Designing the fields in the data base

The following are the considerations one has to remain in mind while designing the fields in the data base.

• Coding, compression, encryption
• Choosing data type
• Controlling data integrity
• Default value

         -     Range control

         -     Null value control

         -     Referential integrity

• Handling missing data

        -       Trigger a report listing missing values

        -      Substitute an estimate of the missing value

        -      In programs, ignore missing data unless the value is significant.