A few months ago, I undertook what I thought would be a fairly easy task to create an Access database for one of the largest school districts in Texas. Knowing absolutely nothing about Access when I started, but having my best friend Google at the ready, I got started. I learned pretty quickly that this was not going to be as simple as I thought and the database grew and grew to include tracking of more and more types of records to the point that it's now basically become "the system" that is used by the entire Food Services department to track over 600+ employees and all of their information, almost 100 schools and various meal programs including inspection dates, program sponsorships and enrollment. It's now in use and so far it's going well. But it's become a piece of software rather than just a simple database and i've reached a point where simple google searches aren't really giving me what I need to know.
Now that it's in use and doing it's job...I'm being asked to add new things to it and create other reports and such which I'm more than ok with and I absolutely love to learn new things, so that's not an issue. But the more I learn about access and how to do it right, the more I realize that I may need to basically start over and restructure it better since I sort of stumbled on the structure I have through the hunt, peck and pray method of database building.
My database currently has 12 tables 18 queries 15 forms and 21 reports and I imagine it needs at least 10 more reports and several more queries. I also suspect I may need to break down my employees table and possibly my schools table into several different tables.
I have questions about everything from how to move information from an active employee table to an inactive employee table or even if that's the best way to do things... how to deal with employees who are contracted at one school but may work an afterschool program at a different school. I also need to know if there is a better way to update and distribute the 6-8 front ends that i end up having to build every time I change something. I'm hoping to get some input as to the best way to work on the data tables within an already in use database without corrupting the data and having as little downtime for the department as I can get away with. And for the love of everything holy, is there a way to set up a template report design so that I don't have to build the damn reports from scratch every time i create a new one? This is but a small sample of the many questions I have.
I'm thinking that I may need to start out in the tables and structures forum to make sure I have the foundation of the database as solid, stable and optimized as I can get it. I was hoping that one of you may be able to take the newbie by the hand and guide me through this very overwhelming process of getting the information I need.
Now that it's in use and doing it's job...I'm being asked to add new things to it and create other reports and such which I'm more than ok with and I absolutely love to learn new things, so that's not an issue. But the more I learn about access and how to do it right, the more I realize that I may need to basically start over and restructure it better since I sort of stumbled on the structure I have through the hunt, peck and pray method of database building.
My database currently has 12 tables 18 queries 15 forms and 21 reports and I imagine it needs at least 10 more reports and several more queries. I also suspect I may need to break down my employees table and possibly my schools table into several different tables.
I have questions about everything from how to move information from an active employee table to an inactive employee table or even if that's the best way to do things... how to deal with employees who are contracted at one school but may work an afterschool program at a different school. I also need to know if there is a better way to update and distribute the 6-8 front ends that i end up having to build every time I change something. I'm hoping to get some input as to the best way to work on the data tables within an already in use database without corrupting the data and having as little downtime for the department as I can get away with. And for the love of everything holy, is there a way to set up a template report design so that I don't have to build the damn reports from scratch every time i create a new one? This is but a small sample of the many questions I have.
I'm thinking that I may need to start out in the tables and structures forum to make sure I have the foundation of the database as solid, stable and optimized as I can get it. I was hoping that one of you may be able to take the newbie by the hand and guide me through this very overwhelming process of getting the information I need.