[mso] Re: FW: access-Pam
- From: James LaBorde <jlaborde@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 08:41:02 -0800
Pam,
Will you have more than one user in the database at any time? The first
thing I would suggest is that you separate your database into a front-end
with all of your queries, forms, reports and code and a back-end that holds
just the data.
The best advice I can give you to start your project is to step away from
the computer and with pen and paper in hand, decide exactly what you will
want in your database. What is the end result you want? What reports?
What kind of output do you need? Then start working back to what
information will be needed for those reports and the output. Next, how can
the information you need be organized? You mentioned that you want not just
your inventory, but possibly an invoice to print out. So you know you will
need a product table (which I believe you have), you will also need a
Transactions table (You will need some way to populate your invoice), you
may need a suppliers table if you will be storing information on where the
products come from. (What can be fun is you can actually set up a reorder
report that will list all items that need to be re-ordered when your
inventory falls below a specific threshhold.) Once you have everything you
will need, it is time to open your database and start building. While you
are working on your database, Compact & Repair fairly often. Remember to
make a copy of your work from time to time too just in case something
happens, that way you won't lose too much work. You also have something
that works to go back to if you try something and it doesn't work. I also
recommend one final step, when you have completed everything. Create a
brand new database and copy everything for your front-end into it. There is
always a little bit of accumulated garbage that a Compact & Repair does not
get rid of. This will eliminate that.
When you run into specific snags, post them here and there are plenty of
Access people to help.
James
-----Original Message-----
From: Pam [mailto:ltf01@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 6:50 AM
To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mso] Re: FW: access-Pam :VSMail MX2 :VSMail MX3
Hi James,
The database is quite large in file size, like around 22mb. That's why I
went into detail about it's layout and fields. I'll repost the info here:
***
The current data base I have contains no fields for inventory totals at the
moment. In fact, when I started it I had never done a data base. But now,
with nearly 6,200 entries already added and atleast 3000-5000 more to add it
seems a shame not to adapt this one if possible. At present it is a single
table db. The fields are, and typical entries might look like this:
Disc / Catalog # / Color-Size# / Color-Description / Size /
Product Description / QtyPerPkg / Price
blank/ 8035 / blank / Sapphire / 6 yd x 4 inch /
Cord-Paper Twist-Metallic/ 1 / 2.99
blank/ A 1224 / R03 / Brown hair / 11 1/2 inch /
Doll-Full-long hair / 1 / 3.25
x / B 051289 / C50 / Green / 28mm-2 1/2 hole /
Bead-Wooden / 50 / 11.99
There are no primary keys set because while there will always be a cat#
there will not always be a color #, but if there is a color# then the cat#
will be the same. The first column is simply to tell us that the item has
been discontinued, can't order any more of them.
I want to be able to look at a given item and see how many are on hand. I
am assuming this would mean that I need to invoice a customer from Access to
accurately reduce inventory totals, which is fine with me because that means
I don't have to duplicate my work. And I would have to increase my
inventory totals when a shipment comes in from any of various suppliers.
The business is a mail order craft supply. Ideally, I would like to include
fields/table for who we purchase a given item from, to simplify reordering.
***
It was suggested that I consider combining the cat# and color# into one
field to be able to have a primary key, and we are giving that
consideration. We may not be able to because the suppliers appear to refer
to the items by the main number rather than by both.
Pam
>
>
> Hello Pam, Welcome Back Peter, and wow, we suddenly have a
> growing number of
> Access people in this group.
>
> I will be happy to toss my two cents in where I can in this
> thread as well.
> One thing to look at is not re-inventing the wheel. Have you checked out
> the Inventory Template DB? I have found that using the Template DBs can
> help you out with learning some concepts and see how others have done
> something similar to what you are doing.
>
> From what I understand of your db so far, you have a table
> listing the items
> you have but no primary key for it. You will want to come up
> with a way to
> identify these items uniquely so that you can assign a primary key. Since
> you have aa catalog # and sometimes a color# have you considered
> consolidating these with a hyphen or slash?
>
> I am sure you are getting advice from others that you will want
> to add some
> kind of transaction table. You will need to decide what fields
> you want in
> it. If possible, could you email me a copy of the database at
> James@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I can take a look and see what you have so
> far.
>
> James La Borde
> South Western Federal Credit Union
>
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