Hi all,

I am not sure if this is the correct forum for my questions but I am going
to give it a try.

The IT department where I work is trying to grow our database development
services. We use both Access 2002 and 2003 and we are starting to use SQL
Server 2000. Does anyone have any thoughts of the best way to develop a
project plan for a database design? For example, one way I work is to think
about what the purpose is and how I or our users want the data to function.
Then I literally draw out the design of the database and then I build the
tables and the relationships, etc. electronically. Also, if anyone out there
sells their databases to clients, how do you justify the value of a database
or "data management"? How do you fund database development? How do you
measure the return on investment for a database? If anyone has been faced
with these issues (I imagine plenty of people have), I would appreciate any
feedback on my questions.  If this is not the correct forum, I would
appreciate being directed to the appropriate one.

Thanks!
Lauren M