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This course
builds on our
introductory Microsoft Access
course,
where we introduced Microsoft's powerful relational
database tool for personal computers.
Advanced Access is only offered on a 'one on one'
basis and is geared toward people who want to construct working
Access databases that go above and beyond what can be achieved the
simple database design shown in our earlier course and in the
use of
Access "wizards".
We would expect to construct a database with you
which contains several tables
and join them in various relationships and look at issues in transferring data
from one database to another (importing and linking data).
We will confront data validation
and formatting issues that can make or break a database (a database is
only as good as the data it holds).
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Compound form used to manage training
records. |
We want to work with
on your particular database problem during your day with
us and so need information from you prior to attending.
It is important for us that we satisfy ourselves that we
can indeed deliver what you require and so want to work
on your materials prior to attending. We encourage you
to look at the list of topics below and indicate those
which are important to you.
Before coming to this class, attendees should understand:
If these concepts are new or unclear, please take the
Introduction to Microsoft Access course. A comfortable
understanding of these concepts is essential for success in this class.
In order
to help us present this course, we supply in addition to our workbook, a copy of the book 'Step by Step
Microsoft Office Access 2003'. We provide the book with the course and draw most heavily on
it.
'Advanced Microsoft Access' is taken
'in-house' in our
Computer Learning Center, and normally runs for a day
with a break for lunch. Staring time is 9.15 am and
finish around 4.30 pm.
We offer two different pricing models covering
the same material:
1.
Online learning via broadband - fast Internet connection required.
The most popular option is to take the course by online
learning at
http://www.softwaretutor.net. The cost is $AUD250.00 for
many
hours of high quality training. The course features rapid enrolment,
multi media materials, online forums, multi choice reviews, questionnaires,
submission of assignments etc. This is an enhanced learning experience at an
affordable price. Click
here to visit our
broadband online
learning site and click on the blue information button to sample a
course.
2. group or one-on-one courses (Adelaide or Canberra - in our offices or
yours).
Each course takes one day and
costs $AUD750.00 for up to three persons. That is, the daily rate is
$750 a day, irrespective of the number of participants in the range
1-3).
As part of our continuing drive to
reduce our
carbon emissions by using digital delivery, each participant in our group or one-on-one courses is
automatically enrolled at no extra cost in the broadband
learning version of this course. This would normally cost an
additional $250.00.
In this way, students get a double benefit - personal tuition
and the ability to access any of the written instructional
materials online, replay any of the demonstration movies,
download sample files, log questions, take quizzes and submit
assignments for review.
We usually work group or one-on-one, but can take up to 3 students in our
training room. ** Please note that we only run groups if all students come
from the same organization.**
The table below provides an overview of the course
content. Please indicate areas of interest and be
prepared to transmit sample databases to use prior to
your visit.
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Introduction |
Our learning system.
Examining a well developed Access database. Revising your
understanding of relational databases, the need for planning a
database application. |
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Documentation |
Professional database
developers make sure that they document their application and
keep the documents up to date. Access 2007 has a tool to help
manage this and in this module, we explore that tool. |
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Making your database
user friendly |
Documenting an existing
database and creating a menu system to make management easier
and allowing the Access
application itself to be hidden from casual users. Exploring the
new navigation system in Access 2007 - a replacement for the
older switchboard menu system. The navigation pane now conforms
to the single document model advocated for Office 2007 products. |
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Tables |
A close look at tables. Data types,
hyperlinks, text fields, number fields, yes/no fields, input masks, naming fields,
reserved words, null values, order of fields, storing calculated
values, descriptions, number that are not numbers, validation
rules for fields, validation rules for tables, lookup
fields. |
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Forms |
A second look at Forms and
their use. Using the Form Wizard. Moving
to layout view and reorganizing the appearance of a form.
Applying themes to a form. Moving to the Design View of a Form. Using the toolbox
to populate forms with objects. |
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Queries |
Select Queries. Sources for
Queries. Types of Queries. Editing via Queries, SQL and SQL
language Queries, the Query Wizard, calculated fields, editing
SQL expressions in calculated fields. Concatenating field names
in a Query. |
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Reports |
Basing reports on Queries. Calculating
totals in reports. |
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Web Access (Pages) |
Early versions of Access
allowed the creation of web pages which allowed for data access.
Access 2007 now encourages the use of SharePoint Services to
achieve the same end. |
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Revisiting Relationships |
Some revision from the
introductory course. Everything you ever wanted
to know about relationships. |
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Project charter |
Build a project definition
with your client. Find out what is required. Mock up the user
interface, get lots of feedback before beginning to develop a
database. |
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Database design |
Defining your problem.
Database design is an iterative process. Create tables, print
relationship diagram, test by entering data, refine your design,
split tables, test again, document and document some more! |
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Protecting your
data |
Backing up, compacting and
repair, analyzing the content etc. |
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Case Study |
The importance of planning your
entire application before you start. We create a database for a company
managing the issue of record keeping for safety equipment, licenses and certification
and training records. |
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Case Study |
Information in and out.
Interacting with a mainframe database holding information on
batches of wool which have been scoured. Importing information from
Excel, from comma delimited text files, fixed width text files,
from another Access database, from other databases, from a HTML
file, from XML. Export to other programs, linking to another
database. |
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Case Study |
School administration. Developing a database for managing
enquiries for school enrolments. Includes the development of a
project charter. |
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Case Study 4 |
Developing a database for
managing contact with members of indigenous communities. |
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Case Study |
Managing contact between
Contract Research Organizations and study site monitors. |
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Keeping information accurate |
Use data type and filed type
settings to restrict data. Using input masks to restrict data,
use validation rules, using lookup lists. Updating information
in tables, deleting information. The FrontPage question and
answer database as an example. |
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Action Queries |
Make table, append table,
delete table, cross tab, select and SQL queries etc. |
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Pages and Modules |
Creating static web pages,
exporting Visual Basic for Applications, Using Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) to create a
web page, creating a data access page with the AutoPage facility, creating a
data access page using the page wizard, allowing others to
analyze data on the web. |
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Mail Merge &
Access |
The raw data for the generation of
form letters can come from a variety of sources - mainframe computers,
specialist databases such as the Bureau of Statistics, databases such as
Access, FileMaker Pro, SQL Server, Oracle etc. It is not difficult to
obtain that information from those sources in the form of ASCII text
files. Excel can load those files expertly and you can use the
combination of Microsoft Word and Excel to generate form letters,
filtering data as you go if that is what is required. the filtering can
also be done in the database before outputting the ASCII text file. |
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Securing your information |
Encrypting and decrypting an
Access database, assigning passwords, sharing databases,
replicating a database, splitting databases, setting up a
workgroup, maintaining a workgroup, preventing changes to a
database, securing a database for distribution. |
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Case Study |
Web integration. Using Access to publish web pages.
First just
HTML, but later publishing to a Microsoft SQL server. |
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