What is the going cost for looking over a database?

[jaad]

Hey all,

I am at a point where I am considering having a professional looking over my database structure. I have many components and I am starting to get mixed up.

I started using Access last August and learned a lot since then and with the help of some people on this site along with scavenging functions here and there online I been able to put something together that is fairly decent but not yet complete the way I want it.

What my problem is at the moment is that I wanted to wait until I have pretty much all the components built and then make it work and only THEN have a professional look it over to point out its shortcomings. At this point I think I would make sense to have it looked over if I want to bring it online by the summer.

Does anyone have an idea of how much I am looking at to get a professional to look my database over and make notes and rate it? I am not necessarily looking for someone to build it, I would wish to do that myself because at the end I have to know how it works in order to fix it if problems arise. Any ideas?

[ADezii]

What my problem is at the moment is that I wanted to wait until I have pretty much all the components built and then make it work and only THEN have a professional look it over to point out its shortcomings.

In all honesty, jaad, I feel as though a Professional should have been brought in during its conceptual stage, not when many of the Components have already been developed. Don't take my word alone on this, let's see what some of the other Experts say on this Subject.

[jaad]

I agree... Thing is, the darn thing came to life on its own, it started as an address book, now it's something the organization I work for wants to integrate on a server so everyone can use.

[TheSmileyCoder]

For people to make a good offer, you need to supply good information.
Have you used a consistent naming of objects?
Have you used VBA code?
Have you used Macros?
How many forms/reports do you have?
How many forms/tables/queries/reports are you using?

You have to find out what you want to gain from such a review. Another way of deciding is to determine how much you want to spend, and then try to find out what you can get with that amount of money. With an hour of work, im sure someone experience could read through your database, and find alot of "newbie" errors, pointing it out to you, and that might be the starting point.

If you have a specific functional requirement, you would have to specify it in details first, so the programmer would know exactly what you want.

[missinglinq]

The couple of times I've done this, I quoted my usual hourly rate, and the clients ended up paying approximately two to three times what it would have cost for me to have done the project to begin with!

Linq ;0)>

[jaad]

To answer your question SmileyOne:

- Yes I have used a consistent name protocol
- I have used a very limited amount of VBA Codes and macros(most consist of function to jump from one form to another and carry the ID reference number of the original record)

- I have 44 tables, 22 Queries, 67 Forms, and 26 reports (this project is hardly completed and assume that I will double what I have once I am finish with it)

What I would gain from the review?

Simple, at this time I have enough material that it is starting to get complicated because of one component that has been badly designed from the start and this cause a domino effect to the rest of the line that depends on the information. (Being that I am able to work with real data, I always find that my first idea could be more efficient if I would had lets say a detail table for the project I;ve created. It sound obvious to me now that I should have thought of that in the beginning but you learn as you go I guess.)

How much I will want to spend will depend on my employer. I have had a meeting this morning and after April(new fiscal year) I should know what kind of consulting fund will be made available to me. Given that I need to make this out to work on Sharepoints I am thinking that I could get a couple of thousand Canadian Dollars to work with to help me set it up.