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Chapter 6 - Computer Concepts and Legal Applications

Modifying a Database

You may discover that in a particular case, another field needs to be added to your database to give you control over other information, or that you wish to change the elements of a field. For example, the date the documents were received by your client from the opposing party may be important information to capture on all of your documents. If so, then you should be able to modify the predefined control application form by inserting a field anywhere on the form to capture this information. Ensure that the software you choose permits a database to be subsequently modified.

CAUTION: If you delete a field or shorten the length of a field which has data entered; you may lose the information in that field. It is obviously best to modify the field elements before you begin to enter data into the forms.

Database Report Generators Database Report Generators

Database software should have a powerful report generator that permits you to create a variety of reports to view on screen, in written form, or save to a computer disk. The primary value of any database that you use is what reports you can generate using the data that you have entered. If you create a case file and enter a large amount of data information, but are unable to generate usable final reports, then for all practical purposes the information in your computer is worthless.

Database Features and Products:

Databases can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. They can have a few fields on a form to capture critical document information, or they can be so advanced that they control your word processor in preparing certain documents on specific dates. It is important that whatever database you choose, it contains sophisticated features for future growth. Some features that you may want to consider:

  • Fields can be user defined and are not fixed;
  • Fields - text fields should have no less than 1500 word capability;
  • Difficulty in defining fields and forms;
  • Indexing Ability - increases the speed of your searches;
  • Fields - capability to add, delete, or modify during use;
  • Support from software vendor;
  • Multi-user capability a must;
  • Batch entry available;
  • Conversion or importing and exporting of data availability;
  • Security features;
  • Field definable by type of data;
  • Vocabulary list or pull down lookup table availability;
  • Global search and replace;
  • Default entries;
  • “Ditto” your previous database record;
  • Searches should be easy to formulate and execute;
  • Sorting on any field;
  • Exploded searches - searches and reports based on multi-indexed fields are returned in one report for each separate index;
  • Multiple field searching - can search multiple fields at the same time;
  • Ease of use;
  • Customized reports - Are reports easy to construct and does it have the capability to extract the valuable information you need? Are the database forms and reports reusable for other similar cases


Products.

  • Summation™ (www.summation.com)
  • Microsoft Access™ (www.microsoft.com)
  • Concordance™ (http://law.lexisnexis.com/concordance)
  • Filemaker Pro™ (www.filemaker.com).
 

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