From: craig.futterman@nospam.comcast.net   
      
   Thanks Larry,   
   I will have to think about this and try to put it into action.   
   Craig   
   "Larry DiGiovanni"  wrote in message   
   news:4734bea1$1@pnews.thedbcommunity.com...   
   > Craig wrote:   
   >   
   >> The problem in hospitals is that the day starts @0700.   
   >   
   > Time of day is just an expression of elapsed time past an arbitrary start.   
   > Instead of actual time of day, store the time as an integer offset from   
   > the start of your workday in units to whatever granularity you need -   
   > minutes, seconds, etc.   
   >   
   > For minute granularity, you'd have 0700=0, 0715=15, 0730=30,...,0900=120,   
   > 0915=135,...,0600=1380, 0630=1395, 0659=1439   
   >   
   > The same way of thinking works without an offset.  0700=420,   
   > 0715=435,...,0600=1740, 0659=1759   
   >   
   >   
   > You have to translate this in and out during data entry, reporting, etc.   
   > The simple way is to establish these values (using whichever scale you   
   > want) as the PK in a lookup, then associate with the actual time of day.   
   > Then rendering in a UI is a simple join or a backtrack.   
   >   
   > I've used this approach several times, mostly regarding a broadcast   
   > schedule, where the broadcast day starts and ends after midnight.  Before   
   > long it becomes automatic, and you start thinking in terms of offsets   
   > instead of TOD.   
   >   
   > --   
   > Larry DiGiovanni   
   >   
      
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