About designing a database
1. Determine the purpose of your database 2. Determine the fields you need in the database 3. Determine which table each field belongs to 4. Determine the relationships between tables 5. Identify the field or fields with unique values in each record 6. Determine the relationships between tables 7. Refine your design 8. Enter data and create other database objects 9. Use Microsoft Access analysis tools

Access database files
Using Microsoft Access, you can manage all your information from a single database file. Within the file, you can use:

>Tables to store your data.
>Queries to find and retrieve just the data you want.
>Forms to view, add, and update data in tables.
>Reports to analyze or print data in a specific layout.
>Data access pages to view, update, or analyze the database's data from the Internet or an intranet.

Databases: What they are and how they work
A database is a collection of information that's related to a particular subject or purpose, such as tracking customer orders or maintaining a music collection. If your database isn't stored on a computer, or only parts of it are, you may be tracking information from a variety of sources that you're having to coordinate and organize yourself. For example, suppose the phone numbers of your suppliers are stored in various locations: in a card file containing supplier phone numbers, in product information files in a file cabinet, and in a spreadsheet containing order information. If a supplier's phone number changes, you might have to update that information in all three places. In a database, however, you only have to update that information in one place — the supplier's phone number is automatically updated wherever you use it in the database.