I consider myself to be pretty darn good with most of the MS Office suite of programs - Word, PowerPoint, and I’m particularly good with Excel, if I do say so myself. Access, on the other hand, I am apparently a complete buffoon.
I have done some minor databases with Access, but I’m stumped on where to start on this one. I look to the Millions for some ideas.
I need to build a database to track a training program. I’ve been using an Excel spreadsheet that prints out to about twelve pages long to track this stuff, and it’s a nightmare. Access should solve the problems, I hope. Here are the general “must haves”:
- There are 14 categories that must be independently tracked
- Within each category, there are anywhere from 3 to 22 objectives, which also need to be individually tracked
- A training event can hit multiple objectives across multiple categories
- One category needs to track each objective in relation to location (everything in the category needs to be done for every aircraft that lands at our airport)
- A training report needs to track who was at the training, which can (and will) change for every class taught.
The wall I’ve run head-long into is in setting up the initial tables. Do I use a different table for each category, listing each objective individually? Do I use yes/no boxes, and list all 130-odd objectives in one long table? Do I have each training event make a full entry of all of the training information for each person individually, or use a seperate table of training event vs attendees?
Once this is all done, the form that the data is entered in must be simple enough for a dinosaur to use - the kind of dinosaur that can just about use that new fangled “e-mail” stuff.
I fear I may be biting off more than I can chew, and perhaps the answer that comes might be in a language I don’t speak. Be gentle.