Rosters in Access

[NewmanKid]

I'm relearning Access (although I was never a power user), because I'm frustrated that the company I work for, continues to rely on Excel for essentially Database functions. I work on a remote Construction Project, and our Rosters (for up to 600 people), are all entered into a spreadsheet using the classic, 'names in the left hand column' and then dates across the columns. The intersecting cells contain the roster day for each person ie) if Joe Bloggs was on the 14th day of his roster on a certain date, then 14 would be in that intersecting cell. The rosters are 28 days on, and then 7 days off. So the spreadsheet gets large over say a two year period, particularly as people cycle in and out of the project.



We need some relatively simple reports, like "who is on site on a given day", but I'm also wondering if there is a way in which a report can be developed to display the roster in a similar way to the spreadsheet outline above. There is some paradymical (such a word?)thinking to this, but I'm also interested to know if access can easily produce this sort of report. Dates as field names I guess is a challenge?

Can Access also Make a Table, by calculating and generating new rows in a table ie) say start with a person's name and say a 'construction project start date' and then fill a table with a Date field with a roster cycle and day within that roster beside any given date. In other words, produce all the dates for the employee for the project, and then have the Roster cycle (say the 5th rotation, and beside the 6th June (say) have the number 14 representing the day in the cycle.

Sorry if this is all a bit wordy, but keen to build this roster.
regards

[Access_Blaster]

See if this link helps. Alpha Roster

[NewmanKid]

Hey Access_Blaster
thanks for the prompt response. I'm in a construction camp at the moment, so Internet is too slow to watch your movie effectively, but I did have a quick look at work today. Essentially, I guess you are saying that once the queries are run, the presentation can be developed to whatever format is required, using the report? So having dates as 'column' headings, could happen in the report?
Any suggestions on how to develop the base data? Would you just run a start / finish date for each person per roster cycle, and then use calculated fields to query info on a 'required' date? Or would you fully 'flesh out' the data in a table (perhaps using the make table function) to have all the roster details in a table, from which a query just sucks the info.
Once again, appreciate the help.
regards