When the answers are not at the back of the book

Here's the situation- the previous project manager left the office (for good) abruptly. The higher up consultant is, namely, on top of the 'food chain', and hence not that familiar with the database software. The new project manager was very familiar with the client but not familiar with the database. And I am the only analyst on the team which is responsible for churning out a valuation report.

Because of the above circumstances, I had to figure out a lot of things on my own. (Just like the job description said, "working with minimal supervision.") Sometimes, when I got stuck in the maze of data, I imagined it would be so great if I could just flip to the end of the "data book" (if there's any) and look up the answer. (Just like what I did in the actuarial study manual.)

Of course that was my day-dreaming. Then I realized there are no answers that I can look up in most of the situations in life. I can refer to other people's answers to their problems in their lives from books and from conversations. I can also refer to my previous experiences. But still, to answer my questions, I need to combine all the above with a twist of creativity because every question in life is unique. Though some questions look similar, they are never the same.