The database would be an area where each franchisee would enter details on customers (address, phone numbers, etc.) plus a one to many relationship with “contracts” – whether these be Weddings, Portraits or Events.  Depending on the type of contract different information would be held – for weddings you would have things like package selection, venues, home visit address, album selection, reprints, status, etc, while for a portrait it would be less information.  Then against each contract they would need the facility to enter income and expenses.  Ideally, there would be some pre-defined triggers that would remind the franchisee to perform an action.  An example would be on a wedding where a deposit is paid on the booking (status change to booked) and 50% of the balance is payable 3 months before the wedding with the remainder payable one month before (I think that’s right).  The system would perform a daily check on what balances need invoicing and send an e-mail to the franchisee reminding them to action it.   There would also be various reports, both at a franchisee and a head office level.  If there is a way to produce some of the reports as downloadable csv files, then so much the better.