Missing Records

[colenzo]

Hi Guys,

It's just a short query really. We have an access database, and whilst doing a reconciliation we discovered that records are appearing when one person opens it, but on another computer they are showing up missing. We've been suspecting that data has been going missing for a while, and wonder if its related.

FYI:

There's no entry forms, data is input directly into one table. It's not normalized (existing database here before I started and as its used constantly there's been no time to re-write it), and it's not a back-end/front-end database. One table does everything.

I know that its a mess in the sense of it needs sorting, but could anyone think of a reason why this may be happening. We always ensure only one person is in the database at a time, so there's no issues with editing / modifying and the record lock side of things.



Any advice would be helpful, thanks

[TheShabz]

Is it missing as in it's blank when it should be filled or is the entire record missing? If the former, I'm stumped. If the latter, the user that's missing probably has a filter set on the table.

[orange]

Do you back up the database on a regular basis?
Do you copy the table and save as a new name for backup?
Do you do any Compact and Repair?
How do you know only 1 person is ever in the database?
What records are actually missing?
What did you do to reconcile the missing records or faulty process/procedure.

The best analogy I have when reading your post is

"We're too busy bailing the boat to plug the leak"

You need some data management and database management discipline.
Priority items
-regular backups
-normalize the table(s)
-split the database
-data entry via form
-establish some audit trail/logs

[tanvi]

First you have to analyze the exact cause i.e. “why records are missing?” I am sharing this article which can help you to find the cause of missing-records:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...001151085.aspx

After that you should use Compact and Repair utility to recover missing records.