The best way to organize notes from meetings

[Jon Baldvin]

Hello.

 

I'm planning a file which stores information from meetings. It is a table, part of a FMPro 8 solution. The usual fields are all there like date and of course the notes etc.

I have two questions which I'd be very pleased if you helped me with:

1. I've been wondering whether it's sensible to divide the notes so that agreements would be stored separately and could then be listed without other background information from each meeting?

2. In another table I have all the staff and each one is a member of some subgroups. Is there a way I can have their names (first names eg.) appear as a comma separated text in a field as soon as I choose a group from a value list?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Maarten Witberg]

Hi Jon

 

1. it makes sense to separate information that falls into separate categories for reports, finds and data manipulation, so yes, I'd make separate fields for agreements, actions, followup dates, etc as well as one for background info.

 

2. I think you can do this using a conditional value list: make the value list filtered by subgroup and then a calc along the lines of

 

substitute(ValueListItems(Get(Filename);"TheFirstNames");"¶";", ")

 

make sure the calculation is unstored. On-screen updating of the field needs to be forced by clicking the field or scripting (commit records/requests)

 

maarten

[Maarten Witberg]

Come to think of it, if one meeting item can hold multiple agreements, actions, and such, it would be worth considering putting these in a separate related table, kind of as lineitems. (related by meeting ID item). Since you're saying goodbye to an ordinary text file as meeting report, you might as well make a real database out of it...

 

maarten

[Jon Baldvin]

Thanks a lot Kjoe for your reply.

I'm on the planning stage right now but the "line item" idea might be a sensible suggestion since this would be much easier reporting and following up each agreement.

I'll try out the conditional value list as well.

smiley-laughing

[Jon Baldvin]

Since I’m still not sure whether I’m on the right track I used a Staff Template from FMPro 8 to make a sample file which will show you on what lines I’m thinking.

 

Can anyone help me where to go from here?

(See the attached file:)

1. Is there a way I can have the first names of each member of a Group appear as a comma separated text in the Attendance field as soon as I choose a group from the value list Groups?

 

2. (or even more difficult) Can I have the first names appear in the Attendance field without the names of the members Away!?

 

3. If I want to divide the Meeting Notes into separate agreements do I need to make many individual records from each meeting, for each Subject of the meeting and corresponding Notes?

What would be the best way from where I am now?

What would be the line items?

How would the connection of Tables be organized?