Importing lookup data tips or suggestions

[Erik Pygott]

I'm working on a database that stores user information for various applications, such as username, location, request ticket, etc. I'll have tables such as App1, App2, etc. I would like to have the location information kept in a lookup table, such as lkupLocatio, so that it's consistent throughout the other tables. We get requests on Excel spreadsheets, and I'd like to be able to import the data from the request form into the database. When using a lookup table, the information is stored as a number, right? The information in the request form is the full name of the location, though. Any thoughts or tips on a good way to import the data?

[TheSmileyCoder]

When I do imports such as those where I have to match a text based record (excel) to a lookup table record, I usually import the excel sheet to a temporary table, and then run a append query, where I join the excel text column with the lookup table's text column, but store the lookup table's Primary key field (the number).

And yes, the principle behind a lookup table is that you store the primary key of the foreign table(number usually) instead of the text value.