[JoFo]

Hi all,

I'm looking for opinions on good databases (preferably free, as if I have to pay, then I'll need to make a business case for it There isn't a bar on it costing, though, if that is the best option.).

Essentially, I do a lot of work on tenders (bidding for government contracts). These tenders require a lot of technical input from our developers, and at the moment, this is taking time that they could be developing things for us!

Quite a few tenders ask the same questions in slightly different formats, meaning that I can fill in standard answers, and the techie guys can just correct if I've missed the point of the question (I'm not overly technical myself, and some of the acronyms confuse me )

We do have a current database of past Q&A - the original was built about 5 years ago in Access. The problem is that the file has become corrupted along the way, meaning that if you mistype a search (e.g. put in "maps" instead of "maps*" (to search for any answer with the word 'maps' in), it tells you the item can't be found, but won't do another search until you have shut down Access completely and restarted it. So, I copied the table file over to Excel, just for ease of use and to save my sanity.

Unless I'm being really non-technical (always a possibility!), I can't do a Boolean search in either database (i.e. search for "maps" and "customisation" in the same text box)

However, now that I have more time on my hands, I'd like to be able to improve this database, rebuilding it from scratch if necessary (I'd rather invest some more time now and save time in the long run).

My current requirements are:

• An easy to use and easily configurable database.
• Powerful search engine – need to be able to do a Boolean search (AND / OR / NOT) on keywords within text based data.
• Easily updatable – the ability to copy and paste from other fields (e.g. if all of the questions in a section are for one product area, then it would be easier to be able to copy and paste down a table, rather than select from a pick box / type in each time). Not having to go through a huge rigmarole to create a new entry.
• Easily filterable – to be able to select by product (therefore meaning that I’ll need to be able to have drop down boxes for products etc)
• MS compatible – I need to be able to copy and paste directly to and from Word / Excel.

As I'm a real newbie when it comes to this sort of application (I can vaguely use Access and Excel as a database, but I wouldn't be able to do much without the help files!), I thought I'd ask the opinions of people who know more than me

Many thanks in advance,
Jo

[SimonTrucker]

There is a good Database programme in the Open.Office.org office suite.

It's a FREE download from http://www.openoffice.org/.

The programmes in the OOo suite will open file formats from several other office suite including Microsoft Office. It'll save in those formats to.
So if someone sends you a file in an M$ Office format. you can open it, change it and send it back, using Open Office. You can also pass it on to someone else with any of the other commercial suites.
I think that O.O.o. where the originators of the Open Document format, which everyone else. other than M$, now has as their default format.