March 27, 2017

24-Mar-17 

By: Vic Leslie 

Part 1 – Intro

MS Access Database, which is part of the MS Office Suite of Programs, is a very powerful program if used with the right skills. Most office workers are comfortable with using MS Excel & MS Word. Some users don’t even know that Access exists. However, you will be quite surprised as to how easy it is to use it.

In my opinion, Access Database is quite useful especially when you are dealing with large amounts of data, repetitive tasks and numerous reports. Having worked with MS Access for a long time, I have come to appreciate it very much.

Once an access database system is introduced to a department in the office, replacing numerous MS Excel sheets that my colleagues were accustomed to, the changes in workload were instant. A database system can be shared and reports generated by the click of a button. No more waiting for your colleague to finish updating his section in an Excel sheet so you can do your part before the supervisor can email the report to the Directors.

Since MS Access uses forms for data entry and the reports are designed accordingly, there was no more need to keep “inserting new rows or columns”, or confirming your MS Excel formulae. No more checking of “page setup” and doing more formatting to the sheet. This time consuming repetitive tasks are well taken care of in MS Access.

Exporting data from MS Access to MS Excel or MS Word for further analysis is quite simple. You can also export data to PDF for sharing and emailing as required. These have proven to be quite useful tools when used correctly.

You can also have MS Access generate standard letters for you. The letters can even have the company logo & letterheads attached to make them more official. This is a great option that save you lots of time in having to type & retype your general letters in MS Word.

I will be sharing my experiences in using MS Access database that have being deployed in office departments. The benefits are enormous and appreciated. I am being very specific when I say, “database in office departments”. I have targeted institutions that don’t have a company-wide system. A small company may have an Accounting system, Payroll System, Stock control system and other proprietary systems.

However, in most cases a vacuum for specific tasks in normally created. These vacuums force employees to perform certain additional repetitive tasks and generate certain reports in certain formats that aren’t available in the convectional system.

Example, an employee may be required to print some sales data from the Accounts system and retype it in MS Excel in a particular format, add more columns and data from another printout and apply the necessary formatting and formulae that the supervisor wants. Such tasks tends to make an employee appear “very busy”, even leaving the office past time. But the quality & quantity of the work done from 8-5 is questionable.

It is these vacuums that my MS Access Database tends to bridge. I have made many of my colleagues to work smarter and not harder. After designing the first part of a system and running tests, my colleagues would get the idea and assist in designing a system for them, since they know their tasks better, I tell them nothing is impossible. They help me by giving me their ideas and we design usable MS Access database for use in their departments.

In the end, my colleagues are happy as their work is simplified, the supervisors are happy for receiving timely, concise and standard reports and I am content by seeing my products being used.

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