Re: Need a design suggestion

From: Larry Daugherty (Larry.NoSpam.Daugherty_at_verizon.net)
Date: 07/29/04 

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 01:25:36 -0700

Hi Bob,

It sounds like you've been asked to do something you're not quite ready to
do. You're right about getting to the data design early, it's the thing to
do. However you can't understand the data design until you understand the
process you're trying to implement. There is some implied problem that your
boss wants solved. You are the one to solve it.

Every boss or manager always wants a tool that's idiot proof and easy to
use. Those are goals to set a direction but they're never fully achieved in
a working system. Do the best you can and Press On!

Jeff pointed out that your direct and implied questions aren't likely to be
addressed nor fully answered. They can't be. The only direct questions
you've asked are meaningless because they have no context. For them to have
meaning you have to have the data environment defined already. The answers
to your questions are generally this: You can do anything you want to do
but before you can use or retrieve data you must first have it in your
application in such a way that it serves your purpose. It kind of goes
circular, doesn't it?

If you are going to develop useful applications, then I suggest that you
read a book or two about Access. Google the access newsgroups for "books"
or simply use the Find function in your newsgroup reader. You'll get a
pretty good list of books. Lurk the newsgroups. Tablesdesign is a good
one. There are others about specific elements of Access. I think you'd
benefit from lurking in microsoft.public.access.gettingstarted, too. Be
patient with yourself. The initial learning curve in Access is fairly steep

Good luck, 

-- 
-Larry-
--
"BobV" <rvandy1808nospam@cox.net> wrote in message
news:eeBTQ4OdEHA.3588@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Sorry about that.....I didn't mean to make it appear like I wanted someone
> to design the whole thing--I actually only meant to ask the couple of
> questions at the end.....sometimes too much information is not good, I
> guess.....but I thought I should explain the whole thing for a better
> understanding of what's going on.  At any rate, I can make what he wants
> work, but here are the things I don't know:
>
> * How do I make the form go to the latest pay period upon opening it?
Kind
> of like......if it's July 27th when I open a particular process form, it
> would automatically populate the field with Pay Period 14 (or whatever pay
> period the date falls under).
>
> * Not sure about "submitting" the data, or checking it for accuracy before
> doing that.
>
> Sorry for the confusion....thanks,
> Bob
>
>
> "Jeff Boyce" <JeffBoyce_IF@msn.com-DISCARD_HYPHEN_TO_END> wrote in message
> news:eyOfhdJdEHA.2520@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > Bob
> >
> > Perhaps it's only me, but my impression is that you've asked the group
to
> > design your system.  You'll probably get more response if you ask a
> specific
> > question, especially after indicating what you've already tried.
> >
> > Most of the folks who reply in these newsgroups do so voluntarily, so
> asking
> > for someone to build you a system (or at least the design) may not get
> many
> > takers...
> >
> > -- 
> > Good luck
> >
> > Jeff Boyce
> > <Access MVP>
>
>
> Hopefully this is the right newsgroup to ask this (and I apologize up
> front--this is probably going to get kind of long).....it crosses so many
> lines it's hard to tell, but since it all starts with the tables, I
thought
> I'd start here.  Anyway, the boss wants me to create a db for the managers
> in our organization to post personnel hours devoted to various
> projects.....kind of like a regular time-management db, but he would like
to
> make it so simple and fool-proof for them to use that it's actually harder
> to design (at least it seems that way to me).  Basically, it has three
> tables:
>
> Personnel
> Process
> Recorded Activity (which will contain information about what process was
> worked by which employee)
>
> He would like a form which will use information from the first two tables
to
> populate the last table.  Trouble is, he would also like a form dedicated
to
> each process.  The following are his instructions:
>
> **************************************
> When the form is opened it will show:
>
> * the name of the process at the top
> * the most recent pay period
> * the names of the employees associated with the process during that pay
> period
> * the percent of time each worked on the process
> * any overtime dedicated to the process
> * there needs to be blocks below the list of names so that additional
> employees can be added. The names should be selected from a drop down menu
> so we don't have issues with name spelling. For planning purposes, the
form
> should allow for a combined total of 10 employees associated with the
> process.
>
> The supervisor would update the pay period, confirm the name of the
> employee, percent worked and OT. If they need to add an employee they
should
> select the name, enter the percent and any OT.
>
> Once the supervisor is happy with the info, they submit the form which
sends
> that data to the Recorded Activity Table.
>
> Is it possible to run a check of the Recorded Activity Table, when the
> supervisor goes to submit the data, to make sure no employee on the form
has
> more than 100% total process activity for that pay period?
>
> ****************************************
>
> So, basically, for every "process" I need to create a form; which as I see
> it will make it very hard to maintain (well, maybe not hard, but
> time-intensive).  I guess that's not a problem, as each form can populate
> the same table; just seems like a dropdown to select the process would be
a
> lot less work--but I guess he feels that would be over their heads (and,
for
> the record, I don't necessarily disagree with that assessment).
>
> Other problems I see?.....how do I make the form go to the latest pay
period
> upon opening it?  Never really done anything like that?  Kind of
> like......if it's July 27th when I open a particular process form, it
would
> automatically populate the field with Pay Period 14 (or whatever pay
period
> the date falls under).
>
> Also, not sure about "submitting" the data, or checking it for accuracy
> before doing that.
>
> At any rate, I would appreciate any guidance/suggestions anyone might
> provide....thanks in advance,
> Bob
>
>
> >
>
>

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