Fire Department Database

[ncfire11]

Hello all, new member here trying to find help with Access.



Being a member of a fire department, record keeping is obviously a must due to state and federal inspections. It is key for us to be able to bring forth information when it is needed on things such as personnel training, vaccinations, injuries, call reports, and the list goes on.

I am pretty good with computers, however MS Access has become a challenge for me. I want to build the database myself, so that if any issues with it arise, I will have a good idea of how to deal with them.

I have started simple, building a Member List Table which gives the each members: Department ID(Primary Key), Alternate ID(for officers), Rank, First Name, Last Name, Active?(Yes/No), and other forms containing contact information.

I have had no trouble with this and things are going rather smoothly. I have also made a form allowing me to more easily enter this into fields.

The trouble arises when I am trying to build a report, based on active members. I have made a query that allows me to display such, active members in Ascending order by last, then first name.

I need the report to put those members in a table(4 columns by 21 rows) putting the first 20 members in the first column after the heading, skipping the second column for signatures, and filling in the rest in the third column, leaving the fourth column also open for signatures. Also, we add and lose members rather often, so I am unsure if it is possible to make the table dynamic(ie. If we only have 38 members we only need 20 rows).

I have managed to code in a way that shows the data like I want it to([LastName]+", "+[FirstName]), however I am lost as to how to get it in a table like this.

See column:

Name Signature Name Signature Last, First Doe, John Smith, John

Thanks all for your help!!

[JeffChr]

I think the first place I might look would be labels. Access has a label making wizard I believe. I've never done this but that's where I'd start my research on this part of your project.

[ncfire11]

I thought about that but it seems like that is more in place to print mailing labels. I also forgot to mention that the table as shown above is to be part of a report that contains other information like the date, meeting time, etc.

See attached .doc file to see what I am talking about.

I also have to have two other reports similar to this, but if I can get the first one the other two should be rather simple.

[JeffChr]

take a look at this link - maybe there is a built-in way to do it. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/o...7-40f609271a0e

here is another link which on a cursory look seems to support the above in more detail http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ac...001156534.aspx

[burrina]

You might want to take a look at this site for ideas. http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/

HTH

[ncfire11]

I have looked around, and requested access to some of the databases.

[ssanfu]

There is the columns command in the page setup when in report design mode.
I created a quickie dB as a demo..... really needs a lot of work, but you'll get the idea...

Is this close to what you are looking for???


Another option is to create a blank form in Word and print it out. Then create a report with only the fields and print on the pre-printed forms.

[ncfire11]

The only thing I see having trouble with is Access automatically starting in the 3rd column when the 1st column becomes full

[ncfire11]

I have decided that I will simply edit the call response forms as they are needed, this is much simpler and doing it via Access seems to be more trouble than necessary.

Now,

I have my member table in place, as well as my member form and active member query.
I have also created a new table called CallsT, in which information regarding calls that we respond to is entered. Also entered is the dispatch time and clear time.

What I need to do is on each record at the bottom I need every active member's name, with a yes/no box beside their name to give them credit for the time they were at the event. This is going to require calculation from the dispatch time and clear time if possible. Ie in the picture below their participation would be just over .5 of an hour. This needs to be sent off to a table of its own, where each member's participation in every call is recorded so they can be given credit.

Sorry for all the questions, I am learning this the best I can.

[June7]

I don't know about your decision - seems Steve's sample report works nice. Don't you want the 3rd column to be used when the 1st is full? The alternative is to fill columns across then down instead of down then across.

Do you have another question in that last post? What do you mean by 'sent off to a table'? Perhaps you need a junction table to enter the individuals who participated in that response event. That table would have EventID and MemberID. Then use a subform bound to that table with combobox for the members.

[ncfire11]

I don't know about your decision - seems Steve's sample report works nice. Don't you want the 3rd column to be used when the 1st is full? The alternative is to fill columns across then down instead of down then across.

Do you have another question in that last post? What do you mean by 'sent off to a table'? Perhaps you need a junction table to enter the individuals who participated in that response event. That table would have EventID and MemberID. Then use a subform bound to that table with combobox for the members.

June7,

I will revisit the report idea, I simply thought it may be more trouble than it was worth.

My last post did contain another question. I need the Calls form to have the call information, as well as the members who attended. This needs to add hours to their "profile" so I can create a report that will give me the monthly or yearly totals of their hourly participation in events. I just am not sure how to store this data, whether it should be on a new table or otherwise..

Thanks again,

Josh

[June7]

Sounds like another table as I described.