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Have you considered some of the points raised below? Spending a few minutes checking off these tips may save time later on.

 Identify your data source

What data do you need and where does it live? Identify your data sources and check the quality of the data. You'll get better results if your source data is as 'clean' as possible.

 Think about the users 

The design of your database affects how your team can use Phocas. To ensure your database is user-friendly, we recommend you take into account the needs and skills of your users, the required data structure, naming conventions and who you want to be allowed to see data. 

 Keep it simple

If you're a beginner at designing databases, make your first one simple. Once you have your first successful build, then add more databases. Phocas offers several simple database templates to help get you started.

 Database

basics

• Streams
  A stream is a data series from a database, e.g., 'Sales' or 'Budget' in a Sales database. In Phocas, users can view a single data stream or compare streams. Streams.
• Dimensions
  These data sets are the key analysis points in Phocas. They give structure to your data and form the basis of all slicing and dicing. Dimensions appear as buttons down the left of the screen in Phocas. In a sales database, you'll always see 'customer' and 'product' dimensions, although the names may differ. Other common dimensions are supplier, sales rep and region. Dimensions are often grouped, e.g., underneath 'Product' you might have product or item class, sub class, supplier or vendor. Dimensions.
• Properties
  Additional information about dimensions, e.g., customer address. Properties.
• Measures
  Data values, typically numeric, relating to dimensions, displayed as columns in Phocas. Measures.
• Date
  The moment at which the activity (e.g., a sale, order, etc) occurred. These form the basis of time periods in Phocas. You can choose what period types to make available to users. Typical period types are weeks, months and days. Periods.

To learn more about how databases are commonly set up, see our information about /wiki/spaces/userdoc/pages/590217