First of all, I'm new to Access so bear with me a little... I started as the sole data entry person and have been using Access on that basis until recently. It's a long story so all I'm going to say is that this database is a frankenstein's monster and plagued with some logical issues from the very beginning. Basically someone had a good idea but didn't fully understand how to bring that idea into fruition and can't seem to understand why they're not getting the results they want. From a data analysis point of view this a is complete and utter nightmare. Over time I've managed to deal with some of the issues (more like create workarounds or manual fixes to reports that are a waste of my time) eventually I'm going to create a new database but that will take some time and I want to make sure I 100% know what I'm doing.
I guess the primary function of the database is to record production activity (its a manufacturer) but honestly it's hard to say. I also use it to create reports that explain/break down profit/loss margins on specific jobs, and come up with an average time frame it takes for a job to be completed (to use for giving customers due dates that aren't unreasonable). I also created a section for capturing info related to machine issues in order to steer maintenance in the right direction from time to time.
Issue #1 I need to log activity from other users. Now I did put in a module that logs when people open/close a form, who's computer did it and the time... It works beautifully but what I really need is an ability to capture any errors that come up? Is this possible? Every time I'm gone for a day I come back and I'm told something vague like "the program doesn't work!". I ask what happened, what did the error message say, they say, "I don't know it just won't let me do anything!" It's not helpful at all. I'd love to ban certain people from using it at all but unfortunately my need for the paperwork to not back up is more important.
Issue #2 Can I create a macro that will zap out rows with null values? This is driving me nuts. The office also has to fill out production sheets but they do it differently. They actually enter the information into Excel, email it to me, I save their stuff to a folder, and then run a macro on Access that grabs the files from the folder, uploads, appends to the appropriate table, and opens up a report that I can print. It works great. Except for null rows getting uploaded. This problem has been going on since I started. I tested a few theories out and it looks like what they're doing is just opening up the file (I have them using the same file over and over because someone kept screwing up the header) and typing over whatever they typed the day before. Sometimes they end up with extra lines so they highlight them and hit the delete key. For some reason Access thinks there's still data in there. I told them to delete the actual rows but they're not doing it and after four months I gave up on telling them to.
Issue #2 People logged in to .LACCDB except that they are not even in the database at the moment. Causes locking error. Weird!!! Can I kick them out?
Issue #3 Separate logins (complete with username/password prompt) for different people. Possible?
Issue #4 Best way to create an area for someone to view/print reports but not have the ability to do anything but that. Such as a completely separate area where they cannot even see anything else but what I want them to see. Linked database maybe?
50% of my issues are lack of knowledge. The other 50% are people. Please help me increase my Access knowledge so I can circumvent the people problems