A general question (1 Viewer)

[Able_Allan]

Is Access a good platform to build a facilities maintenance program?

 

[theDBguy]

Hi. I moved your thread out of the Introduction Forum. But to answer your question, I don't see why not. Why do you ask? What are you using now?

 

[Able_Allan]

Thank you for the welcome. Much appreciated. I look forward to learning and relearning Access.

 

[cheekybuddha]

Hi and welcome!

Do consider:

With Access you will be Windows-bound, and (without using a server-based RDBMS) also bound to a wired local network.

If you may need to use your program on other devices (eg non-Windows tablets, Macs, or phones) or remotely or over wifi, then Access might not be the best fit.

 

[CJ_London]

(eg non-Windows tablets, Macs, or phones) or remotely or over wifi, then Access might not be the best fit.

You can use Citrix or terminal server for any device that supports terminal server - windows, iOS and Linux that I know of. I’ve used my iPhone in the past. Comes with a cost but useable from anywhere which has WiFi. But then anything requiring that level of connectivity comes with a cost

 

[cheekybuddha]

You can use Citrix or terminal server for any device that supports terminal server

Very true, but you could build a web app using free technologies and your only cost would be the webserver. Compare that cost vs all those licences

 

[Pat Hartman]

Very true, but you could build a web app using free technologies and your only cost would be the webserver. Compare that cost vs all those licences

But first you need to be literate in a Web technology and competent to build a web app. Hiring someone to do it will cost you in the neighborhood of 10 times the cost of a comparable Access app.

 

[LarryE]

Is Access a good platform to build a facilities maintenance program?

As a general answer, yes it is.

 

[Able_Allan]

Hi. I moved your thread out of the Introduction Forum. But to answer your question, I don't see why not. Why do you ask?

Currently our systems is scraps of paper. I want to build a asset tracking and maintenance program for the assets. Currently, it is scrap paper and pencil.

 

[Able_Allan]

As a general answer, yes it is.

Thank you LarryE. I feel a maintenance program can be build for an HOA common grounds with and 18 hole golf course that we maintain with employees and equipment. I struggle with establishing table relations

 

[theDBguy]

Thank you LarryE. I feel a maintenance program can be build for an HOA common grounds with and 18 hole golf course that we maintain with employees and equipment. I struggle with establishing table relations

Maybe you could start out by looking at templates. Hopefully, there's something close to what you want, and you can just tweak it.

 

[LarryE]

Thank you LarryE. I feel a maintenance program can be build for an HOA common grounds with and 18 hole golf course that we maintain with employees and equipment. I struggle with establishing table relations

Start by making a list of the kinds of events and things you wish to keep track of. For example employee time, the dates of maintenance, the locations of maintenance etc. Everything you want to track. Also, map the workflow process of how the work is completed presently. This process is the foundation for building tables and how they relate to eash other.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I struggle with establishing table relations

As a word of advice on this project: DON'T start coding until you have a data model. I don't know if you would recognize the name, but Niklaus Wirth, the designer ("father") of the Pascal computer language, is quoted as saying (but I'm paraphrasing) that more than 80% of all program errors are derived from bad data design.

You said "re-learning" so that implies you knew something about Access before. If you have not studied "database normalization" then NOW is the time to start learning that.

 

[Cotswold]

In the past I have used Access FE & BE on Terminal Server over four remote sites. But only with no more that 80 concurrent users

 

[cheekybuddha]

But first you need to be literate in a Web technology and competent to build a web app. Hiring someone to do it will cost you in the neighborhood of 10 times the cost of a comparable Access app.

I'm not saying "Don't do it in Access"!

I just suggested to consider Access' limitations too.

The OP said "I look forward to learning and relearning Access"

If you're having to learn a technology it might be worth learning something with more forward-looking possibilities than a dying one.