A searchable database is an organized collection of records that can be queried or retrieved based on a specific field. By inserting the field, the database should allow end users to extract all the relevant information. For example, a customer search database might include name, email, phone number, job title, employer, etc. of each client. You can simply search for a customer’s name to get the rest of the information.
In short, the purpose of searchable databases is to centralize all related data in one place and allow users to end get the information. they need without having to compile complex queries or build a technical infrastructure.
Choose a tool to create one
There are a variety of options you can choose from on the market. Before you dive into the available solutions, you might want to think about the following questions to help you make a better decision:
- Is your data coming from multiple sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, or APIs? ?
- How big is your database? If it’s small now (like less than 100k rows), will it get bigger and bigger in the future?
- Does your database need to be updated at a certain time?
- Also to simple keyword searching, do you need more advanced search capabilities?
- Do you need to share the database with others?
Spreadsheets
Basically, if you don’t have too much data (maybe less than 1 million rows) and you’re proficient in Excel or Google Sheets, you might want to consider using spreadsheet programs to create a searchable database. All you need to do is create multiple input boxes and configure the VLOOKUP functions to return matching values based on the inputs.
Although spreadsheets allow you to create a search system with complex logic They are not databases. They are not designed to store and process large amounts of data. When your database grows to a certain point, your Excel can take a long time to return the results. Plus, spreadsheets are easy to edit, so anyone can inadvertently change the formula or data. Consequently, your database may have errors and missing values due to the easily editable nature of a spreadsheet program.
Relational Database Systems
Relational Database Systems relational databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, are common and scalable methods of building a database. No matter how big your data is, it can be stored in a structured format. The problem is that you need to have enough database knowledge and coding skills to set up the whole system. Knowledge includes schema design, defining relationships between tables, and building the connection between the data source and the database. Once the database is built, you need to know how to write SQL queries to retrieve the data you need. Also, most relational databases run on your local server. If your database is too large, it may take several minutes for search results to be returned depending on your computer’s performance.
Cloud Database Management Platforms
Cloud database management platforms, such as Acho, are more ideal when it comes to creating a searchable database. They can store and process big data like a relational database system, but have an easy-to-use GUI that allows you to search without code. In addition, they can use cloud computing to speed up data processing. Even if your database has more than 10 million rows, you can still get search results instantly. Second, in addition to spreadsheets, they support importing data from various sources such as relational databases, third-party applications, and APIs. You can put all the data in one place and use it to enrich your database. Third, they have built-in functions that allow you to transform and clean data without writing code. So you can customize the database on any table you want.
Create a search database
In this article, I’ll use Acho to demonstrate how to create a search customer database.
1. Import data from multiple data sources
Your business may use a number of different tools to manage your customer data. For example, you can use MySQL to record customer information, Google Sheets to manage CRM, and Stripe to manage customer payments. The first step is to import all the data your database needs.
2. Combine your data to enrich your database
Once all the data is imported into Acho, you can create a new project and import all the data sets into the project. Within the project, you can combine these data sets into a single table using Join or Union.
3. Set up schedulers for automate data synchronization
You can create schedulers to update your database. The schedulers will retrieve the latest data from your data sources and execute all the actions you have applied. So you don’t need to repeat create the database every time you get new data.
Explore your database
Do a quick search via the search bar search
If you want to make it a quick search, you can simply type a keyword in the search bar at the top of the headers, it will return all results that include the keyword in the given column.
C Create a complex search using the Filter action
Alternatively, you can configure a set of filters to narrow down the search results. Depending on the data type of each column, the filter will provide different logic such as “is or after” for dates, “contains” for texts, “greater than” for numbers, etc.
After applying your filters, you can even store them as your favorites so you can revisit them later.
Share your database
You can create a database that is only visible to you. However, if you want to share the database with someone else, you can invite them to your Acho project. Once they log in to Acho, they can create their own searches to find the data they want.
The advantage of sharing a database in this way is that all your teammates will have a lot of flexibility when deals with data transformations or table manipulation. However, this would make the table prone to inadvertent changes. When you need to share full access to a table, this is a better option.
Publish the search database on your website
If you have your own website, another way is to embed the database in your web page. To do this, you can create a spreadsheet application in the “Enterprise application” section. What it does is convert your project table to an app.
Then click the “Publish” button.
Once you’ve published your searchable database, you can simply use an “iframe” tag to embed your table on your website. This is what the search database looks like after publishing the sample database.
Create an interactive web app with Acho App Builder
If you want to present your data in a more customizable format and share it with many people, you can use Acho App Builder to build it. App Builder allows you to customize filters and create a full text search bar. Also, the content can be drilled down in more detail by clicking on any row.
If you’re interested in learning more about it, here are some ways to contact us.
- Schedule a discovery call
- Chat with Oy: Chat now
- Send us an email directly: contact@acho.io
.