Resolving
any membership issues.
D. Dealing
directly with the members concerning any membership issues.
A. The
central Maca Membership Database
B. The
Maca Event Registration Database
1. A
large pool of people with sufficient expertise to make improvements or repairs
to the database should continue to exist well into the future.
2. MS
Access while not trivial to learn is has for a long period of time been
considered to be one of the most powerful low-end databases available.
3. The
behind the scenes language used for advanced features is based on Visual Basic,
a widely used and well-known language.
B. The
database must be run in MS Access 2000 or higher.
A. To
maintain the privacy of our membership, personal information shall not be made
available to third parties and shall be restricted to Maca board members with a
clear need to know.
B. The
organization retains all rights and ownership of the Applications and the data
contained within the applications.
D. If
the Database Manager IS a member of the board, the Database Manager shall
answer directly to the board and take directions from the board.
A. The
Membership Coordinator is the primary source of information regarding members.
B. The
Treasurer is permitted to submit information.
C. The
Tournament coordinator is permitted to submit information
D. Other
Agents of the board may submit information.
E. Members
may submit information regarding their own membership.
Through both the 2001 and 2002 terms of office, almost all
Database Manger work was performed via email.
The only non-email based tasks were the sending of reports to the board
or the dropping in the mail of mailing labels, primarily for Chess Horizons.
A. Updating
Membership ID numbers
The Central database requires that all people in the database
have a unique ID number. ID numbers
shall always be the USCF ID number if available. Often, players join Maca who have not been issued a USCF ID
number yet. Audit Queries have been
created to track who’s ID numbers are not yet USCF Ids. It is a responsibility to check either with
the USCF supplements, the USCF On-line ratings or available cross tables to
update each member to have a USCF ID if available. Typically, every other month is a good time frame to under take
this effort.
B. Updating
Membership records for Expiration and other items.
1. Typical
sources of updates
a)Email
from the Treasurer, Tournament Coordinator and Prison Coordinator with update
information.
b)Email
and Excel Attachments containing update information from the Membership
Coordinator.
c)Emails
from members
d)Scholastics
Coordinator returning the Registration Database
2. Methods
of Updating
a)Manual
entry. This consists of copying the
update information sent, typically via email, into the Notes section of a
members record. Each item to be updated
is put into the copy buffer by double clicking and performing a ctl-C copy
operation. Paste buttons are provided
for most fields to allow a one-click pasting of the information into the
appropriate field.
b)Appending
from the Registration Database. This is
a multi-step process where queries are provided to perform the various
operations required. Typically, 90% of
the records will transfer relatively easily.
The remaining records will either require “scrubbing” using queries,
research to resolve issues or manual entry.
c)Excel
import into Comparison Forms. This
consists of preparing an Excel spreadsheet for import into a temporary
table. The table then needs to be
adjusted somewhat and a cursory look at the data made before continuing.
(1) For
records in the temp table that have matching ID numbers, a separate field by
field comparison form is provided for rapid updates of the records. Records updated this way are then tagged as
completed to eliminate them from appearing during other update processes.
(2) For
records in the temp table that need to be added as new to the database, the
Main edit form has a section that will display these records with various auto
copy and paste buttons provided to allow rapid entry into the database.
The databases are not maintained as fully packaged
applications. This is done intentionally
due to the need for many small adjustments to queries and the customizing of
reports.
A. Full
Capability Level
1. Capable
of modifying queries to alter ranges and selection criteria.
2. Capable
of modifying reports to customize labels
3. Capable
of performing Excel imports of data.
4. Capable
of performing all additional following levels.
B. Maintenance
Level
1. Capable
of performing (learning) Registration database preparation, which require
editing a small amount of text, located in code modules and compiling the code
again.
2. Capable
of safely compacting and repairing the database on a periodic basis.
3. Capable
of re-establishing links to tables located in other Reference databases.
4. Capable
of performing all additional following levels.
C. Data
Entry Level
1. Capable
of zipping files and attaching them to email for off-site backup purposes.
2. Capable
of using Access in a development mode as opposed to a fully packaged
application.
3. Capable
of understanding when the large number of queries and reports that must be run
and exported. This includes the various
tables generated for demographics and reports needed for the Board and other
parties.