Need advice from CMSMS experts: what's the best way to do this?

[mrTron]

New to CMSMS, know just enough PHP to be dangerous and yes, I tried doing some searches in the forum first!

Not looking for a handout here, but some friendly advice on the best way to proceed with my project.

I have my site looking great in CMSMS (still in development) and I need to integrate a database of personnel.

My thoughts were to create a template with my PHP code to return/filter queries from this database and then when a user
clicks on a 'read bio' or somesuch link, I would simply append some variables onto a page within the cms which would essentially be another template with PHP code to query the db for more specific info on a particular staff member.

I guess my question is, how hard is it to append variables to internal CMSMS links in the fashion I'm describing, and secondly, is this the best way to do this? (don't want to reinvent the wheel if i don't have to).

thanks for any quick input people! 

[jmcgin51]

if it were me, I would use an existing module like CompanyDirectory or even Products.  Yes, it will mean some additional work up front to import all the users (you don't say if your directory holds 5 or 500 users), but in the long run I think you'll be happier.