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  1. #1
    ecblondie is offline Novice
    Windows 7 32bit Access 2010 32bit
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Posts
    1

    Need help with building project

    I work for a company that offers several different services to their customers. We are still using spreadsheets to keep up with A LOT of the information regarding these customers.



    Here is a breakdown of them:

    1. service, limit

    2. service, limit, service specific hardware

    3. service, limit

    4. service

    5. service

    We also keep track of monthly service fees discounts, misc hardware used. We have our customer contracts saved in pdf format to make it quicker to pull up the contract and make changes.


    While completing an end of year review of all fees, I have found we have been doing a terrible job of keeping these spreadsheets current and some of the fees weren't being applied or removed from customer accounts. I have tried to move this information over to Access once before but it just wasn't what I had envisioned. Would this work better if we had it in service specific databases and then used a main database for day to day entry? Then any changes would flood out to the correct one?

  2. #2
    ranman256's Avatar
    ranman256 is offline VIP
    Windows Vista Access 2010 32bit
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Kentucky
    Posts
    9,521
    you could import your sheets into access tables.
    tClient table,
    tService,
    tLimit,
    tHardware,
    tInvoices
    tContracts,
    etc.

    you might be able to modify an existing template for your needs.

  3. #3
    Micron is online now Virtually Inert Person
    Windows 10 Access 2016
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    12,737
    Not much to go on with respect to tailoring design suggestions to the business needs, but we should be able to answer your basic question
    Would this work better if we had it in service specific databases and then used a main database for day to day entry?
    Definitely not. With all due respect, why would it be easier to maintain data integrity when spread out over several databases when you couldn't do it in one before? If there were threads in a forum about that issue and it wasn't resolved that would be one thing, but I have no way of knowing that. You don't break up a business process into multiple databases for the reason you seem to be suggesting.

    Perhaps what you need is design suggestions to accomplish what you didn't before. To do that effectively, a lot more information would need to be revealed regarding the nature of the business and the processes that the db needs to handle to support that. Then there is a lot of basic knowledge we could suggest that you might or might not already possess.
    The more we hear silence, the more we begin to think about our value in this universe.
    Paraphrase of Professor Brian Cox.

  4. #4
    ssanfu is offline Master of Nothing
    Windows 7 32bit Access 2010 32bit
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Anchorage, Alaska, USA
    Posts
    9,664
    Welcome to the forum......

    Further to Micron's comments:
    Quote Originally Posted by ecblondie View Post
    <snip> I have tried to move this information over to Access once before but it just wasn't what I had envisioned.<snip>
    We have no idea what a "service" is, so I (for one) would be hesitant on recommending a table structure/relationships.

    I would suggest going to Roger's Access Library and actually working through the 3 tutorials.
    Then read about Normalization. Here is a link to articles (5): What Is Normalization, Part I: Why Normalization?


    Some suggestions:
    Use only letters and numbers (exception is the underscore) for object names.
    Do not use spaces, punctuation or special characters in object names.
    Do not begin an object name with a number.
    Do not use Look up FIELDS, multi-Value fields or Calculated fields in tables.


    "Old Programmer's Rule" is this:
    If you can't do it on paper then you can't do it in Access. Until you can draw out your tables AND rules for how they change for each function you want to perform, you are going nowhere fast.

    You have to do the analysis, build a plan, set priorities......Since you have the business, you know the processes better than anyone, so analysis should be second nature-- and providing you are familiar with database concepts -- designing the database should be an iterative process and a good learning experience for you. The data model and testing/vetting will result in a blueprint for your database. Review, test, adjust, and repeat until you get the results you expect. People are here and willing to help.

    Only then should you get on the computer and start creating objects (tables, queries, ...)


    More reading:
    Naming Conventions
    What not to use in names

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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