I'd suggest using a configuration module to store the various data elements that you need for each installation. That module could (on shaky ground here) export the required information about table names, field names, perhaps retrieving information from a hash of hashes.

One call at the beginning would specify which installation you are using, and from then on the configuration module would return the appropriate names for that installation.

--t. alex

"Of course, you realize that this means war." -- Bugs Bunny.