Access Resource Recommendations

[jkeyes]

I have a huge project in front of me that needs to be completed in Access. I was reviewing other apps to handle what I need to do, but powers beyond me have forced it to be Access. One problem: I don't know Access very well.

We need to update our project request process and here's what needs to happen:

I am a member of my company's marketing team. The team consists of about 20 members spread across 5 locations nationwide, and we have about 15 locations company-wide. Account managers at any of these offices request projects from the marketing team.

Our current project request process:

Currently, requests are submitted by email, with no set structure, to our boss who then decides who to pass it off to. She simply forwards the email to the appropriate team member, and it is their job to contact the requester to fill in any holes in the request. In addition to this, the team member is also supposed to enter the project parameters into an Excel spreadsheet for tracking. This spreadsheet then serves as our team's sole guide for completed and working projects.

Desired project request process:

Account managers go to a company intranet site, fill out a dynamic request form that, based on their input, allows only certain selections to be made (I imagine this to be back-boned by a series of tables and sub-tables). Upon submission, the tool then automatically notifies necessary parties of the request via email or similar. I'd like the people notified to be determined by criteria entered on the form (e.g. certain people on the team complete certain projects, so it should go to them and/or based on the number of projects on a person's desk at the time). In other words, the tool will also act as a sort of Traffic Coordinator.

I imagine from here the request data is also entered into a database. This db would need to be accessed from any member of the team, at any time, and be able to extract reporting from it, manage time-lines (Outlook calendar?), etc. Reporting would consist of projects per month, break-down by type, turnaround time, etc.

What I'm looking for from you is any recommendation on resources (besides this site) that would help me get familiar with what I need to know to complete this project- books, other sites, tutorials, etc. And, oh, BTW, I need to have this done by Jan 1

To give you a sense for where I'm at... I know Excel very well, and VBA pretty well, so I get most of the concepts. But, my experience in Access is limited to running very basic, standard queries, and creating a report for output from a table. That's it.

Any guidance would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Cbrine]

I learned Access from the online help mostly, and the same goes for VBA in Access, so I can't help you on the resource request. One suggestion that I would make though, would be to use SQL/MSDE as the backbone for the database tables. You can use Access in a multi-user environment, but not easily or well. If you have a SQL database with linked tables to your local access database, then SQL would control locks and such. Only use access for the userforms, queries and reports.

HTH
Cal

 

[giacomo]

In addition to this web site you should check out:

www.utteraccess.com
www.functionx.com
the links below in my signature
and of course www.google.com, this has been my primary resource for new information for the past 5 years or so.

Access Inside Out is a good book and it's thicker than my phone directory, so lot's of good information there.

IMO, the single most important concept to understand is Normalization. Read everything you can on the subject before you start this project.

hth,
Giacomo

 

[dcardno]

I found Running MS Access 2000 by John Viescas to be very good. In looking for the URL on Amazon I see that he has not updated it for Access 2003, but he has written a couple of others. They (or Running 2K) would be worth a look

 

[VicRauch]

jkeyes,
Another resource to consider would be a consultant that you could use for phone support. Someone that could answer a question for you within a few minutes. I was very lucky in that right after I started with Access, Microsoft had a sale for TechSupport. $200 for one year of phone support, 24/7 access via an 800 number and always put to the front of the queue. It saved me from having to look up EVERYTHING! and gave me a live person to interact with which was in itself a big help.
HTH,

 

[SydneyGeek]

Vic's suggestion is a good one. A quick conversation can be a huge help.

Giacomo's links are also useful -- there is heaps of good stuff out there. UtterAccess is the Access equivalent of MrExcel for size and variety.

If you're looking for books, anything by Helen Feddema or John Viescas is worth a look. Their Inside Out books (2002 and 2003, respectively) are good beginner / intermediate material, with plenty of usable code as well.

Also, for a really solid (but readable) overview on database structure / design, try Database Design For Mere Mortals (Mike Hernandez). It's been around for a while and a second edition came out a few years back.

And down the track, Access Cookbook and Access Hacks are two books that I use often. Both published by O'Reilly.

Denis