I am attempting to design my first database, and have bought a couple books on Access, which were helpful for most of the database design
The first (in probably a string) of problems I'm coming up with in the design is that the information must be inputted by our field workers (of which we have about 40). We do work at well sites which are typically named complex names such as "Phillips Nitro 08-16#3-18H"
In addition, we may work on the site for a couple days to a week, and return in a few months to a year down the road. Such a complex names are a problem as they might input the names a few different ways.
We take readings of the sites hourly, and would need all of our readings to output to a report giving the well, location, employee id, unit id, etc etc....we also have multiple (30 or so) units working, which would each be generating hourly readings, so data inputted into a certain timeframe would not be readings for just the one site.
What I'm wondering, is if you guys have any suggestions on a system/design that would make getting accurate reports generated from the field.
If we had a smaller number of employee's and units, I would assign the well site a code, and have the operators input the code, but we operate 24/7/365 and no one (or 3) person could hope to keep up with that. Is there a way to use a form with an Auto-complete so when they start to type it, they can choose the name from a drop-down list of already entered well names or something similar?