Is Access right for me?

[Ganny]

Hi- new to Access and wondering if it will work for my project. I have been using an Excel spreadsheet and adding columns but it has become unwieldy. Have a spreadsheet with Government FAR clauses and related columns (approx 800 records, 17 fields). When I receive a new contract I add a column named with the contract number, and then add some marker in the cells below for the FAR clauses from the existing list that are on the new contract. Incoming customer contracts will invoke some but not all of the clauses, but can be as many as 100 (tried to filter Access table but it gave up at 80).

When a contract comes in I want to select the matching clauses from the table and have an unchangeable output of some kind tied to the new contract. I would need to be able to link the individual output results to get a report showing for instance all contracts that call out a particular clause. I get around 100 contracts a year. My question is what is the best way to retrieve and save the selections? Can I do it with a form (like drag & drop) and report for each contract, as long as I don't refresh the report? Or should I create a new (sub?)table for each contract? Or go back to Excel?

Thanks very much for your help.

[June7]

I have seen database used to produce 'boilerplate' documents. Your structure of a column for each contract is not appropriate.

No, 'drag and drop' is not an Access technique for data entry or record selection.

You need a better understanding of relational database and data normalization concepts and also Access functionality. Suggest you invest in a basic tutorial.

[Ganny]

Thanks for the response. The reason I say "drag and drop" is because I downloaded some sample forms and drag and drop was among them. I know that putting contract numbers as column headings is not a good idea; that's why I'm asking for help. Thanks again

[June7]

I have never seen 'drag and drop' for data entry or else I have misinterpreted the reference.

I expect a database could be designed to accomplish what you want. I am not finding any examples. The only design I can imagine is:

tblClauses
ClauseID
Clause

tblCustomers
CustomerID

tblContracts
ContractID
CustomerID

tblContractClauses
ContractID
ClauseID
OrderSeqNum

The clauses would print out in report as records in the order defined by OrderSeqNum. This sequence could be preset in tblClauses or defined by user in tblContractClauses.

Does this look practical for your situation?

[Ganny]

Hey! thanks June 7! I think that will work. I don't see where you are supposed to mark "solved" but I think you have done it. Thanks again