Building tables guidelines

While the number and types of data elements or fields that compose a table entry vary from table to table, they all contain two similar definition fields, the code and a longer description. The code is usually an all upper-case abbreviation that represents or corresponds to the longer table entry description. For example, in the table of states, the standard 2-character abbreviation (TX) is the code, and the state name (Texas) is the description.

The code is a critical field and is:

• The primary access key for the table entry through which the table entry is stored and retrieved
• A validation check against input to the field it supports

In most fields, iMIS only lets you enter or select a code that exists in a table entry definition. In a field referencing the STATE_PROVINCE table, for example, iMIS would reject the code TT as not being a valid table entry.

In assigning codes, follow these guidelines:

• Assign meaningful codes that best represent the description.
• Make the codes long enough to be unique in the table but keep them as short as possible.
• Do not use spaces, apostrophes ( ' ), quotation marks ( “ ), or special characters other than underscores.