Need scheduling help with Excel database

**skyhighELS** · 06-17-2015, 02:12 PM

Hello. I am in dire need of advice of how to create this database within Excel 2013.

Just a run down of what Im trying to do:

I will have a list of students that would be attending classes on a weekly basis, at their specific day and time of the week, Mon-Friday anywhere between 8 am and 8pm, i.e., STUDENT 1 comes to class every Wed. at 930am - 1030 am (there could possibly be a few students in a single lesson)

They are very busy and are going to be missing lessons for sure, however they are able to make-up these ABSENT lessons at anytime.

For example, lets say STUDENT 2 doesn't show up at her lesson time on Thursday at 6pm (ABSENT) ... I can ask STUDENT 1 to make-up for his ABSENT lesson on last Wed (if he isnt too busy, of course), and then once he takes that lesson, that absent mark is taken away. It pretty much all about accountability.

So, for every lesson a student misses they can make up at anytime there is an open slot even if they fill in on another students lesson time...or even with each other ... the main point is to show who is coming to class and who isn't.. which will be in a quarterly report.

Pretty much, everyone starts at 0 (ABSENT days) 0 = perfect attendance

There are much more aspects to this system, but this is the first part I'm trying to get thru. Adding and taking away..if that makes sense.

How do I create such a database? Again, there are other parts to this, so if it is necessary to know the rest of what needs to be, please let me know and I will happily explain it more in depth.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!!!

B

**newdoverman** · 06-17-2015, 03:48 PM

I don't think what you have in mind will work unless the absence is a scheduled absence. You have no way of knowing if someone is going to be otherwise absent in order to schedule someone else to fill the spot.

I suggest that you approach the problem from a different perspective. If you know that a spot is going to be available because of a scheduled absence, post the spot as vacant and leave the onus on the other people who have missed classes to apply for that spot. First come first served. That way all you have to do is to total the classes attended by each person without having to schedule classes for everyone. The student must be the one taking responsibility for attending the requisite classes. There isn't anything you can do about unexpected absences.

**skyhighELS** · 06-17-2015, 11:20 PM

Thank you for the reply newdoverman, and for your input. I'm sure there is some way to do it, because I've worked with such a system
in the past. Maybe I should explain a bit more, because its not like a first come first serve situation.

I'm definitely going to need a set schedule for the students, but it doesn't necessarily mean they have to attend that time
every week. I just want to be able to have it so that when they miss a lesson, it is recorded but when they attend a lesson,
that missed lesson is taken away. I definitely need to have a weekly schedule for when the students are supposed to have their
usual class. Could it be like an rental-inventory-type setup? I'm seriously clueless
about this so I'm trying my best to explain what I'm trying to do, if its too hard to imagine, I apologize.

In short... students have a scheduled lesson time, and are marked absent if they cant make it, but at any other time that they show up,
that ABSENT point is taken away. Is that a bit clearer, or am I just repeating myself? lol Thank again for the help.

B

**skyhighELS** · 06-17-2015, 11:22 PM

I should mention... it isnt really about vacancies. The class times are open to anyone at anytime. But as I mentioned in the last post, I definitely need
to have a day/time that they are "supposed to attend", weekly. Thanks again.

**newdoverman** · 06-18-2015, 09:41 AM

Seeing that you don't have anything developed as of right now, put your ideas down on paper as to how the envisioned system will work. Keep in mind that the data input should NOT be in a report type form but a basic data input. That is, one record per row and one field per column avoiding merged cells. Data input is to input data and not to be "Pretty" in doing so. With such a setup, reports are usually easily generated.

This might give you some ideas and is not meant to be a template. The Data entry is basic data, the Summary is just using the data to produce a type of report as is the Pivot Table. The Lessons worksheet gives the Lesson ID and the number of lessons required.