Creating a Database

[Cigard]

Hello, I want to create a database. I will be entering information from a post card that people will fill out. ( Name, address, phone number, email , volunteer fields)

I want to make the data input as user-friendly as possible. Any Suggestions? Should I use Excel or Access?

[MarvinP]

Hi Cigard,

If you are going to do lots of data analysis on your data then Excel would be my choice. NO Excel is my choice, even if you don't do a lot of analysis. The only reason I'd go to Access if a lot of different people were entering the data simultaneously. I'd look at a tool already in Excel called the Data Forms Tool.

http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/dat..._data_form.htm

[Cigard]

Thank you for the help

[Kyle123]

@marvin why? The clue is in the name, access is a database, it's for storing data, excel is a calculator. If concurrency is your only reason then you're doing it wrong. Granted in this scenario it's a little less clear cut sine the data appears to be so flat, though what volunteer fields are needs clarification, but I'd have said that in general the answer should always be access unless there's a really good reason not to (data integrity isn't important)

[MarvinP]

Hey Kyle,

I love Access and have used it for years. I was the VP of an Access user's group (at Microsoft) back in 1990. I've built and used many databases that should have been accepted and used by others. They were GREAT!! Then, as soon as I'd want other people to help enter data, the answer was that they didn't own Access and only had Excel. It seemed Excel was the standard and Access may be better but if I wanted others to help enter data, they wouldn't spend the bucks to buy it. Access is still great and I LOVE it!!! When you want data entry to happen or have groups of people help enter the data, Access comes under fire at about 40 simultaneous people entering data at the same time. (I've never had this problem but see it in the feedback articles). I could never get that many people to help. In this world of internet, if you want lots of people to help you put the data entry on the net and let the browser be the front end. You might keep all the data in Access but the userform would then be in HTML. I still love Access!! I've simply failed to get others to buy it and it therefore hasn't solved my group data entry problem.

I should also mention that the learning curve for Access is a lot steeper than for Excel. That being said, there is LOTS more people who know Excel and can help solve problems when they occur.

[Kyle123]

You don't need access to be installed for multiple people to use it, the free runtime is sufficient, once you've built the database other people can use it for free (throwing together an Excel front end isn't particularly difficult though for data entry)

I have had issues with concurrency - I didn't have 40 people either, but it's pretty easy to upgrade the backend to SQL server which resolves the issues.

Granted I don't use it anymore (I use SQL server), but if you're storing data then a database should be the first port of call, not a spreadsheet, they're rubbish for that.

Like 'em both though

[MarvinP]

Hey Kyle,

Are you using a SharePoint server for your Access work? I understand that using SharePoint allows multiple people to work on the data simultaneously. Is that true?

If you have an Excel file on a shared OneDrive, I believe multiple can work on it simultaneously but it will be a "browser" sheet instead of the full version of Excel. That means you can't use any VBA in the OneDrive file while doing the "browser" input.

I'd agree with your statement above if you have linked tables of data. It seems this user only wants a flat file that seems overkill for needing Access.