We are hoping to gain some efficiency in our architectural office by using a database to enter all materials (paints, concrete, stone, metals etc.) fixtures & fittings (taps, hand rails, appliances etc.) and equipment (airconditioning units, etc.) Firstly we want to be able to enter new product/material data as we go (using forms), from old projects (via spreadsheet import function) to build a complete office database. 

For each new project, we then want to be able to select specific records from the database for each material, fixture or piece of equipment. Then depending on what stage of the job we’re at, make separate reports that display only certain fields from each record (eg. Product name, size and photo at early design stage; then full detail for each item when it comes to listing all project items for a builder to price the job) Being able to group items by category is also necessary – ie. group all fixtures in one list, all paints & tiles in another etc.. It’s effectively like a "warehouse inventory" database, combined with a "job order" reporting system.