Reality Check on Monthly BUY Price DB

[jalutz]

I've created an underlying DB for 260+ vendors to report buying prices of 538 different items. I'm using three related files: VENDORS, ITEMS and BUYLIST.

The process starts with each vendor receiving a fax with a list of the items for which they have submitted a buying price. It lists their current buy price along with a blank column for them to insert a revised buy price.

When returned, the vendor's current buy prices are updated.

Then the exported results of all vendor's buying prices are published in a tabloid journal.

The VENDOR file is easy, but some vendors will only post prices for 10 items and others for as many as 125 items.

The ITEMS file is much like an inventory list from which I can call standard entries a BUYLIST for each vendor. Currently my BUYLIST for each vendor is "invoice-like". Some BUYLISTs have only a few items and others have 100+. This approach also allows me to gather each item and show a high and low price for the period.

This is a request for a "reality check" from more experienced developers to learn if I've overlooked an easier way to accomplish the same task.

Thanks for your help and insights. -- jal