Hello all,
I'm new to Access, but I'm a fast learner (at least, I'd like to think I am). I'm not looking to be spoon fed or to have someone do my work for me, just looking for guidance on where/how to start.
I don't know how to best describe the process, and where I'm looking to go, but I'll try my best.
(I'll use vehicles as an example for what we're supporting)
Currently, our parts ordering process is as follows:
Customer looks through an old binder, fills out a slip, we process the request. All done on paper. The binder is used as a reference to parts, the "real" catalog is digital, but is complicated to use, and only supported on a handful of our laptops. If a reference in the binder needs updating, it's penciled in.
I've been working on getting all the information from the reference binder in a database. I currently have excel spreadsheets for each system (fuel system, electrical, drive-train, etc), with over 3000 items.
each spreadsheet contains the same type of information:
Item Name; Stock Number; Part number; Item location1(book); Item location2(page); Item location3(index); Work code
Question one, would it be best to have a table for each system, or just one table with all systems (I would just have to add another field for system)?
The form I'd like to build would first request the following information:
Requesting individual(employee number); Shop; Work center; VIN; Job number
then, depending on the system (shop) the customer chooses, have a drop-down (or search function of some sort) for "Item name"; and once selected, the rest of the information would auto populate.
That information would then go into a log of some sort where we would add the following information:
Order number; Status
Efficient design of the form and the order log would be my next question, but building the database is my main concern. Again, I can consolidate all the spreadsheets, but if it's not problematic, I'd like to keep all the systems separate (should be easier to update a whole table for one system if need be).
I hope my explanation wasn't confusing. :-)
thank you all,
- u