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  1. #1
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    Is Access right for what I need?

    Hello -

    I am new to the forums and fairly new to Access and not 100% comfortable with it yet. But I really want to build a database for tracking purposes but I'm not sure if it's a good fit.

    My job requires me to turn in certain types of tasks/transactions and I receive a certain # of credits per task/transaction type. There are several different categories and a lot of calculations to be made based on what is submitted. Right now I am trying to track it on an Excel spreadsheet and it's just a bit too complicated.

    Let me see if I can give a couple of examples on how these tasks are graded.


    Basically, there are 3 different types of credits: T Credits. F Credits. C Credits.
    Now there are a lot of different tasks/transactions and different percentages of how many samples are pulled:
    RC = 1T & 1F credits per task // Sampled at 25% for the entire month
    BI = 1T& 1F credits per task // Sampled at 50% for the entire month
    SL = 1T & 1F credits per task // Sampled at 100%
    BC/B2/BN = If Med/Vis 1T, 1F, 1C credits per task, If LIF 1T & 1F credits per task // Sampled at 50% per Day (The Med/Vis & LIF can't be turned in on the same day - would always be seperate days)
    NP # Groups = 1F Credit per Group // Sampled at 100%
    NP # Med/Den/Vis Plan IDs = 1T & 1C Credit per plan ID // Sampled at 100%
    NP # LIF Plan IDs = 1T Credit per Plan ID // Sampled at 100%

    I would also need to be able to enter the number of errors I have for the month.

    On sample sizes that are less than 100%, the calculations would have to be at the minimum % but could actually exceed it.

    Then I would need to be able to run a report from this database to show me how many credits should be given for each category and then calculate the over all score for the month (which would be total credits given - errors / total credits given).

    I hope I have explained this fairly well and that someone will be able to help me somewhat.
    I know it's hard to understand all the categories and credits and stuff.
    But it's just getting to be too much for an excel spreadsheet - especially if i want other people to use this.

    I basically want them to be able to just enter the date. Then fill out a pop up box or something with what category the task is in, be able to enter the corresponding group # for the task, and be able to select what product its for - medical, dental, vision. life, etc....

    Anyone up for the challenge of helping me???

    Thanks for your time!
    Branchard

  2. #2
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    Do you have a sample of a working spreadsheet? if you do can you post it and clearly mark which cells are your data entry cells.

    That would likely be the easiest way to determine what you're talking about.

    There's nothing in what you've said, though, that makes me think you can not do this with Access.

  3. #3
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    Yes, I can get a spreadsheet posted on here. And I will do what you said with the colors for the data entry cells.

    I am a quick learner and feel like I should be able to learn Access (i used it some in college but that was several years ago). I just don't really know where to start with it. And at this moment, I'm unsure how you run queries or reports off of what you enter.

    Give me just a bit and I'll get that posted.

    Thanks

  4. #4
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    Oh... I might have to wait til I'm at home later to post the spreadsheet. I'm unable to do a zip file here at work. But I'll get it posted as soon as I can.

    Thanks

  5. #5
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    Sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday but had some other stuff come up that was priority. I am attaching the spreadsheet and everything highlighted in yellow is something the user should be able to enter - as well as the date field (I failed to highlight this).

    Column B = Sampled at 25% per month. I have a calculation below the column to tell me how many samples should be taken - Cell B23. This cell gets copied into G31 and H31 to give the number of credits for the sample size (each sample gets 2 credits)

    Column C = Sampled at 50% per month. I have a calculation below the column to tell me how many samples should be taken - Cell C23. This cell gets copied into G30 and H31 to give the number of credits for the sample size (each sample gets 2 credits)

    Column D & E = Sampled at 50% per day. Column D gets 3 credits per sample and Column E gets 2 credits per sample. If the person turns in both of these things on the same day, there is no ways of knowing which one will get pulled for a sample - and therefore, they can't really accurately track their stuff. Column E work is a lot less frequent than Column D work - so for now, we just advise that anything for Column E not be turned in on the same day as Column D work. And Column N is used to determine how many samples should be taken for the day from the # turned in. And I just copy this info to cell D/E23 and then hide column N so the user isn't confused about the formula and such.

    Column F = Sampled at 100%. This sum of this column is copied to cell G29 and H29. 2 credits per sample.

    Column G-I = Sampled at 100%. This has to be broken down into 3 columns because of how credits are distributed for this task. The # of credits are totaled and put into cells G-I28.

    Column J = # of errors received

    Column K-M = This is to give a breakdown of the # of credits on any given day - but it does not include info for Column B or C. It only calculates the credits for Column D-I

    The little chart below "Reviews Completed" is just a breakdown of credits by category. And then below that is how the user's quality score is determined for the month.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  6. #6
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    I'm unable to review this until friday morning, but I'll check it then

  7. #7
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    Ok, just a few things here, sampling usually means that if you have 100 data points and you're pulling a 25% sample you pick 25 random records from that data, *then* perform your calculations. You're just summing the records and multiplying it by a percentage. So are you really looking for a sampling or is your current calculation the correct one?

    Secondly you have mentioned that you have 2 per month calculations, but in your spreadsheet you're including the may date when your sample size should be A3 through A21 (19 records)

    So for column B you should be picking 5 records at random for your sample
    For column C you should be picking 10.

    For the daily stuff:

    For column D & E I can only assume you may have multiple records for the same person on the same day which would mean you'd pick 50 (or the nearest percentage greater than 50%) of the records to examine.

    The way you currently have it set should be relatively simple to reproduce, but my main question revolves around whether you're truly doing sampling or just averaging results. The method to go about them is completely different.

  8. #8
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    Ok. Let me go into a bit more detail. It's hard to remember everything to tell someone that is not involved in this world

    The way samples are pulled for any particular person - to determine their quality score for the month - is actually on a daily basis. They don't wait until the end of the month to do all the sampling. But for column B & C, they are going to sample as we turn it in but they just aren't going to exceed checking 25% for column B and 50% for column C. So when a person turns in their first item for either of those categories, its going to sample the very first one. Then it will skip the next ones until it "needs" to sample another one to keep the percentage correct. And the percentage ALWAYS has to meet the minimum required but it can exceed it. So the user will actually know which ones get sampled b/c it really isn't "random" like they claim it is!

    The last day of the previous month will be included in the quality sample b/c it counts in the month it is reviewed and closed by the Quality department. So anything we turn in on the last working day of the month will not be checked until the next month.

    Column B & C - the sample size will depend on how many are turned in for the month. For example, I turned in two RCs on 6/4. I know that they will sample 1 of those at this time and it will put me at 50%. So the next two I turn in will NOT be sampled and thus it drops my sample size to 25%. Then when I turn in #5 for the month, it will sample that one. Does that make sense? I know this is hard to follow and its a bit tough to explain to where it makes sense.


    Column D definitely has multiple records turned in every day. Column E isn't quite as often. Maybe a max of like 5 a month, but like I said earlier - we don't turn those in with records from Column D. So I know if I turn in 2 one day, then 1 will be sampled. And if I turn in 5 more on another day of the month, I know that 3 will be sampled. And then for Column D its the same thing really. If I turn in 10 one day, I know 5 will be sampled. If I turn in 15 the next day, I know 8 will be sampled.

    And maybe "sampling" isn't the right language I should use on here but I'm not sure how else to express it. But does any of this make sense??



    I do appreciate your time and guidance.
    I really want to have a good way to track the work - which it's getting a bit messy on Excel. But I'm basically having to do this because the database that the Quality department is using to sample our work with is not accurate at this time! And I've given them 4 months of my own data to show them it did sample correctly and that the #s are wrong. And my job depends on their database being accurate and giving me the credit that I should get for each task. So I started tracking my work on a spreadsheet... and now more of my colleagues want to track their work too. So... I'm just trying to figure out if this is something I can create to help us.

    Thanks again for your time!

  9. #9
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    Alright time for more questions.

    Does each record you enter always have all the data points on the spreadsheet? You have 10 data points for each record 1 is the date, and 9 columns of other data, are those always there for every record, even if the value is zero? This is important because if you are only choosing records that actually have data and each record is NOT required to have all the fields filled in it's a different sort of problem.


    I think I understand your selection criteria for figuring your information

    For column B your score would be based on the first record and every 4th record after that

    1 (100%) Record Chosen
    2 (50%)
    3 (33%)
    4 (25%)
    5 (40%) Record Chosen
    6 (33%)
    7 (28.5%)
    8 (25%)
    9 (33%) Record Chosen

    Similarly the 50% would be the first record and every 2nd record thereafter?


    Column D definitely has multiple records turned in every day. Column E isn't quite as often.
    This part is the only part that concerns me. If your data is coming from different sources and each of the columns really has nothing to do with the others this becomes a different problem entirely. Could you actually fill out your spreadsheet with garbage data that's close to what you'd expect to see on a normal basis with at least one day that has multiple records and re-post it here?

  10. #10
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    Attachment 12662Attachment 12662Tracking Worksheet with Entries.zipWell... on my spreadsheet all the columns remain even if the entry is 0 for that day.
    And you are correct about columns B & C.
    I will post a spreadsheet with entries from my May records. I added a few other pieces of work into the spreadsheet that I didn't actually do but thought it would be useful to add them in to see what that column does with it. I did have to add one more column into my spreadsheet - Column O. I had column N doing the calculations of the sample size for D & E but realized that N can't be included in the sum of column M. so I had to separate them. I hope that makes sense! I'm not sure any of this does... hahaha...

    I'm starting to think that this is just too much to try and do in Access - at least for a novice like me.

    I just really wanted to find a better way to track the work and it be easy for another user to enter their data and see a report with their calculations. Just an easy interface form that they could fill in. But this just seems to be growing and getting bigger than I can understand :)

  11. #11
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    You are not allowed to give up because I'm learning something new working on an example for this :P

    What calculations on your spreadsheet do you *need* to have and which ones are just there for show. Which ones are a must have?

  12. #12
    rzw0wr is offline I will always be a newbie
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    rpeare is correct.
    Don't give up. You will not learn Access if you give up.
    One day in the near future the light will come on and you will have that AHA moment.

    Dale

    PS. it is OK to scream and yell though.

  13. #13
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    Ok I think I misunderstood what you were doing, I thought when you were choosing your 25% of records you were choosing every fourth record and using that number in it's entirety. Or at least that was the intent. So this spreadsheet as it is now (the one with data in it) is giving you the correct numbers, according to both you and your QI department?

    If so, your original problem is much easier and it's just a matter of getting the formulas, see the attached example:

    Branchard.zip

    Your test data can be found by entering the user mickey mouse in the combo box and selecting the date range appropriate to your test data.

  14. #14
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    Quick and Dirty Analysis

    It feels too complicated primarily because you're very close to the data. Everything looks bigger when you're closer to it. As an example, you're listing the credit strategy and the sampling strategy and exceptions all at the same time, when those three items are not tightly related information.

    Pull back for a minute.

    The design of the database gets less confusing if you pretend for a moment that you (like me) DIDN'T know which tasks would be sampled or how the credits would be given...

    YOUR BUSINESS PROCESS:

    Here's the overall process:
    1) (someone) will input to the system each piece of physical work done by a person.
    2) The system will (somehow) give the person credit for the work done.
    3) The system will (somehow) determine which physical work to sample.
    4) (someone) will review the sampled physical work for errors
    5) (someone) will input the errors from the sampled work
    6) The system will (somehow) provide reporting on the error rate, by person as well as department

    QUESTIONS:

    The above is the order if credit is given for unsampled work. Otherwise, reverse steps 2 and 3.

    The system is only going to report the credits, not track them being spent on anything, right?

    I also have the question if sampling is a percentage of each person's work, or of your department's work?

    And, bigger picture, why does your company want the worker to know which item will be sampled? That appears to be a significant violation of standard ISO quality control methodologies.


    DESIGN STEPS

    So, in database and application design, you determine what information you absolutely need to know about the work done, for step 1.

    You determine credit rules for work of each type, for step 2.

    You determine sampling rules for work of each type, for step 3.
    (mostly looks like (A) start over each day or each month, and (B) what percentage to sample)

    You determine how your system will tell the QC department which work to sample, for step 4.

    You determine how the QC department will tell the system which sampled work had errors, for step 5.

    GUESS AT TABLES

    Here is a first shot at the entity tables:

    Code:
    tblStaff         (your people)
    tblWorkTypes     (one code for each type of work)
    tblSamplingRules (one entry per Worktype, how to sample)
    tblCreditRules   (one entry per Worktype, how to credit)
    tblTasks         (one entry per task, created when your people turn in their work)
    tblSamples       (one entry per task in tblTasks, with a field for "waived" if that task is not to be sampled, and a field for "error" if that task was determined to have errors)
    Technically, those last two could be in the same table, but I assumed them separate in case there was a reason for only storing records for Tasks that were to be sampled.

    Now, the above mock-design assumes that it's a reasonable amount of work to enter and track each task independently, and that the system should assign which tasks will be sampled. If that doesn't fit the business model, then tblSamples should be de-linked from tblTasks, and should perhaps be driven from the QC output rather than from the task completion.

  15. #15
    Branchard is offline Novice
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    rpeare - ok. I will not give up but I might scream a little. I've just logged in so let me read over everything and take a look at your attachment.

    rzw0wr - Thanks for the encouragement.

    Dal Jeanis - i think i'm going to need to read your posts several times over b/c i'm still a little lost on your information.... so bear with me

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