for a store of electrical equipments, I want to create a database for it, what is the data that I should maintain in this database (the names of the columns)?
You need multiple tables. Using int() auto_increment primary keys for linking each section of data you want something like : stock_codes ( id int(6) primary key auto_increment, stock_code varchar(45) unique key, stock_description varchar(45), stock_qty int(6), suppler_id int(6) ) stock_movement ( id int(6) primary key auto_increment, in_date date, out_date date, moved_qty int(6), stock_id int(6), ) It helps to have tables of suppliers details, client details, sales person details, department details etc. If items have possible alternative suppliers you dump the supplier_id from the stock codes and use a link table for the stock id and supplier id to identify each inward transaction. Add tables for any additional information using links from the other tables to co-ordinate the data.
