Data entry advice?

[terrytek]

I have a multi (multi multi) field form for Student Information data entry, and I will not be doing the entry. Would it be better to have one form to look at to tweak the existing data (ex. a student has a new address), and a different form to do the original data entry? I know that it's very easy for someone inexperienced with Access forms to accidentally change information on a record without realizing it. I'm just wondering what kind of approach you more experienced database people would advise to keep accidental changes to the data to a minimum and to give the data entry person a better workflow? Thank you.

 

[Ranman256]

Nah, 1 form can do both.
Tho we did put in a safety catch....opening a record ,the form defaults to LOCKED.
The user can click an EDIT button to remove the lock so they can make edits.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Or the alternative, though not easy for a novice, is to highlight fields that have been edited so that the user can see where something got changed, then before allowing them to do a save, pop up a message box with an "Are you sure these edits are correct?" type of question.

 

[Galaxiom]

For the original data entry, you could change the form's DataEntry property to True. This prevents the form from even displaying the existing records so changes are definitely impossible.

 

[stopher]

...I'm just wondering what kind of approach you more experienced database people would advise to keep accidental changes to the data to a minimum and to give the data entry person a better workflow? Thank you.

This topic is often referred to as User Interface Design. For example see here:
http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html

Speak to the users:
- How does the user go about the task of changing addresses e.g. do they have a form with a particular layout? Maybe imitate the layout?
- How often do they do this? Is it a heavily repeated task?
- Their experience/training?
- Do they do this in isolation to other tasks?

There's a common school of thought of one task per screen. So does the task involve only changing addresses? In which case it's far better to provide a screen that facilitates only change of address rather than clutter the screen with unrequired information. This is particularly rtue if the task is done one in a blue moon - a clean interface will make it clear to the user what they are changing. In contrast to this, if the is changing addresses and maybe changing or checking other details then it will be a pita to go into different screens to do so - hence understand your user, task and workflow.

The other posts mention about errors and and this is also mention in the link - design so errors are easily spotted/rectified.

Consider the case where the user is changing an address and the phone rings. It would be dead easy to miss changing an address line an carry on to the next. One way round this is to just use a blank address form which updates the current address. This might be the same form used for original input to has all the required error checking.
Another similar option is to have old address on left and new on right to provide clarity to the user what remains to be entered and also make it easier to error check. This particularly useful when some details are not changing e.g. mobile no, email

hth
Chris

 

[Steve R.]

I'm just wondering what kind of approach you more experienced database people would advise to keep accidental changes to the data to a minimum and to give the data entry person a better workflow?

Good advice already provided. My additional thoughts for consideration.

The field values are held as a variable and are not immediately written to the database until they pass a validation check.

In the event data entry is being duplicated from a printed form, I would have the computer form (exactly) follow the printed form for data entry. For example, if the student submits a printed form and Box 1 is the students first name, then the computer data entry form would also have a Box 1 for entering the students name. (Of course this would not be necessary if the person doing the computer data entry is simply asking the student oral questions.)

 

[terrytek]

Nah, 1 form can do both.
Tho we did put in a safety catch....opening a record ,the form defaults to LOCKED.
The user can click an EDIT button to remove the lock so they can make edits.

I like this idea, because there are going to be times where the entry operator will need to view a record and not change it; for example, when he/she checks to see if a student is "new" or already in the database.

I am such a beginner with VBA that it will take me a while to write the code, but it will be a good exercise for me.

 

[terrytek]

Or the alternative, though not easy for a novice, is to highlight fields that have been edited so that the user can see where something got changed, then before allowing them to do a save, pop up a message box with an "Are you sure these edits are correct?" type of question.

I do already have code that changes the background color of the form and shows a text box in the footer saying that the form has been changed, and how to proceed or undo the change. I guess if I already have the code for the form, I could do it with the controls instead, although this form has a boatload of controls

 

[terrytek]

This topic is often referred to as User Interface Design. For example see here:
http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html

Speak to the users:
- How does the user go about the task of changing addresses e.g. do they have a form with a particular layout? Maybe imitate the layout?
- How often do they do this? Is it a heavily repeated task?
- Their experience/training?
- Do they do this in isolation to other tasks?

There's a common school of thought of one task per screen. So does the task involve only changing addresses? In which case it's far better to provide a screen that facilitates only change of address rather than clutter the screen with unrequired information. This is particularly rtue if the task is done one in a blue moon - a clean interface will make it clear to the user what they are changing. In contrast to this, if the is changing addresses and maybe changing or checking other details then it will be a pita to go into different screens to do so - hence understand your user, task and workflow.

The other posts mention about errors and and this is also mention in the link - design so errors are easily spotted/rectified.

Consider the case where the user is changing an address and the phone rings. It would be dead easy to miss changing an address line an carry on to the next. One way round this is to just use a blank address form which updates the current address. This might be the same form used for original input to has all the required error checking.
Another similar option is to have old address on left and new on right to provide clarity to the user what remains to be entered and also make it easier to error check. This particularly useful when some details are not changing e.g. mobile no, email

hth
Chris

Thanks for your really useful reply. There's a lot of good stuff in the ambysoft essay and in your post as well.