A general question (3 Viewers)

[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.

 

[Able_Allan]

I have been watching Access 365 lessons at TeachuComp. The cobwebs are clearing a little more each day. I've been working on how to lay out the program. The Task management template offered in Access has a good foundation. Can Access be linked to QuickBooks? I live in a 1,511 home HOA and we have lots of assets and amenities, including an indoor swimming pool and a private 18-hole golf course, restaurant, and more. We have 2 1/2 office staff, 2 1/2 maintenance staff, 1 1/2 janitorial staff, 3 staff that cover the ProShop to be open 7 days a week and 8 grounds keeping staff keeping up the golf course. We lease the restaurant space to an operator but own all the equipment. We have never had a maintenance program other a little routine maintenance and putting out fires.
Question. If I use the Task List template and add fields to some of the tables, I would have to edit each form, report, and query. Where should I start? Second, if I change field titles, I receive warning messages about potentially disrupting relationships, so I stop. Do I work backwards and unlink tables and delete queries? Or do I start building a new Access Program and mimic an existing "Task list" template?

 

[Cotswold]

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.

For years Access has been software's perennial creaking gate. So many have claimed for so long that Access was dead. Although usually people who either didn't like Access, MS or had never used it. It's OK for prototyping is often said. Like someone has time to create a working system in one language with the sole intention of re-writing it in another.

I did for some time think that maybe Microsoft would come up with something to which the millions of Access developers could shift over to. A bit like Clipper and Pascal developers shifted to Access around the millennium. But as the time goes on, that is clearly is looking less and less likely. So presumably MS will announce on day that just like FoxPro Access is to be shut down.

 

[NauticalGent]

Welcome to AWF!

Can Access be linked to QuickBooks?

Not to my knowledge, however, you can either download the data in various formats (CSV, Excel) and link them. Not a method Inam fond of.

...or...

You could use Intuits API/REST API to extract the info and use a JSON parser to import the data directly. Huge up front effort, but great results

 

[mike60smart]

I have been watching Access 365 lessons at TeachuComp. The cobwebs are clearing a little more each day. I've been working on how to lay out the program. The Task management template offered in Access has a good foundation. Can Access be linked to QuickBooks? I live in a 1,511 home HOA and we have lots of assets and amenities, including an indoor swimming pool and a private 18-hole golf course, restaurant, and more. We have 2 1/2 office staff, 2 1/2 maintenance staff, 1 1/2 janitorial staff, 3 staff that cover the ProShop to be open 7 days a week and 8 grounds keeping staff keeping up the golf course. We lease the restaurant space to an operator but own all the equipment. We have never had a maintenance program other a little routine maintenance and putting out fires.
Question. If I use the Task List template and add fields to some of the tables, I would have to edit each form, report, and query. Where should I start? Second, if I change field titles, I receive warning messages about potentially disrupting relationships, so I stop. Do I work backwards and unlink tables and delete queries? Or do I start building a new Access Program and mimic an existing "Task list" template?

Hi
Whenever you look at a Template provided by Microsoft it always contains Field names with spaces and characters like )(*&^%$£"!/?, which should not be used.
Also, a lot of fields use Hard Coded values when these hard coded values should be listed in a sperate table.

Best to use the Template as a guide and create your own database from scratch.

 

[LarryE]

I have been watching Access 365 lessons at TeachuComp. The cobwebs are clearing a little more each day. I've been working on how to lay out the program. The Task management template offered in Access has a good foundation. Can Access be linked to QuickBooks? I live in a 1,511 home HOA and we have lots of assets and amenities, including an indoor swimming pool and a private 18-hole golf course, restaurant, and more. We have 2 1/2 office staff, 2 1/2 maintenance staff, 1 1/2 janitorial staff, 3 staff that cover the ProShop to be open 7 days a week and 8 grounds keeping staff keeping up the golf course. We lease the restaurant space to an operator but own all the equipment. We have never had a maintenance program other a little routine maintenance and putting out fires.
Question. If I use the Task List template and add fields to some of the tables, I would have to edit each form, report, and query. Where should I start? Second, if I change field titles, I receive warning messages about potentially disrupting relationships, so I stop. Do I work backwards and unlink tables and delete queries? Or do I start building a new Access Program and mimic an existing "Task list" template?

Attempting to re-do something someone else built for a different purpose is probably going to be more confusing than just building it to your specs from scratch. If you are not an advanced ACCESS user, you could really get frustrated.

I live in a 55+ HOA community myself, so I am familiar with how they operate. Let's say a sprinkler head breaks on the irrigation system that waters the 1st hole on the golf course. Describe for us what the process is to get it fixed:

1. Is there a work order produced?
2. How does the work order get produced?
3. Who produces it?
4. How does the work order get assigned to an employee?
5. Do you keep track of the time it takes to fix a problem?
6. Do you keep track of the employee who fixes it?
7. Do you keep track of the parts used to fix the problem?

These are the kinds of questions that need to be answered so you can design your tables.

As to your question about Quickbooks, I don't know if ACCESS can be linked to it, but I do know that Quickbooks can export to EXCEL and ACCESS can import from EXCEL or link directly to it.