Access Best Option?

[AccessNewbie2018]

Hey everyone!

Am familiar with Excel but have never used Access before.

Am trying to create a workflow/ task management database for a village newsletter.

It basically has up to 20 contributors, each needing to contribute on different cycles
eg Mr A - Football Team - Weekly
Mrs B - School news - Every 2 weeks
Mr C - Council news -Monthly
Mr A - Cooking - Monthly
Mrs D - Features - Weekly
(a couple of people write on different subjects like Mr A with different frequencies)

As Editor, I was looking for a database that would flag up when the next articles on a topic would be due and by whom. Have done some background reading and also read that Access has firstly the advantage of contributors being able to email work in. Secondly I could potentially create a task manager to see progress
eg Mr A Football Team - Weekly - Due tomorrow - Being Composed

Mrs B - School news - Every 2 weeks - Due in 4 days time - With Editor



Am not 'techy' but have already gone down the road of learning CSS to help develop our website. Am now thinking I should learn Access too to develop this task manager/ work flow database, but am I overcomplicating things by using Access? Would other options maybe SharePoint or Smartsheet or Asana? I just don't want to go down the long(?) route of learning Access by myself if there were limited benefits compared to manually tracking by Excel. Equally, don't want to spend my life chasing 20 people to submit articles when Access could potentially automate some of it for me.
Grateful for any suggestions!
Many thanks!

[June7]

By 'email work in' are you referring to the old "Collect Data" functionality? MS has deprecated that feature. Not sure can set it up in Access2016. Set ups built in earlier versions of Access might still run when opened in 2016 but likely cannot create new. SharePoint is also in its death throes if not already gone.

Regardless, if you want to track data relationally, use a database app - any db app - not a spreadsheet.

The 'flagging' can be accomplished with queries and reports and code. The more 'user friendly', the more code.

MS Access provides a Task Management template database you might explore.

[AccessNewbie2018]

Hi June,

By email work in, I mean they would somehow by able to send their article in for my editorial review. The access database would then change status to 'in editorial review' and I could somehow open the attachment and review and send back or publish (changing status to 'complete') . Appreciate in my mind this is something quite simple, but in reality is perhaps something quite complex!

[June7]

Yes, possibly quite complex. Access can link to Outlook folders but extracting attachments from email is advanced coding.

None of what you describe will happen quickly. Need an understanding of programming concepts, relational database principles, Access functionality, VBA and/or macro coding in Access.