CHATTANOOGA COMMODORE USERS GROUP

SPREADSHEETS VS DATA BASES

BY:  RICHIE FRANCE


     Spreadsheets and data bases each have a definite role in the management
of information by the personal computer user.  There can be confusion over
which should be used.  After encountering a number of instances when people
have been trying to set up a spreadsheet for what was obviously a data base
usage, this article was written.  The two forms of software can be defined,
as:

     Spreadsheets are number crunchers - they have the ability to take a set
of numbers and manipulate them in just about any fashion or form. 
Spreadsheets are great for playing "What If".  You can establish a basic
scenario -- the template -- and then change the numbers several tiimes to
study the impact of such changes on the "Bottom Line".

     Data bases are designed to enable you to store and manipulate any kind of
data.  Data bases should be looked at as storage and retrieval systems, i.e.,
they can be programmed to receive a variety of data from different
perspectives.  Data bases also enable you to retrieve data in combinations
that are completely different than that used to enter the data.  Thus,
combinations of information are limited only by your needs.

     Spreadsheets are generally used for accounting purposes requiring only
numbers.  Data bases are generally used for record keeping where the data to
be stored may be a combination of alpha and numeric items.

     Recommendations:
     (1) Use the examples supplied with the spreadsheet program.  You can
expand beyond the simple to suit your needs.  But you should do so only after
you have an understanding of the examples provided.  Two excellent choices are
"Multiplan" or "Swift-Calc".
     (2) A data base program should be as versatile as possible.  This does
not imply that the program should be as complex as possible.  The home
computer user, as well as the business user, will find considerably more uses
for the data base program.  To start with one that is too simple will not
enable it to grow with your needs.  By far the most versatile is "Superbase
64" by Precision Software.  It has great potential yet is menu driven so that
simple uses can be done without mastering the whole program.  The "Mailpro 64"
by Pro-Line is probably the next best program.  Mailpro is easier to use than
Superbase and does not require any programming abilities.  The membership
files for our club are kept by a simple data base program "Datafile".

     I hope this will aid you in choosing the software to suit your needs.  If
you have any questions either from this article or from using either of these
types of programs, then ask.  That is what the user group is for.
 
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