There are a few basic concepts common to all software programs such as CMD, and a few for CMD specifically which may be helpful to understand as you begin using it. This section is optional reading, but it might prove helpful to you if you are not yet very experienced using a computer.

Database

CMD is an example of what is known as a database, an electronic filing cabinet capable of storing information. CMD's data base stores personal, mailing, and church-related information about the people in your parish. The data base itself is composed of a number of individual data files (also called data tables) residing in a separate folder on your hard disk that was created when you did the Create New CMD File step when you started up CMD for the very first time.

CMD contains all the necessary tools to add, update, delete, print, and manipulate the information you choose to store in its data files. CMD will provide ways to use and understand your data in ways that would not be possible if the same information were kept on paper in a filing cabinet.

For example, it might be easy to find all the children in your church in a paper-based filing system. But how hard would it be for you to quickly find all the children who live in a specific zip code who are between the ages of 10 and 12 whose birthdays come in August who are not yet members of your church and who have not missed more than 3 weeks of S.S. attendance in the last quarter? It might take hours or even days to find such information, but CMD lets you discover such information in a few short seconds!

Data File Sets

As stated above, the database programmed into CMD uses a number of different data files to store its information. One file stores the basic information about a person. A different file saves their attendance, another one stores their visitation records, and still another, address and name changes. Each of these separate files together make up what we refer to from time to time as a "data file set" since technically more than one data file is needed to store data for your database. We will also use the term "CMD File" to describe a data file set.

CMD allows you to create multiple, physically separate data file sets. This might be useful if you have more than one church in your parish district, or if you wish to track interests in your church in a separate file from your regular church members' data. You can easily move between data file sets as you need to.