Hi Fran This is one of those piece of string questions with the devil in the detail. However, without getting into too deep water two observations: Leonard Will has compiled some useful figures and posted them on his website so that is worth a visit if only to help refine the question. http://www.willpowerinfo.co.uk/ Second point: consider "pro-forma" entries. Where you have a lot of entries the same or very similar (only a different number, say) a quick way of generating a lot of entries is to put the elements into a spreadsheet, generate the number of rows you want by dragging (which will also allow you to generate sequential numbers) and import the resulting csv file into your application. You can then refine the records in a second sweep or on an ad hoc basis as required. Roy McKeown Manager Petrie Project Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology University College London Malet Place London WC1E 6BT tel. 020 7679 2395 e-mail [log in to unmask] http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Fran Kern Sent: 09 January 2003 2:58 pm To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Data Entry Query Hello. I am currently working on a project to identify and quantify time/cost bottlenecks in data-basing natural history collections. Would anyone know of similar projects happening elsewhere? Or be able to point me in the direction of relevant articles, journals, or meetings? I am casting my net wide by posting this message on several lists - apologies for repetition if you subscribe to the others. Thank you for your help, Fran ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Francisca Kern Rapid Data Entry Assessment Project, Department of Botany The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD