Previous article Next article
Access articles
Why Do I Need To Use Access?
Tue 1st July 2008
Microsoft Access is not an easy piece of software to learn and some people find Access courses to be frustrating as a result. The question some of them ask is whether Access might be overkill for what they are doing. Excel has simple database functions, so couldn't you just use that instead? The answer is a definite "maybe".
Relational vs. Flat File Databases
An Excel database is a flat file database. All of your information is kept in rows and columns as though on a piece of paper. The classic example of a flat file database is a list in which each line contains name, address, and phone number. This could be customer records or an employee internal extension list.
If this is all you need from your database then Excel will work just fine. You can even perform simple database functions like extracting a list of all of the customers who live in a certain city for targeted mailings.
Access is a relational database. The structure of a relational database is more complex. It consists of several tables, each like a flat file database, but the tables are linked to each other by common identifiers.
Most businesses need to keep track of more than just customer addresses. A second table of all orders placed would link to the customer address table by means of a customer ID. This would allow you to perform searches such as people who ordered blue widgets in December 2006 or who ordered more than
Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on access courses, please visit https://www.stl-training.co.uk
Original article appears here:
https://www.stl-training.co.uk/article-324-why-use-microsoft-access.html
Back to article list
Distribution notes
London's widest choice in
dates, venues, and prices
Public Schedule:
Buy now / Live dates
On-site / Closed company:
Get quote
Testimonials
BNP Paribas real Estate National Investment Oliver D'souza Excel Intermediate
Excellent course
Trainer was very clear
Deluxe 142 Ltd Credit Controller Jed Begley Excel Intermediate
Sarah was a great teacher, very helpful and encouraged class participation well. very enjoyable
Crown Prosecution Service Casework Assistant Susan O’Reilly Telephone Techniques
Great training. Can apply it to most job roles - wouldn’t change anything
More testimonials |
Clients
· Main client list
Article list
What's this?
Server loaded in 0.3 secs.
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES