Is Access the right program for me?

[Cole]

Hi there! Firstly, I'm painfully new to Access (although pretty proficient with other Office programs), so I thought the best bet was to ask the experts here if Access is right for what I'm doing.

I need to create a database of theme park attractions, including things like their name, when they were built, when they closed, what park they were in, what land they were in, if they were based on a film, and so on.

From this information, I want to be able to easily retrieve the answers to queries like; "List the rides which were in Disneyland in 1980", or "How many rides were built in Legoland in the last five years". Furthermore, I want to be able to export line charts that show, say, "all the rides based on films across a theme parks history", or "the total number of rides in Universal Studios in the past decade" - rising and falling line charts that visually show the trends across time.

In the future (although this is not entirely necessary), I'll also want to input online survey data I collect on satisfaction levels - an automated way of doing this would be ideal.

Is this type of thing appropriate for Access, or can anyone recommend a better suited program for accomplishing the types of tasks? Thank you very much for your help!

[NTC]

Access is an excellent db with integrated forms & report development. All the initial things you give example will be handled.

But when one has an online requirement then you are at a crossroad. This isn't unique to Access. When, how important, and your enviroment, will determine which way you will go. If you are a microsoft environment and have sharepoint abilities - then one would/could have the solution entirely with Access/sharepoint. But if the online is the major component and you are not a microsoft shop - then others will advise moving to other web based environments at the beginning.

In cases like this it is not good product vs bad product - - it is selecting the right product for your situation. Access is a very good at what it does.