CompuServe Messages

My problem is that new records are entered every day and it is not known beforehand who has a SSN and who doesn't. Eventually the record would be updated and an SSN entered when known. It *must* be an SSN and not just a serial number for identity (I've got those, too.) I think I've solved the problem, though. I've changed the index so the SSN isn't unique, thus allowing multiple unknown SSNs. When the data is input, it is stored in one database. At the end of the day it is merged into the main daabase. At that time blank SSN fields are changed to "Unknown"+InmateNumber, where InmateNumber is a serial number. This prevents duplicates and makes it easy to search for subjects w/o SSNs for later correction. In the main database the SSN field is unique. Duplicate errors on merging flag existing files for update as opposed to creating a new record. Thanks for all the help…it is really useful.