Ms Access

  Microsoft Access is a database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the Professional and higher editions, or sold separately. 

What is Microsoft Access used for? Very simply, Microsoft Access is an information management tool that helps you store information for reference, reporting, and analysis. Microsoft Access helps you analyze large amounts of information, and manage related data more efficiently than Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet applications.

Over the years from the mid-1990s until the present, I have developed many Microsoft (MS) Access database applications for clients and for in-house projects. Most of these databases are still in use at client sites and others are still used within Hallam-ICS on projects.

The first thing that we need to know is, what is DATABASE?

The major purpose of a database is to provide the information system (in its broadest sense) that utilizes it with the information the system needs according to its own requirements. A certain broad set of requirements refines this general goal.

A database is an organized collection of data generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. Where databases are more complex they are often developed using formal design and modeling techniques.

The database management system (DBMS) is the software that interacts with end-users, applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze the data. The DBMS software additionally encompasses the core facilities provided to administer the database. The sum total of the database, the DBMS, and the associated applications can be referred to as a "database system". Often the term "database" is also used to loosely refer to any of the DBMS, the database system, or an application associated with the database.

Steps in designing a database

-Find and organize the information required 

Location- Organizing information by its location. It can be a physical or conceptual (spacial) location. We, humans, have evolved to organize locations this way in our daily lives.

Alphabet- As the name suggests, ordering information alphabetically is a great way to provide random access to data. It is one of the best ways to organize information when the amount of data is big.

Time- This type of organizing information is probably the most used one by humans. We like thinking about and putting events in a linear fashion. Time is a great way of categorizing events that have happened over a fixed time duration.

Category- When the information needs to be sorted by similarity or relatedness, using category is the best way to organize it. We could argue that our brains work in a similar way, we like grouping similar things together.

Hierarchy or Continuum- When the information can be organized by comparing things across a common measure. If the information needs to be organized by a magnitude

Final thoughts- Remember, the most important thing is to organize the information in a way that the user will easily access and understand. Use the data to answer the questions the user has.

-Divide the information into tables 

So far, we've just been working with one table at a time and seeing what interesting data we can select out of that table. But actually, most of the time, we have our data distributed across multiple tables, and those tables are "related" to each other in some way.

For example, let's say we have a table for logging how well students do on their tests, and we include emails in case we need to email parents about slipping grades:

-Turn information items into columns 

The tables that would need to be created for the different items above would break down by what is needed. I would set up different tables for different data types. A primary key would be to be generated for each system that is going into the system. This has to be unique to each item, similar to a social security number or this can be created by the DBMS (about tech). For the primary key, I would use the product ID. The table should have the following information.

-Specify primary keys

The primary key consists of one or more columns whose data contained within are used to uniquely identify each row in the table. You can think of them as an address. If the rows in a table were mailboxes, then the primary key would be the listing of street addresses.

-Set up the table relationships

Open the table that contains the lookup you want to change by clicking the Edit Table.

Select the field that gets its values from another table.

On the Design tab, under Table Tools, click Modify Lookups.

Follow the steps in the wizard to make the changes that you want. You can change the following: