It's been years (probably even nearly multiple decades) since I made any sort of use of Access, and even then it wasn't a proper database.
So I generally learn better by breaking apart something which does much of what I need, and then reconstructing it to do what I actually need, learning as I go and developing the extra parts though additional sources; and as a result I'm struggling to develop my database from tutorial videos I can find.
What I'm hoping for here, is for someone one (or multiple people) to give me the building blocks of what I'm trying to do. I'm not expecting anyone to make this for me (I won't learn otherwise).
I have a matrix (of sorts) which details employees in our company and their training records. Each of the different aspects of training need to be refreshed after a certain number of months (differs dependent on the specific training). I'm trying to create a database of this information, rather than the unrulily Excel spreadsheet form it's currently in.
I'm struggling to understand when I need data in separate tables, and when it can be in the same table. I'm also struggling in other aspects, but this could be because I'm falling at the first hurdle.
I know this should be fairly straightforward, but my head's struggling to comprehend how to lay things out.
So we need to record the following information;
- Employee Name
- Department - I want this to be a pre-determined list for the user to select from (a list that can be added to)
- Job Title - I want this to be a pre-determined list for the user to select from (a list that can be added to)
- Employed (Y/N) - so people can be removed/hidden from the database
- Certificate Name - approx 50 different certificates need to be listed (can be added/removed from list)
- Certificate length - number of months before training needs to be refreshed
- Valid From - completion date of training (updateable)
- Valid To - expiry of training certificate based on certificate length (not manually editable)
This also won't be a database I will personally make use of, so I was hoping to make it so that it presents to the end user without the database itself visible (although accessible to make any background changes), I know that the end users aren't quite a proficient with using computers, so I wanted to make it as simple for them as possible.
The user will need to be able to add new employees and their information to the database. They should be able to select if they are still employed - both the employed and unemployed lists should be separately viewable, and former employees should be able to be reinstated
Both the Department and Job Title lists should be editable in the same manner - adding new ones, and hiding/reinstating old ones if things are restructured
Again the same sort of thing with the Certificates themselves and their information, add/remove as required
The end user will need to view the certificates an individual employee has/ does not have; as well as which employees do/don't have individual certificates.
There should also be a way to quickly view any certificates which are due to expire in 90 days (3 months), 60 days (2 months) and 30 days (1 month) - as well as those which have already expired.
I think this is everything we will need for now, hopefully if I can put this together from your help I should be capable to amend anything further down the line.
Thanks in adance for any help.