diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 1a5cc7fd377c1c2eadb456833a43f42a759469a8..57ea4e286efdd56330a59cef2ac71e1229ce6de8 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -36,17 +36,18 @@ OPENAI_API_KEY = manage_sensitive("openai_api_key")
 os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = OPENAI_API_KEY
 
 # db connection
-conn_str = (
-    "DRIVER={ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server};SERVER="
-    + DB_SERVER
-    + ";DATABASE="
-    + DB_NAME
-    + ";UID="
-    + DB_USER
-    + ";PWD="
-    + DB_PASSWORD
-)
-conn = pyodbc.connect(conn_str)
+def get_db_connection():
+    conn_str = (
+        "DRIVER={ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server};SERVER="
+        + DB_SERVER
+        + ";DATABASE="
+        + DB_NAME
+        + ";UID="
+        + DB_USER
+        + ";PWD="
+        + DB_PASSWORD
+    )
+    return pyodbc.connect(conn_str)
 
 # page metadata
 st.set_page_config(
@@ -93,11 +94,11 @@ vectordb = FAISS.load_local("faiss_index", embedding)
 docsearch = vectordb.as_retriever()
 
 with st.form(key="query_form"):
-    query = st.text_input("Enter your research question:")
+    user_question = st.text_input("Enter your research question:")
     submit_button = st.form_submit_button("Submit")
 
     if submit_button:
-        docs = docsearch.get_relevant_documents(query)
+        docs = docsearch.get_relevant_documents(user_question)
 
         template="""You are a helpful assistant that tells a researcher whether their idea is appropriate given the data in the MPOG database.
         The MPOG database contains the following data elements that may be relevant to the researcher's ideas.
@@ -162,21 +163,21 @@ with st.form(key="query_form"):
             [system_message_prompt, human_message_prompt])
         with st.spinner("Thinking..."):
             submit_time = datetime.datetime.now()
-            result = chat(chat_prompt.format_prompt(context=docs, question=query).to_messages())
+            result = chat(chat_prompt.format_prompt(context=docs, question=user_question).to_messages())
             response_time = datetime.datetime.now()
         st.markdown(result.content)
         
         try:
-            with conn:
+            with get_db_connection() as conn:
                 cursor = conn.cursor()
                 query = """
-                INSERT INTO [DS_apps].[dbo].[mpog_helper] (user_input, llm_response, request_sent, response_received)
+                INSERT INTO [dbo].[mpog_helper] (user_input, llm_response, request_sent, response_received)
                 VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)
                 """
-                
-                cursor.execute(query, (query, result.content, submit_time, response_time))
 
-                st.success("Your idea has been recorded and may be reviewed by the MPOG Steering Committee.")
+                cursor.execute(query, (user_question, result.content, submit_time, response_time))
+
+                st.success("Your idea has also been recorded and may be reviewed by the MPOG steering committee.")
         except Exception as e:
             st.error("Something went wrong, and your idea was not recorded for review by the MPOG Steering Committee. Give the following message when asking for help from IT or Data Science:")
             st.error(e)