Client Payment History

[GMatos78]

I need to know how to use Access to do something that will give me this functionality or something as similar to it as possible:



-An "Input Form, Table, or Program" (known hereafter as "Input Form") where I can type in the payment transactions for the day and it will then take that information to the respective "Client Payment History Form" (using the file number assigned to each client as reference), where it will get organized by date.

-The "Client Payment History Form" should include basic information on the client (file number, client name, phone number(s), billing address) as well as the payment history by date which will be input via the "Input Form".

-In the event that a relationship like this ("Input Form" + "Client Payment History Form") is not possible, having a "Client Payment History Form" with all the necessary information that allows me to manually input the payment transactions, adding rows as needed, is perfectly acceptable to my needs.

-I need to be able to create new "Client Payment History Forms" as I get new clients and be able to input their payment history via the "Input Form".

I have no idea how to use Access but I'm willing to learn.

Absolutely any kind of help will be useful and appreciated since I really have no idea on how to go about doing something like this or if it can even be done with any of the Office programs.

Many Thanks in advance.

PS: I am not necessarily asking for someone to do this for me. However, I would like to know if there are any similar templates I could download and then modify to my needs or, preferably, learn and understand how I could do this myself.

[Datagopherdan]

Whenever you work with any type of financial transactions, theres many variables to consider.

First, you have to compensate for the fact that clients may not always pay the full amount. They may only pay partial, so you would need the ability to track deferred/partial payments. Also, how will they be paying, CC, Check, Cash etc. You have to account for all these as well.

I would suggest planning out the process and all the possible variables and then approach the design. Once you have all that, post in here and I'll try to point you in the right direction.

[Fre]

Well, I don't want to discourage you, but this is a huge undertaking. If you don't want to commit many many hours to learning how to create a relational database and then many more hours implementing it, I would suggest buying something like quickbooks.

However, if you've tried such programs and feel they aren't meeting your needs, and you don't want to spend 5 figures getting an expert to do something custom for you, then I'd suggest getting your hands on some books. The first should be on database design. Here's a decent one: Database Design for Mere Mortals. Next you're going to need to learn some SQL. Even if you just end up using the Access wizards and design views, it's going to be important that you understand what's happening in the background, especially if you're getting unexpected results. Any book should suffice, but going to w3schools might be the quickest easiest way to get familiar with it.

One more piece of advice to get you on your way: in DB design don't think about the forms. Think about tables. Databases are about storage, and data is stored in tables. Once you've got that down, collecting data via forms is a piece of cake.

[Datagopherdan]

Hi Fre,

Quickbooks is a good program, however I have found that many times companies have variables that are specific to their business, which Quickbooks will not compensate for.

Also, it's highly unlikely that having a custom solution developed to track client payment history would cost anywhere near 5 figures. The price of having a custom solution developed is actually quite reasonable when you factor in the benefits it will provide and the cost savings that a business will experience from it.

[Fre]

Hi Fre,

Quickbooks is a good program, however I have found that many times companies have variables that are specific to their business, which Quickbooks will not compensate for.

Also, it's highly unlikely that having a custom solution developed to track client payment history would cost anywhere near 5 figures. The price of having a custom solution developed is actually quite reasonable when you factor in the benefits it will provide and the cost savings that a business will experience from it.

I agree that Quickbooks often falls short to meet business demands, but if faced with the choice between a custom built by someone who is inexperienced and going with quickbooks and losing some functionality, that's a no-brainer in my book.

As for the costs, I know it can be done for cheaper, but being realistic about what clients expect of a transaction system I think 5 figures is a reasonable expectation when all is said and done. I do agree 100% that it's entirely worth it, for most business models. In fact if gmatos has the funds that's exactly what I would suggest.