Need Database Guru's Help on a Structure

[padlocked17]

All -

I am having a dilema on how to structure a database to track the contents of a binder.

Essentially I have approximately 12 binders of two types.

Each binder has 6 sections each, and those sections are all the same for each binder.

Under each section there are multiple "products" in each section. Products is simply referring to a paper document. These products are all dated with an effective date and some have an expiration date. Some go through changes and the document must be replace but could still have the same name and effective/expiration date but the name of the product is simply called change 1 or change 2 as an example.

I then have one of the sections that contains subsections with multiple products under each subsection but the subsections differ from the 2 binder types.

I am looking for a way to track which product is in each binder and then when I have a replacement come out, I'd like to be able to enter the date or somehow select that their is a replacement for a particular product and then display a report that shows which binders need to be updated.

I'm not a stranger to access, and am pretty good at designing the structure with the exception of this project, and I can't wrap my head around doing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jdraw]

All -

I am having a dilema on how to structure a database to track the contents of a binder.

Essentially I have approximately 12 binders of two types.

Each binder has 6 sections each, and those sections are all the same for each binder.

Under each section there are multiple "products" in each section. Products is simply referring to a paper document. These products are all dated with an effective date and some have an expiration date. Some go through changes and the document must be replace but could still have the same name and effective/expiration date but the name of the product is simply called change 1 or change 2 as an example.

I then have one of the sections that contains subsections with multiple products under each subsection but the subsections differ from the 2 binder types.

I am looking for a way to track which product is in each binder and then when I have a replacement come out, I'd like to be able to enter the date or somehow select that their is a replacement for a particular product and then display a report that shows which binders need to be updated.

I'm not a stranger to access, and am pretty good at designing the structure with the exception of this project, and I can't wrap my head around doing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Russ,

Based on your post, I'm seeing this sort of thing as current structure:

Binder
   Section
     S1
     	Product1
     	   EffectiveDate
     	   ExpirationDate
     	   
     	Product2
     	...
     	Productx
     S2
       SSA
          Product_1
          Product_2
          Product_z
       SSB
       SSC
       ...
       SSY
     S3
     S4
     S5
     S6

Some questions:
What differentiates 1 Binder from another?
What's different about the 6 sections?
How do you know where to place a Product (why does a Product go to a specific Section/subsection)?
Only 1 section in each Binder has SubSections? Why?
Product refers to a paper document... How is that paper document identified? Where is that document stored/filed?
Are there no identifiers (numbers/codes..) that link the paper document to the "Product" stored in the database?
Need some clarification to these in order to offer some design assistance.

Perhaps you could show us the flow for a given"document/product", and the thought processes of how it gets identified and placed in a specific section or subsection. Then, do the same flow for identifying and applying a change.

Here is a link to various data models, perhaps you may see info here that is helpful.
http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/index.htm