Don't Be Afraid Of Microsoft Access


by Claire Blinman - Date: 2007-03-20 - Word Count: 385 Share This!

During my time as a teacher/trainer of Access, I have noticed that people have tended to shy away from using Access whenever possible. I have also noticed that it tends to be regarded as an inferior package by some developers. This saddens me as it is often the only relational database package available to businesses without spending a huge amount on an alternative package, and often Access is perfectly suitable for most business needs. In fact I have written customised packages for businesses to manage functions such as invoicing, client and appointment facilitation and contract management.

In fact in an earlier article I have referred to the fact that people tend to use Microsoft Excel as an alternative. While this may not be a bad idea in the short term, it can lead to duplication of data and problems later on.

Here are some of the reasons why Access is such a useful package:

1) Part of Microsoft Office so easily available to business users at a reasonable price

2) Uses VBA and will combine easily with Excel and Word to create documents with ease such as mail merges

3) Eliminates data duplication

4) Helps prevents data entry errors

5) Can manage relational links between tables to ensure data is normalised

6) Can be shared amongst numerous users

7) Not overly difficult to learn

8) Can be set up by advanced users to make data entry quick and easy for less experienced users

Access can be difficult to teach yourself so it is advisable to attend training courses. If you are trying to teach yourself the basics I would recommend learning topics in the following order:

1) Designing basic tables

2) Validating fields

3) Input masks

4) Designing basic forms

5) Creating queries to ask questions of your data

6) Using the report wizard to design basic reports

7) Customising reports

Once you have mastered these topics you can then start to look at the advanced features of Access such as:

1) Relating tables together

2) Creating queries based on multiple tables

3) Customising forms

4) Customising reports

5) Creating calculated fields in queries, forms and reports

6) Adding in macros and VBA code

When you have mastered all these topics you should be able to easily design relational databases with ease.

Computer Training Solutions offers courses to address all these topics either at their training centre in Bristol or as a tailored couse at your premises anywhere in England and Wales.


Related Tags: training, microsoft, access, tables, importance, relational

Notes for editors: Claire Blinman is the training manager at Computer Training Solutions in Bristol. For more information visit our website at http://www.computertrainingsolutions.co.uk or call 01454 851770

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: