Document Management

[StephenD]

Hi everyone,

I've got an access database that is being used by a number of people in a number of different sites. As our company do not want to spend money on a proper intranet/document management system they have asked me if we could use the database. Basically the idea is that the database would be a kind of portal where there would be forms contaiing links to a whole range of external documents-Word files, Powerpoint presentations, Excel files and so on. Does anyone know if there would be pitfalls with this or any reason why it wouldn't work??

Many Thanks,

StephenD

 

[BLeslie88]

Personal Experience....

I work in a retail company. I have developed over time good filing methods for the users / executives. I put shortcuts on their desktops for easy access. File things accordin to fiscal years / periods in appropriately assigned directories... I personally would spend time to set up the directories... I have excel macros files that auto open / save... to appropriate directories... We have buyer's/allocator's/advertising/ so fourth and so fourth set up as directories...

This is my approach. Give them the tools and training to be self efficient. This is just my thoughts. Hope someone can give you better detailed advice.

Cheers,
Brian

 

[The_Doc_Man]

In theory you could always do this with Access but sometimes you might have problems in what is required AFTER you found the document they wanted.

For instance, suppose they wanted to find AND OPEN a document that is based on Word. OK, you could keep the information handy, then when they wanted to open the document, you could see that it is a Word document. Launch Word on that document and make the Word applications window visible. (Maybe make a local copy of the document, which you can do from VBA.)

But what do you do if the document requires an application that the user doesn't have installed on their desktop? As an example, suppose that one of the documents is a .PDF but the particular user doesn't have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

And suppose it gets worse. Suppose they have some Corel apps that they might wish to see. But the installation of Corel happens to be inconsistent across some systems. In order to be able to launch the application, you need to find it. If the location is not consistent, you have a problem finding it.

And (Heavens forfend), suppose the app isn't one that is installed through the registry! Now go find THAT one.

I think you get the idea. You can easily keep track of anything with Access, but you need to assure what else is involved in the design before you can be assured of meeting the requirements.