Multiple Registration Form Organization

[eluser]Sumon[/eluser]
[quote author="jschutt" date="1221074394"]
1. Form is built and upon validation, submitted
2. Details are posted into one flat table and emailed to admin
3. User is transferred to PayPal
4. Upon confirmation of IPN, record is updated in DB to "Paid"
5. User is redirected to a confirmation page on our site with payment details.

My biggest question is in step 2 and between steps 2 and 3. Should I email the admin before the payment has been completed? Or should I wait until the confirmation of payment is received and then email the admin?
[/quote]
Jesse,
From my point of view, "Yes" you should not email admin before payment is done. Because many visitor's add product into their basket for nothing. So admin must not happy to receive email for these.
One additional option "Visitor Tracking" what you can add. i.e how much visitors visit your site. Which product visited most etc etc..
[quote author="jschutt" date="1221074394"]
I also need to break out of one flat table for all the details.
[/quote]
May be this idea is useful. Event table only contain event_id, user_id, date_of_registration, payment_cleared(Yes/No), etc etc
and event_detail table contain all informations regarding an event like event_id, guest_info, contact_email or something like it according to your requirement.