1 Work out objectives - what we want to achieve
What is the objective and what information does the school need to achieve this? (In this case the school wanted information about local employers to help students become aware of local companies as potential employers.)

2 Determine the information we want, and what questions to ask employers
In consultation with teachers, the students identified six features of local employers to find out about:

• who they are l where they are located
• what they do
• how many people they employ
• whether they offer training
• whether they recruit school leavers.

3 Collect the information
Students collect the information during work experience. All students on work experience carry out information-gathering as part of their project work, returning with information about the six identical features to be input into the database.

4 Design the database and enter the information
The maths students initially worked in small groups to design the database and fields. Each group demonstrated its approach to selected users for their comments and the database design was debated and finally agreed. Volunteers entered the data. The companies were classified according to SIC.

5 Review and update
Twice a year teachers are circulated by the maths department with a one-page questionnaire about whether and how they, their students and the parents use the database. This acts as a reminder for them to use the database and also gives feedback to the maths department. The database is updated each year as students return from work experience.