Fe/be

[AstroDonut]

Simple question, hopefully the answer will be too.

I am designing a database for our 3 sales offices (located in different towns) to log credits.

Can I use 3 FE's to populate the same B/E?

I have very basic access knowledge and thought I would ask before messing things up.

Hope somebody can help

Thanks in advance

Brian

 

[DCrake]

Yes you can if each FE has a LAN/WAN connection to a shared server.

Sit the BE there and create a link to it from the FE.

David

 

[AstroDonut]

Thanks for the super quick reply David

Each sales office has a local server and head office has the main server for the company.

Manchester office can only see the Manchester server etc.

But I'm sure our IT company can make them visible to each other (I'll deal with that later though)

I can progress with the next stage now... back to sticking my head in the access bible and scanning this wonderful forum

Thanks again

Brian

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

What you need is to get them to make one common location visible to all three offices and put the BE there. Users running the FE will need read/write access to that shared location.

 

[AstroDonut]

I've just checked with a colleague and we do have a common folder that every office can see (contains common information, doc templates, account application forms, pdf files etc.)

So I guess it's just the read/write access that will need to be sorted once it is in place.

 

[DCrake]

As a matter of security I would ask IT to create a sub folder for your database and a group policy. And only make users who have assess to the database members of this group.

You don't want undesirables having access to the data.

David

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

I agree. Restricting access to the BE by Group Policy is a great way to help to secure your application.

Definitely don't just bung it in a 'common' folder - some eejit will delete or damage it.

 

[AstroDonut]

ah yes, thanks a lot ) (I've experienced eejit's deleting stuff in the past!)

I have another question regarding this now.

The FE I mentioned at first will be for sales users to populate the database, is it possible to produce a different FE for one other user to report on the data entered??
(hope that made sense!!)

 

[boblarson]

You might read this first before going further (about a WAN). Access is not optimal for working across a WAN. You should really use Terminal Services or Citrix to do it.

 

[AstroDonut]

hmmm... interesting!

Now I'm thinking about going back to my original design of 3 databases (one on the server in each branch, LAN) and exporting to a main dbase for reporting.

The database only has 3 forms for user input and 5 tables.

Suggestions??

 

[boblarson]

Well, the master database concept is going to cause you some major pain in synching things because you will need to have a method to create primary keys and foreign keys and not duplicate them amongst the 3 external databases, or convert them when bringing data in, updating data, etc. I, personally, don't see how you will do it. I would look into using Terminal Services with the Access Runtime.

 

[AstroDonut]

I have already created a query that generates a totally unique reference for each record using text (for the branch and user initials) and combined that with date and and autonumber

example - HUN-1109/1/BW (HUN is the branch, 1109 is the month and year, 1 is the autonumber, BW is the user initials)

Terminal Services is way beyond my abilities, I'm only slightly familiar with access on local machines or a LAN.

But, I will not be beaten, I WILL come up with a solution.

 

[boblarson]

Terminal Services is way beyond my abilities, I'm only slightly familiar with access on local machines or a LAN.

Terminal Services is under the domain of your network administrator. You should contact them about using it. But, if you want to try it this other way, I can't say much as it is you that will have to deal with it. But, if you can get approval to use TS instead, it would make your life a LOT easier than having to try to do this synching.

 

[AstroDonut]

Terminal Services is under the domain of your network administrator. You should contact them about using it. But, if you want to try it this other way, I can't say much as it is you that will have to deal with it. But, if you can get approval to use TS instead, it would make your life a LOT easier than having to try to do this synching.

That will be very interesting as she doesn't like dealing with anything she doesn't know about (anything more than .xls files .pdf files and she goes off sick!!!)

I really do appreciate your input, cheers Bob (and of course everyone who has contributed to this thread)

If you see a small mushroom cloud appear over Manchester UK this weekend you'll know I've lost it

 

[boblarson]

Good luck with it regardless of how you end up doing it. Sorry that you are in a bad position to start off with.

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

The FE I mentioned at first will be for sales users to populate the database, is it possible to produce a different FE for one other user to report on the data entered??

No reason why you can't - just link the relevant tables into a new empty db and create a bunch of new forms.

But that might not be the best solution - you could just incorporate it all into one FE and switch on/off the relevant bits depending on who is logged in.

 

[boblarson]

I would go with ONE frontend that has, as Atomic Shrimp says, "switch on/off the relevant bits depending on who is logged in." I've done that before, including for a large Access database project for NIKE.

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

To expand on that as my preference - it means you're only maintaining one set of functions and forms, one set of reports, one set of linked table references - maintenance of multiple different front ends for the same application can become quite a burden.