Creating Database from Start

[Fclerk]

I am currently trying to create an electronic database for all of our members and their term dates. I am currently using Access. I am building one from scratch. We want to lower our paper usage down and make it easier to search old members. Now the trick is we have members who served more than one committee in the past. Can anyone help me?

[orange]

Yes.
Work through this tutorial. It will help you with database design and will show you how to set up tables and relationships based on a description of your business opportunity/issue.
It does have a solution included, but the learning is by doing.

Info on Normalization
Good luck.

[Fclerk]

Thank you. Well what we want to do is also create an attendance database that says Present, absent, Meeting Cancelled. Is there a way to do color coordination? I also was trying to see if I can create a database that will help with monitoring the member terms within each board. For example: I want to look Anderson to see how many years he served under the one term. I understand it would be different from the main contact pager. It's hard to say. I know Access is the only software that can help us with this. Excel and Word will not. I am knowledgeable on Access. I have not been able to create a database from scratch.

[Fclerk]

Thank you. Well what we want to do is also create an attendance database that says Present, absent, Meeting Cancelled. Is there a way to do color coordination? I also was trying to see if I can create a database that will help with monitoring the member terms within each board. For example: I want to look Anderson to see how many years he served under the one term. I understand it would be different from the main contact pager. It's hard to say. I know Access is the only software that can help us with this. Excel and Word will not. I am knowledgeable on Access. I have not been able to create a database from scratch.

[Fclerk]

I looked over your document. My primary key for Boards Information is the First Name. We do not have SSN. There are a lot of people who has the same last name. Majority of the first names has middle initial, but there are a few that don't.

[CPR]

Primary Key needs to be unique now and in the foreseeable future, preferably forever. That said, First Name, even with Middle initial, just won't work. Add an autonumber field to your table and make that your primary key. If any other tables don't have a unique identifier for each record you can add an autonumber field to each of them. You don't have to include it in reports or on screens.....
Try working through the Tutorial from orange again.
For example do a GOOGLE Search on your own First name with Middle initial and even last name also. You'll see many responses and very good reasons not to use the ID you wanted to use.

[Mahendra1000]

I looked over your document. My primary key for Boards Information is the First Name. We do not have SSN. There are a lot of people who has the same last name. Majority of the first names has middle initial, but there are a few that don't.

Name as a Primary Key won't work in terms of reality.

Use the Suggestion from "CPR" for creating a Primary Key

[Homegrownandy]

I have a similar project where I'm tracking jobs and types of jobs. I have linked an excel spreadsheet to my database through a query. From the imported information I have set up conditional formatting rules to display a gannt chart automatically.


Your first job before you think of how you want it to look is just getting the data in the right place.

[orange]

@Andy,
Can you show us more regarding your Gantt chart? Sample db would be good/useful.

[Homegrownandy]

I've seen these sell for $40 but sure I'm a nice guy, How do I upload here? do I need my own thread?

[orange]

No you don't necessarily need a new thread. You should have a zip file ready to use.

There is a Go Advanced button below the message text/edit area.

Click it, and it will open another window showing Additional Options
In that area there is a Manage Attachments button, click it.
That opens up a new dialog where you can Add file, click it
and you will be offered a Browse to your file dialog
Select, upload, then save your post.

[Homegrownandy]

Working gantt chart2.zip

All this does is fill the cell corresponding to the date on the left. The date information is updated via the DB here but you can add your own or link it to your own DB. Its pretty simple at the moment but I have such a lot to do on the database this isn't a priority. Ultimately I want the colour to change depending on the type of job.. so job "x" is blue and "y" is red.

All dates are dependent on todays date, but this can be manually changed. I'm just using this as a two week look ahead as things change constantly here, you can make it as long as you want.

The query I use is ascending in date order to display 'steps' but on the spreadsheet you can sort.

I have seen/used several examples of other gantt charts where you can have a duration field. This isn't difficult to integrate, but its not necessary for our business.

Issues:

* If you move any cell the conditional formatting values change to reference the move, totally destroying any functionality or accuracy. Basically, don't drag and drop cells to move dates.

[Fclerk]

Primary Key needs to be unique now and in the foreseeable future, preferably forever. That said, First Name, even with Middle initial, just won't work. Add an autonumber field to your table and make that your primary key. If any other tables don't have a unique identifier for each record you can add an autonumber field to each of them. You don't have to include it in reports or on screens.....
Try working through the Tutorial from orange again.
For example do a GOOGLE Search on your own First name with Middle initial and even last name also. You'll see many responses and very good reasons not to use the ID you wanted to use.

Ok I will use the ID