Writing Your Database Plan

By planning your database carefully in advance of making any decisions, you can often save time, money, and a world of trouble.

The outcome of a successfuldatabase planning processis a database plan that you can use to organize and schedule the process, and apply for funding. See the TechSoup article database planning process for more information. Creating a database plan will help your organization develop clear ideas about what kind of database you really need, can afford and are able to support.

Your database plan should be clearly integrated with the overall technology plan for your organization. See the Technology Planning section for more information.

You can use the Sample Database Plan in the Databases Worksheets section as a model for your own database plan. Be sure to incorporate all relevant data that you collected in your database planning process.

Your final Database Plan should include:

• An Executive Summary:

  Explain why you need a database and what you will accomplish with a database.

• Database Design and Information Flow:

  Identify what data you will be collecting and what "must-haves" your database should include.

• Staffing Recommendations:

  Identify which staff will be allotted time to manage the database.

• Training Recommendations:

  Identify staff training needed to use the database.

• Hardware/Software Requirements:

  Identify hardware and software needed to manage and run the database.

• Implementation plan:

  Describe your schedule and deadline for getting this database going. The plan should also include a budget for all staff, hardware, and software expenses related to the database.

• Appendix:

  Include all Reports and Forms that will be part of the database.