To help you get the best results from your data, we at West Press have come up with some helpful information to guide you on how to best create (or modify) your database files. These guidelines will help you get the best results and most error-free mailings using your database.

Common Terminology for Databases:

Attribute: The accurate term for what most people know as "field" or "column". For example a "City" attribute contains only the name of the "City". A record is made up of one set of attributes.

Column: Another word for "attribute".

Data: Any single piece of information contained inside the database such as a customer's First name or Street Address. One of the smallest parts of a record.

Database: Like a filing cabinet, databases are designed to offer an organized mechanism for storing, managing and retrieving information. They do so through the use of tables. If you’re familiar with spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel, you’re probably already accustomed to storing data in tabular form. These type of spreadsheets are more accurately known as flat-file databases and are sometimes referred to as a "list" or as a "mailing list".

Field: Another word for "attribute"..

Record: A record consists of one set of attributes specific to one row in a table. Imagine a speadsheet. This would be one line of that spreadsheet. If your database has information on 50 people, then it is likely that you have 50 lines, or rows, in that spreadsheet. A Database is made up of multiple Records.

Table: Database tables consist of columns and rows. Each column contains a different type of attribute and each row corresponds to a single record.

Do's and Don'ts:
Do try to separate information into as many unique fields as feasible.
Don't put a lot of information all into one field.

Do have the First name separate from the Middle and Last names if possible.
Don't have the First, Middle and Last names together in one field, if possible.

If you use a Salutation in your Data enter it in its own field.
Don't enter a Salutation in the same field as the First name.

Do use a "#" or title (Apt., Ste., Unit, etc.) before any apartment, suite, or unit numbers.
Don't just have the street address followed by a number.

Do enter either a "P.O. Box" type address data OR "Street Address" in one record.
Don't enter both P.O. Box data with Street Address data in the same record.

Mouse over the address block above. Notice the highlighted area. The number "303" in the street address may be lost in processing. Instead, it is better to enter this as "Ste. 303", or "#303" to correct this. Another problem is that there are two separate addresses contained in this address block. Which one will be used, the P.O. Box address, or the street address? Removing one line will eliminate any confusion.

After we apply our "do's", this address block is much better.

Mouse over the image above. The name column has too much data. The salutation is combined with the First and Last name data. This severly limits what we might be able to do with variable data pieces.

Mouse over the image above. You can see how the data is corrected by splitting the infomation up into multiple fields allowing for more flexiblity in the options available to us in the processing of it.