Asking for Suggestions

[Risk Assessor]

The Virginia DEQ created a human-health risk assessment program using MS Access which they require consultants, such as myself, to use when preparing a risk assessment to be submitted to their agency as part of a Voluntary Cleanup Program assessment. Other state programs use the software as well. The program that they set up is extremely tedious, cumbersome, time-consuming, and not at all User-friendly. And they agree. The MS Access menu is hidden or locked so User's can't manipulate anything. The problem is DEQ doesn’t seem to be the least bit interested in modifying their program to make it more user-friendly. (Appropriations may be lacking.) Users are required to enter the same list of data over and over again because there’s no means provided to save your work, or paste the list of compounds with concentrations from an excel spreadsheet. When provided with suggestions, they simply claim one of several reasons that it can’t be done. Their “go-to” reason is, Access lacks the memory needed and will crash if the suggested changes are made. They also sight restrictions because they obtain the chemical data directly from EPA, which they have to update periodically through the year.



The program is called VURAM and can be downloaded here:https://www.deq.virginia.gov/Program...ssessment.aspx

I’m asking for help from anyone familiar with Access for suggestions on how to make their software more user friendly; i.e. copy and paste data from excel, saving work for later manipulation, etc. Thanks.

[ranman256]

That is BS. We use a multi-user database ,no crashes, and it imports Excel data just fine.
It sounds like they don't know what they're doing.
it is no big effort to design a user friendly screen to improve your efficiency.

[pbaldy]

I agree. I've got all kinds of multi-user apps running, some do Excel imports. It shouldn't be hard to create a template for users so they could import data. I can see not supporting any Excel format, but a template should work.

By the way, I'm not willing to click on a link to get the file and I know there are others that share that concern. You might want to zip it and attach here, which will get more people to look at it.

Welcome to the site!

[Risk Assessor]

That is BS. We use a multi-user database ,no crashes, and it imports Excel data just fine.
It sounds like they don't know what they're doing.
it is no big effort to design a user friendly screen to improve your efficiency.

I agree. I've got all kinds of multi-user apps running, some do Excel imports. It shouldn't be hard to create a template for users so they could import data. I can see not supporting any Excel format, but a template should work.

By the way, I'm not willing to click on a link to get the file and I know there are others that share that concern. You might want to zip it and attach here, which will get more people to look at it.

Welcome to the site!

Thanks for the replies. I agree that it's BS, but I can't tell them that. What suggestions should I offer them. I have no experience with Access, and you can't even see the Access meu when using the "VURAM software". I'm not able to download and attach the program because I'm on a mac, but if you google "Virginia VURAM" it will take you to the Virginia Unified Risk Assessment Model". The download link will be at the middle of the DEQ's page.

[Risk Assessor]

I've got a copy of the "software" to attache, but can't figure out how to attach it.

[pbaldy]

In the "Go Advanced" area at the bottom of the Quick Reply you'll find a Manage Attachments button.

[Micron]

maybe this will help
https://www.accessforums.net/showthread.php?t=70301

[Risk Assessor]

I've tried at home on a mac and at work on a PC. It's 19,460 KB. is it too large?

[Micron]

That's 19 Mb? I think the limit is 5 but I can only find a vague reference to limits being visible by file type in the attachments window. However, I see no such thing. You probably didn't compact then zip the file, which is almost always the only way to get the size down to an acceptable limit.

[Risk Assessor]

The zipped file wouldn't load either. Maybe some kind soul could google "VURAM VDEQ" and download the file directly from DEQ's webpage.

[ssanfu]

I downloaded the zip file VURAM2.1.1.zip from DEQ's webpage - file size is 2,077 kb - so can't upload in the forum. (limit is 2 mb)

The dB is locked down tight- I spent about 10 minutes playing with it, then tried importing the objects into a new dB. About a third to a half of the dB wouldn't/couldn't be imported.

From the tables I was able to look at, there are serious naming issues (IMHO). There are spaces, special characters, punctuation and the occasional reserved word in the object names. Example of one field: SFO (mg/kg-day)-1

What tables have PK fields are text types. Can't tell how the tables are related.


That is where I stopped......

[Risk Assessor]

I downloaded the zip file VURAM2.1.1.zip from DEQ's webpage - file size is 2,077 kb - so can't upload in the forum. (limit is 2 mb)

The dB is locked down tight- I spent about 10 minutes playing with it, then tried importing the objects into a new dB. About a third to a half of the dB wouldn't/couldn't be imported.

From the tables I was able to look at, there are serious naming issues (IMHO). There are spaces, special characters, punctuation and the occasional reserved word in the object names. Example of one field: SFO (mg/kg-day)-1

What tables have PK fields are text types. Can't tell how the tables are related.


That is where I stopped......

Thanks for trying, Steve. Yes, the dB is locked down to prevent Users from changing values of certain cells which would result in an erroneous risk calculation. I'm not certain what you were looking at to conclude that some of the words are entered incorrectly. The example you provided seems appropriate to me as it is part of a calculation. Here's how the dB works.

There are three Modules: Screening. Risk Assessment. Background.
Generally, a User would start with the Screening Module, determine which compounds on their study property exceed the screening values and then proceed to the Risk module.
The idea is simple, but the execution is a nightmare due to the inability to sort the massive compound list or search by compound name. Searches can be done by the CAS number of a compound

(the international recognition number)

, because many compounds have multiple synonyms. It become extremely frustrating when you have to re-enter the same data four times (minimum to get through the Risk module.

[Gicu]

Hi there,

Please have a look at the attached file and see if that is what you are looking for. Please note that I had to remove the logos from two screens to bring the zip file under 2K. I only modified the first module (screening levels), but a similar change could be done to the second one to add searching by analyte.

The VBA project was locked so I have locked it back to protect the privacy and work of the original developer.

Cheers,
Vlad

[Risk Assessor]

Hi there,

Please have a look at the attached file and see if that is what you are looking for. Please note that I had to remove the logos from two screens to bring the zip file under 2K. I only modified the first module (screening levels), but a similar change could be done to the second one to add searching by analyte.

The VBA project was locked so I have locked it back to protect the privacy and work of the original developer.

Cheers,
Vlad

Wow! I wasn't expecting anyone to actually make changes. Thanks. Unfortunately, I won't be able to use your version because we're required to print a hard copy which shows the version.
I'll get back toyou with a "wish list" of items, and ask if those items are possible. Thanks.

[Gicu]

The version is stored in a table, you can easily change it. I don't think I would be comfortable making further changes to it; maybe you can suggest those changes to whoever is in charge of the program.

Here is one called VURAM2.1.1_mod with the same minor change added to the second module as well.

I think this is where I will stop with changing this.

Cheers,
Vlad