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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Posts
    5

    Question How to automatically generate a person-specific task list based on a given date and event type

    I've been using Excel to manage tasks for a marketing team. Overall, it is doing what I need. But it is becoming unwieldy very quickly. I find that a lot of our tasks are very similar, with only due dates changing. They are set activities that need to be done by fixed people, at a fixed proximity to an event.



    I have attached the excel spreadsheet for anyone is willing to help me with advice. But here is the basic cell structure:

    Date Event Type Artwork Type Artwork Due Bulletin Entry Post 1 Date Post 1 Content
    25-Dec-15 Fun/Occassional Standard 10-Dec-15 20-Dec-15 15-Dec-15 Short announcement of event
    The first two columns are the only information I fill in. (Event Type is chosen from a drop down). The rest of the information is generated through nested IF formula's.


    I have been told this could be much better achieved with Access. But I've never worked with Access and, quite frankly, have no idea where to start.


    Does anyone know how to do this? I would appreciate the help!

    Test.zip

  2. #2
    CJ_London is online now VIP
    Windows 8 Access 2010 32bit
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Posts
    11,397
    from your attachment, it looks like you need the following tables although it is not clear how your spreadsheet works

    tblPerson
    PersonPK autonumber
    PersonName text

    tblEventsTypes
    EventTypePK autonumber
    EventType text

    tblArtworkTypes

    ArtworkTypePK autonumber
    ArtworkDesc text

    tblEvents
    EventPK autonumber
    EventTypeFK long
    PersonFK long
    ArtworkTypeFK long
    ArtworkDue date

    tblComments
    CommentPK autonumber
    EventFK long
    PersonFK long
    PostDate date
    Comment text or memo

    PK=Primary key and is unique to each record within the table
    FK=Family (or Foreign) key and links back to the PK of the relevant table (research 'relationships' to find out more)

    with regards using Access - avoid using reserved words (google 'access reserved words') in table and field names - common ones include Date and Name. And avoid having spaces or non alpha numeric characters such as # in table and field names - you can use what are called aliases or captions if required

    Access is not an advanced Excel, it is a database system. Data is stored in multiple tables which are 'narrow and tall', whereas Excel is typically 1 table which is 'wide and short'. In access you use queries to combine the data (by linking on PK/FK) into views which look like excel and then reported in forms and reports. Google 'normalisation' to find out more.

    There is a lot to learn but hopefully the above give you a feel for what is involved and where to do some more research

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Posts
    5
    Thank you, Ajax. This is going to take me a while to figure out

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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