DevonThink 3 versus Tinderbox versus VooDooPad

Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Nov 24, 2019 at 04:52 PM

Jeffery Smith wrote:
>What I need to learn (and then teach others) is part of a much larger
>Human Resource system (named Banner) that is essentially a huge
>relational database with modules for Human Resources, Student Records,
>and Class Offerings, It is like PeopleSoft, but better implemented for
>higher education.
> >What I have are dozens of screens, some of which are HR screens, some of
>which are Student Record (enrollment) screens, and some of which are
>rules for how faculty will be paid based on which classes are linked to
>each instructor. So, I’m working within a pre-defined database to which
>I have to link records using multiple tables. What I need is some sort
>of visual system (or WikiLink system) until I get straight in my head
>which tables link to which tables, and which fields are absolutely
>essential. So, I’m teaching myself because the vendor of the software
>would prefer that I spend a week in another state learning en masse with
>others.

Hi Jeffrey,

I’ve read this thread numerous times and it is still not clear (1) what you have, (2) what you need and (3) who will use this…
(this last post of yours did help explain it a bit)

1. If you have access to the database, why not open it in a database manager and look at the structure, the tables, the relations, the keys, etc
2. Once the database structure is known, you will want to explore the UI that was build to enter / view the data. A visual tool may be useful, but any writing tool can do the job. It is basically a writing exercise, to document the processes
3. If the audience, i.e. those that will use your work, is on a single OS, an OS specific tool seems appropriate, otherwise it could either be (1) a document on a dropbox-like server which users would download, (2) a shared Google Doc, or (3) a web hosted document (which is what I use to document InfoQube)

HTH

Pierre
IQ Designer