Data Files samples / Consultancy or agency

Bramble Studio

Clients, projects, time sheets, expenses and invoices for a small studio or consultancy.

Download 145 KB13 tables, 17 queries, 8 reports, 5 print templates and 6,412 invented records, dated back from 2026-10-22.

How the tables are related

A line runs from a field that points at another table's record to that table. Data Files keeps a record from pointing at one that is not there, and a query with both tables joins them by it.

Contacts.Client points at Clients
Projects.Client points at Clients
Projects.Contact points at Contacts
Tasks.Project points at Projects
Time Sheets.Staff points at Staff
Time Entries.Staff points at Staff
Time Entries.Project points at Projects
Time Entries.Task points at Tasks
Time Entries.Invoice points at Invoices
Time Entries.Time Sheet points at Time Sheets
Expenses.Project points at Projects
Expenses.Staff points at Staff
Expenses.Invoice points at Invoices
Invoices.Project points at Projects
Invoices.Client points at Clients
Invoice Lines.Invoice points at Invoices
Payments.Invoice points at Invoices

Start Here

The guide to this database: the everyday tasks a step at a time, each step saying which table, form, query, report or print template to open. Open its report, Start Here, to read or print it. Delete the table when you no longer need it; nothing else uses it. (30 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Order	Whole number	The order the steps are read in.
Task	Short text, required	The everyday task the step belongs to.
Step	Whole number	The step's number within its task.
What To Do	Long text	What to open and what to do there.

Business

The business's own details, in one record. Every document it prints, an invoice, a receipt, a statement or a letter, takes its name, address and payment details from here, so they are changed in one place. (1 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required	The name printed at the top of every document.
Address	Short text	The street address.
City	Short text	The town or city.
Postcode	Short text	The postcode or ZIP code.
Country	Short text	The country.
Phone	Short text	The phone number customers call.
E-mail	Short text	The address customers write to.
Website	Short text	The website, if there is one.
Tax Number	Short text	The VAT or sales tax registration number, printed on invoices. The sample has a placeholder.
Company Number	Short text	The registered company number, where the business is a company. The sample has a placeholder.
Bank Details	Short text	Where customers pay by transfer: the bank, account name and number. The sample has a placeholder.
Payment Terms	Short text	The words printed under an invoice's total, such as "Payment within 30 days".
Tax Rate	Number	The usual rate of VAT or sales tax as a fraction: 0.2 is twenty percent. Lines may carry a rate of their own.
Currency	Short text	The currency the business trades in, as its three-letter code.
Document Footer	Long text	A line or two at the foot of every document: thanks, opening hours, returns policy.

Clients

One record per client the studio works for or has quoted for. The studio itself is kept here too, as the client of its own internal projects. (26 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required	The client's business name, as it goes on an invoice.
Sector	Short text	The line of business the client is in, such as Charity or Retail; Internal for the studio itself.
Address	Short text	The street address invoices are sent to.
City	Short text	The town or city of the address.
Postcode	Short text	The postcode or ZIP of the address.
Country	Short text	The country of the address.
Phone	Short text	The client's main phone number.
E-mail	Short text	Where invoices are sent, usually an accounts address.
Payment Days	Whole number	How many days after the invoice date payment is due: the client's terms.
VAT Rate	Number	The VAT charged on this client's invoices as a fraction: 0.2 for UK clients, 0 for clients abroad.
Client Since	Date	When the client first came to the studio.
Notes	Long text	Anything worth knowing, such as a client who pays late.

Contacts

The people the studio deals with at each client. A client can have several. (49 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Client	Points at Clients, required	The client the person works for.
First Name	Short text	Their first name.
Last Name	Short text, required	Their family name.
Job Title	Short text	What they do there, so you know who signs off work and who pays.
E-mail	Short text	Their e-mail address.
Phone	Short text	Their direct phone number.
Main Contact	Yes/No	Yes for the person to speak to first about the work.

Staff

Everyone who logs time. What each hour costs and what it is charged at turn hours into money in the queries. (6 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
First Name	Short text	Their first name.
Last Name	Short text, required	Their family name.
Role	Short text	Their job in the studio.
E-mail	Short text	Their work e-mail address.
Phone	Short text	Their work mobile.
Hourly Cost	Currency	What an hour of this person costs the studio, with pay, pension and a share of overheads.
Charge-out Rate	Currency	What an hour of this person is charged to a client on hourly work.
Hours per Week	Number	Their contracted hours, for checking time sheets against.
Started	Date	The day they joined.
Active	Yes/No	No once they have left; their time stays in the records.

Projects

One record per piece of work quoted for, from proposal to completion or loss. The studio's own time (admin, new business, training) is kept on three internal projects. (117 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Code	Short text, unique	A short reference for the project, used on time sheets and in conversation.
Name	Short text, required	What the work is, as the client knows it.
Client	Points at Clients, required	Who the work is for.
Kind	Short text	Fixed fee, Hourly or Internal. It decides how the work is invoiced.
Work Type	Short text	The kind of job, such as Brand identity or Website design and build, for comparing like with like.
Budget Hours	Number	The hours the fee or estimate was worked out from.
Fee	Currency	For fixed-fee work, the agreed fee. For hourly work, the estimate quoted; once the project is completed it becomes what the billable time came to.
Proposed On	Date	When the proposal went to the client.
Start Date	Date	When the work starts, or could start if the proposal is won.
Due Date	Date	When the work is due to be finished. A pause moves it on.
Finished On	Date	The day the last of the work was done.
Status	Short text	Proposal, Active, On hold, Completed or Lost.
Notes	Long text	Why a proposal was lost, why work is paused, and the like.
Quote No	Short text, unique	The number of the proposal sent for the work, given in the order proposals go out, a new run each year: QUO-2026-0042. Printed on the proposal and the letter of engagement.
Client PO	Short text	The client's own purchase order number, for clients who pay only against one. Printed on every invoice for the project.
Contact	Points at Contacts	The person at the client the work is for. Invoices, proposals and the letter of engagement are addressed to them.

Tasks

The parts a project is broken into, each with the hours estimated for it, so you can see which part ran over. (524 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Project	Points at Projects, required	The project the task belongs to.
Name	Short text, required	What the task is, such as Concepts or Front-end build.
Role	Short text	Who does it: Partner, Design, Development or Project management.
Estimated Hours	Number	The hours allowed for it in the budget.
Done	Yes/No	Yes when the task is finished.

Time Sheets

One for each person for each week they log time. Their time entries for the week point at it, it is printed for them to sign, and it is approved before the month's invoices go out. (414 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Number	Short text, unique	The time sheet's number, given as each week's sheets are opened, a new run each year: TS-2026-0042.
Staff	Points at Staff, required	Whose week it is.
Week Commencing	Date	The Monday the week starts on.
Status	Short text	Open while the week is being filled in, Submitted once the person has sent it in, Approved once checked.
Submitted On	Date	The day the person sent it in, usually the Friday or the Monday after.
Approved On	Date	The day the project manager or a partner approved it.

Time Entries

Every stretch of time someone worked, logged to a project and one of its tasks. The heart of the database. (4,412 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Date	Date, required	The day the work was done.
Staff	Points at Staff, required	Who did it.
Project	Points at Projects, required	The project it was for.
Task	Points at Tasks	The task of that project it was for.
Hours	Number	How long, in hours and quarters of an hour.
Billable	Yes/No	Yes for client work; No for the studio's own time and for corrections done at the studio's cost.
Note	Short text	A word on what was done.
Invoice	Points at Invoices	The invoice the hours were billed on. Empty means not billed yet. On fixed-fee work it is the stage invoice that covered them.
Time Sheet	Points at Time Sheets	The person's time sheet for the week the work was done in.

Expenses

Money spent on a project: licences, printing, travel, hosting. Rechargeable ones are passed on to the client at cost. (139 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Date	Date	When the cost was run up.
Project	Points at Projects, required	The project it was for.
Staff	Points at Staff	Who spent it.
Category	Short text	The kind of cost, such as Printing or Travel.
Description	Short text	What it was.
Amount	Currency	What it cost, before VAT.
Rechargeable	Yes/No	Yes if the client pays for it on their next invoice.
Invoice	Points at Invoices	The invoice it was recharged on. Empty means not recharged yet.

Invoices

Every invoice sent, with what was paid on it so far. (176 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Number	Short text, unique	The invoice number, given in date order and once only, a new run each year: INV-2026-0042.
Project	Points at Projects, required	The project billed.
Client	Points at Clients	Who the invoice is addressed to: the project's client. Kept on the invoice so that a client's statement can list its invoices.
Invoice Date	Date	The date on the invoice.
Due Date	Date	When payment is due, from the client's payment days.
Net	Currency	The total of the lines before VAT.
VAT	Currency	The VAT on each line, rounded to the penny, added up: the same figure the printed invoice shows.
Total	Currency	Net plus VAT: what the client owes.
Paid	Currency	What has been received against it so far, from Payments.
Status	Short text	Sent, Part paid or Paid.

Invoice Lines

The lines of each invoice: hours by role on hourly work, a stage of the fee on fixed-fee work, and expenses passed on. (343 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Invoice	Points at Invoices, required	The invoice the line is on.
Description	Short text	What the line says, as printed.
Kind	Short text	Time, Fee or Expense.
Quantity	Number	Hours for a Time line; 1 for a fee stage or an expense.
Unit Price	Currency	The rate per hour, or the amount of the stage or expense.
Tax Rate	Number	The VAT rate of the line as a fraction, taken from the client when the invoice is raised: 0.2 for UK clients, 0 for clients abroad.

Payments

Money received from clients. An invoice can be paid in more than one payment. (175 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Invoice	Points at Invoices, required	The invoice the money was for.
Received On	Date	The day it arrived.
Amount	Currency	How much arrived.
Method	Short text	Bank transfer or Card.
Reference	Short text	The reference the client put on the payment, usually the invoice number.

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