title: MySQL CRM database dilemma
body: <p>I'm working on making a consumer CRM system for my boot-strapped startup, where we'll use MySQL. We're moving from an old paper and pen method of tracking leads and referrals, to a digital method for our dealers.</p>
  
  <p>The database will have a standard fields, like lead name, spouse, jobs, referral type, referrer, and lead dealer. This is easy, almost child's play.</p>
  
  <p>Now is the part I'm having a hard time figuring it out. I want to track all the attempted contact dates and responses, and appointments that have been set or reset. The system is going to be web-based, with the front-end in PHP.</p>
  
  <p>I thought about doing nested tables, but I don't want to use Oracle or PostgreSQL, as I like the familiar setup of MySQL.</p>
  
  <p>For the sake of feasibility, say I have 4,000 leads, and each lead is going to be called on average 30 times. So I'll have 120,000 data points to track.</p>
  
  <p>Would it be advisable to:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Make a two dimensional PHP array in the field, to keep track of these metrics.</li>
  <li>Have a contact table with all 120k in it, that the application pulls when these metrics are needed</li>
  <li>Have a contact table for each lead, which keeps track of all needed metrics</li>
  </ol>