Will MS Access benefit me??

[brandon-castleton]

Hey there. New to the forum and VERY new to Access... only found out what this program was last night. I have a very simple question and I will use a personal example to help describe what I want to use access for and would like to know if it's the right product for me.



I am a designer for a builder and I will be meeting with clients to do finishes selections for our homes. When I meet with a client, I would like a spreadsheet with drop-downs for static columns of each room and product location. Here is an example;

I ask the client which faucet they would like in their kitchen. They tell me they would like to go with the standard faucet. So, I look at my laptop and where it says "Kitchen Faucet" I can drop down to "Fusion Single Basin Faucet - Chrome" and then each column would fill in after it -- the item number, the supplier, the price we pay for it, the price the client pays for it, upgrade costs (in this case it's 0 because it's standard), etc.

This way I don't have to type up the same information every single time I meet with a client -- all the work is done for me when they say which faucet they want. In the case of upgrades, we can see how much we charge the client for the extra upgrade between the standard price and the new price.

At the end of the day, I want to be able to export all the data into an Excel spreadsheet so that I can turn it directly into a purchase order and send it off for ordering. It should rearrange the data based on supplier for this purpose (since our faucets, sinks, tubs, etc. don't all come from the same place).

It seems like Access is the right program for me but I don't want to go through the trouble of learning how to use it if it doesn't do exactly what I need it to.

I appreciate the feedback and any helpful information you could pass on.

Thanks in advance!

[hertfordkc]

Maybe this helps: Access is to data what Excel is to numbers.
After you get into it, I think you will discover that Access will do the calculations, invoicing, reporting that you need. It is not the tool for designing trusses: that's Excel.

[brandon-castleton]

I'm unclear if that's a yes or no...

Maybe this helps: Access is to data what Excel is to numbers.
After you get into it, I think you will discover that Access will do the calculations, invoicing, reporting that you need. It is not the tool for designing trusses: that's Excel.

[hertfordkc]

need. That computes as a "YES" in my world.

[brandon-castleton]

Thanks mate.

[alansidman]

This may be of benefit

http://forums.aspfree.com/microsoft-...el-349267.html