Question Getting started Access 2013 (1 Viewer)

[NigelW]

Hi

Firstly apologies for the first post essay, I promise it will be the last one!

As you will see from my 'Introduce Yourself' post yesterday I have NO experience at all with MS Access (I've now got Office 2013)

A bit of background

I run a Hotel Booking Agency for corporate customers. We've run our business for 20+ years using the same Lotus Approach database
We've got the main 'input' form , about 20 Form Letters , 5 reports/Invoices and mailing labels

We have around 20 client companies who make hundreds of hotel booking with us.

Obviously I'm looking to update the system and with Lotus no longer with us I need to start again from scrath - a daunting prospect

Heres what I need to be able to do

1. Table and Input Form
I think I've cracked this as it's similar to Approach. All calculated field etc are working - I may need some help with how it looks on the screen but thats for another time

2. Forms
a) Each booking we make needs an individual Guest confirmation. We currentlt use Lotus 'Form Letter' for this. These are 'free hand' where you can just type in a normal looking letter but when you need info from the database you just insert <<fieldname>> and the info appears - save and sorted!. Is this possible in Access??
Each 'customer' has different payment details so at present I have one 'form letter' for each one

b) Each booking needs an individual confirmation to the hotel. As above but again each customer has a different deal - Guest pays , company credit card , billed back to the company etc

As I mentioned above these are individually saved in our system hence the 20 odd form letters. Can I make just one of each and make Access populate the correct information into the form from the table?

3. Reports
a) Each booking needs an individual hotel invoice

b) Some of the bookings need a customer Invoice - this is currently typed individuall using an excel template (2007) can this be linked in somehow to save some time?

c) a couple of general financial reports - Turnover / profit / vat etc

4. Mailing labels

And thats it really - hopefully not too complex??

The big thing I'm struggling with is getting my head around the query bit as, in approach there is a FIND button and you just use the input form to put in the info you're searching for, press return and your there

I know there is going to lots of changes moving to the new program that I need to get my head around and it will take time!!

Is it feasible for an absolute Access novice to acheive this
Thanks for your time reading this

Nigel

 

[JLCantara]

2 - a,b) possible and easy using report feature. You COULD create general purpose reports for letters, etc. But this involves fancy coding in the report.Detail_Format event; leave it for now...

3 - a,b) same as above.
3 - c) Any report style and contents are possible with access.

4 - Label printing is quite possible but alignment is a pain in the ...

 

[NigelW]

Thanks for your reply
I've a feeling it's going to be a steep learning curve

 

[JLCantara]

Its not going to be that steep if you by a good ref. book like Access 2013 Bible at Amazon.

Once your familiar with Access basics, forms & reports won't appear so complex...

 

[JHB]

...
I've a feeling it's going to be a steep learning curve

It all depends on how big your desire is to learn MS Access to know.
You can read all the books you want, if the interest is not present you will never learn it.

 

[NigelW]

Thanks for your replies

I've had the weekend away from computers so I'm refreshed and ready for the challenge.

I finished my 'Commission Invoice' report on friday afternoon and it looks the part.

Only issue so far is when I print them there is a blank page between each invoice. I'm sure there must be a way of stopping this - any help??

Thanks

Nigel

 

[namliam]

Have a look at naming conventions before you do too much work.

Working previously with Lotus, you probably know Normalization, but if you dont then some time researching and learning the concepts is KEY!

 

[JLCantara]

Check the width of your page: do you get an info warning?
Any grouping with page break at the trailer?

 

[JLCantara]

Mail man, I realy think you should quit the stuff you smoke and go back to "Flying Dutchman": you will fly all wright!

"ruoY yppah namliaM si syawla yppah ot pleh"
Help to happy always is Mail man happy your: are you sure? Too much Advocaat....

About naming conventions, mine are very simple:

Table names are always plural: Staff becomes Staffs and PK is staff.

Queries are doubly prefixed according to there function:
sqlStaffs is a global query used for extended updates;
sqlCmbStaffs is a query used for combo.
uq..., for update query; dq for delete queries, etc.

forms are always prefixed with frm except menus that go _frmMenu...
drivers for reports are prefixed frmRpt...
subforms are suffixed with Sub, or Sub_1, etc.

 

[jdraw]

Nigel,

I'm not sure any book is going to be anything more than a reference. There are several tutorials, and several active forums to assist.
One recommendation is to understand database concepts (and with 20+ years working with Lotus Approach) and refresh your familiarity before jumping into the nuts and bolts of Access.
There are a few good tutorials at RogersAccessLibrary to help with database concepts and design. I recommend you work through one or two of the following:
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/Tutorials/Entity_Relationship.zip
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/Tutorials/CaterItDesign.zip
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/Tutorials/ConsolidatedWidgetsDesign.zip

There is a series of blog articles on Normalization starting here

There are some tutorials on Access 2013 (but any version is applicable) on youtube.
Steve Bishop has done many as has Richard Rost (Access599)

There are samples in the microsoft access reference section of this forum.
You can also use Google to find many Access related articles.

Good luck.