Two forms - How many tables?

[Guest]

I hope I'm putting this in the correct forum.

I have a database that tracks tax abatements. Currently, I have a Master
form with three subforms to show the necessary information. Each form and
subform pulls from its own table. That is to say, the Companies master form
pulls from the Companies table, the Agreement subform pulls from the
Agreement table, and 913EX subform pulls from the 913EX table. Now for the
question.

When the database was first created in 1995, it only needed to track one
type of tax abatements, those for enterprise zones. These agreements abated
real estate taxes, tangible personal property taxes, or both.

We now need to track several types of abatements. The additional abatements
are for community reinvestment areas and tax incentive financing. The current
Agreements table already has a field that indentifies the type of agreement,
using the oversight authority name. These are all named as CRA_xxxx. Clear as
stained glass so far?

Now for the question. I want to use the same basic form designs to track the
real estate only abatements, or just the CRA_xxxx abatements. Should I create
a new set of tables for these agreements for the forms to pull from? Or would
it be simpler to have a query pull in the information? I want to be able to
enter the data directly into the forms.

Thank you.

 

[Guest]

It all depends on how similar the data is and also if it will change in the
future. Only you can best answer that.
If is fundamentally the same you can use the same table and form otherwise
you are best off using a separate table and form.

-Dorian

 

[Guest]

The only difference will be a field indicating whether or not agreement is a
CRA. For that, I already have a field in the original table as I mentioned in
the message. I'm thinking I can get by with one table and build the form
around a query. Hopefully.