What sort of schema can I use to accommodate manual date based data entries?

Question

I have an admin where users from multiple properties can enter in monthly statistics for twitter/facebook followers. We do not have access to the real data/db so this is why a manual entry. The form looks like this:

Type ( radio, select **one** only ):
 - Twitter
 - Facebook

Followers/Fans ( textfield ):

Property (dropdown): Hotel A, Hotel B

Date Start: mm/dd/yyyy (textfield)
Date End: mm/dd/yyyy (textfield)

Question 1.1: Since I am only keeping track of month per month, the date start/end fields which I have already created might be too specific. Would it be a better idea just to have a start month/year and and month/year if that's the only thing I care about?

Question 1.2: What schema could I use for month to month statistics if I were to change the date start and end textfields to start month/year and end month/year dropdowns?

Answer 1

First of all, you're designing an application backassward. The data drives the UI, not the other way around.

it shouldn't matter at all if you have month/year dropdowns or not. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CAPTURE?

If each value is for a single month, then why bother with start and end date? Use one date and a convention of either the first of the month or the last of the month.

6/1/2010 is the JUNE 2010 entry. The day is irrelevant. Do not use anything other than a date type.

If you normalize the schema, you need a table for the social media venue, a table of properties, a child table to both of those that has a date column for Count_for_month and an integer column for count_of_followers.

Response to Marjan

Your data is the only thing that matters. If Excel disappeared, would you care so long as the data in the files could be used in Google Docs?

But does that mean I recommend capturing lots of unnecessary data? Or designing one screen per table? (I'm just guessing what is meant by "table and CRUD centered") Nor am I saying that your datamodel isn't driven by requirements but the notion that OUTPUT is the sole reason for your system to exist is lunacy.