Off the shelf database solution?

cakeadoodle

Thanks for all the replies - I hadn't heard of many of those so I'll check them out. I was thinking 'database' and of course this is what I've been googling for. I didn't realise that what I was describing is something else entirely.

I used to quite enjoy getting to grips with technical things but I just don't have the time to do that kind of stuff any more. I'm going to check out some of the demos, looks like that's my weekend sorted

Thanks again!

paddyrg

'Databasen package' generally is used to describe the tool you'd use to store the data, but not the actual schema of the data you're storing using one. CRM/ERP packages will all use one or another database engine under the covers to do the storing bit of the job, but they have had a load of business logic designed to optimise them for the specific task you want as opposed to being wide open to changes (and errors).

An analogy would be building a house using breeze blocks vs using mud. Both will do the job, the mud is more flexible and can make any shape you want, the breeze blocks already have a load of work done so you can get up and away much faster (and probably safer!)