[mso] Re: Excel?

The main advantage Access has for your group is that you can't mis-sort
it. We used to have Excel databases for Christmas card lists, broker
mailing lists, properties, etc. All it takes is for one user to do a
sort of the data improperly and you will go running back to Access.

We had a database of almost 1000 names for out 100th Anniversary Gala
and one of the users decided to "clean up" the list. We did not realize
the error until a lot of the invitations went to the wrong addresses. We
had to re-verify every bit of information in the database.


Parker Renaud
Information Technology Manager
Colliers Keenan Inc.

=20

Colliers International is a worldwide affiliation of independently owned
and operated companies.



-----Original Message-----
From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Ray Shapp
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 9:26 PM
To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mso] Re: Excel?

Hi Herbert,

<<I would be interested in the different options available in Excel as
well as the usual suspect "Access", which I am not very good in.>>

I'm the computer guy for a 500-member astronomy club. Someone organized
the main membership records into an Access DB two years before I joined
the club (1998), and over the years, at least five different people have
become responsible in turn for membership records. Each of those people
has differing levels of familiarity with computers in general in with
Access in particular.
I'm certainly no expert, but with the help of Google and this discussion
list, I have been able to keep the membership chair-person functioning.

Another problem with using MS Access is that in a few cases an otherwise
willing member could not be considered for membership chair because
he/she didn't have MS Access in their version of Office. As far as I
know, all versions of Office have Excel.

Since we are already in Access, I've suggested separating out some of
the fields into related tables such as for special interest groups,
types or levels of membership, a geographically oriented speakers bureau
etc.  My possible successors object to that idea because they think the
structure would be too complicated. As a result, we are using the
massive power of MS Access to manage a flat file.

The handful of report types that are frequently required are all invoked
from a single form in Access, but for all the ad hoc reports, I usually
pull out the records I need from the table and paste them into Excel,
then bang out the report. That's very quick and simple.

Excel has a built-in macro generator. Access does not. In Excel, turn on
the macro recorder, do a procedure, then save the recording. You can't
do that in Access.

Lots more people in our club (and probably in the general population)
are familiar with Excel than with Access.

You could begin your automation using Excel. After you work with it for
a while, if you find that you need any of the functions that David Smart
mentioned or some he didn't mention, it's fairly easy to import all your
records into Access. I don't think the reverse trip would be as easy
unless you keep all your records in a flat file within Access. If you do
that, of course, you don't need Access.

HTH

Ray Shapp


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