Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Technology


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 08-08-2004, 10:30 AM   #1 (permalink)
Runt
 
Location: Denver
Small business database?

My father in-law is looking for a small business database.
The requirements are quite small and are:
1) Each record contains approximately 50 fields.
2) It needs to pass data to excel.
3) Have moderate reporting skills.
4) User friendly.

My problem is that I am trained with the larger databases (Oracle, etc) and do not have any recommendations to give him for more affordable software package. Does anyone have any recommendations?

So far I have the following:
1) File Maker Pro 7.0: expensive but looks full featured.
2) Database Professional by Avanquest: not familiar with this company but it has the features he is looking for. Plus it is inexpensive.


thanks for the help
__________________
<--The great infidel-->
Polyphobic is offline  
Old 08-08-2004, 11:58 AM   #2 (permalink)
Darth Papa
 
ratbastid's Avatar
 
Location: Yonder
Microsoft Access (much as I shudder to recommend a MS product) is probably exactly what he's looking for.

He can design the fields however he wants them. It integrates flawlessly with Excel. It has extensive reporting skills. And once he learns it, it's very user-friendly.

Problem with Access newbies (though it's true of new users of databases in general) is that they try to treat the database like a spreadsheet. It's not. It's not built for calculations and grids, it's built for record-and-field oriented data storage and retrieval.
ratbastid is offline  
Old 08-08-2004, 01:44 PM   #3 (permalink)
beauty in the breakdown
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Sounds like a job for Access.

Yes, Im serious.
__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato
sailor is offline  
Old 08-08-2004, 01:51 PM   #4 (permalink)
Psycho
 
steveincolumbus's Avatar
 
Location: BFE, Kentucky
Not that i know anything about databases, but I know we use Desktop engine in place of MS SQL for some small jobs and I run it on my laptop for testing software and giving demo's...
But i know nothing about it really.....
steveincolumbus is offline  
Old 08-08-2004, 02:09 PM   #5 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Fort Lewis, WA
I'm in the Army and we use Access for our company database. It sounds exactly like what you are looking for. We have approx. 75 fields per person and close to 330 entries in there. Integrates flawlessly into excel and I learned the basics in less than 3 hours or so. Now I'm pretty good with it and can make them do whatever I want. While I don't agree with all of MS they do make a quality product and you really can't beat the integration on them. The price is pretty reasonable too compared to some of the pure database programs.
__________________
Support the troops, if not the war.
itlain is offline  
Old 08-08-2004, 02:39 PM   #6 (permalink)
Runt
 
Location: Denver
I mentioned access to him as my first suggestion. Apparently, he finds it not very user friendly. My father in-law is not computer savy. Personally, I find it insanely easy after certifying in Oracle.
Any other suggestions?


thanks
__________________
<--The great infidel-->
Polyphobic is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 04:47 AM   #7 (permalink)
beauty in the breakdown
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
If he finds Access difficult, good luck getting him set up on a real database...
__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato
sailor is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 06:28 AM   #8 (permalink)
I am not permanent.
 
glytch's Avatar
 
Location: Tennessee
Is there any way you could create forms for him using Access, so all he would have to worry about is typing in the information? That would make it insanely easy and he wouldn't have to worry about any of the backend stuff. Also, if you know any VB, it's incredibly easy to whip up a small program that can interact with his database and do anything you'd like.
__________________
If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg
glytch is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 07:12 AM   #9 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Location: NJ
I've used Filemaker extensively in the past and it is miles ahead of Access in terms of user friendliness. Its logic is also very intuitive.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

That being said, how much data is in each field and how many records will he be creating?

Excel allows for more than 16,000 rows and 250+ columns on each sheet. Unless the cells need to contain more characters than Excel allows, why not use Excel since he's already comfortable with it?
__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.
onetime2 is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 07:13 AM   #10 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Location: NJ
Quote:
Originally posted by glytch
Is there any way you could create forms for him using Access, so all he would have to worry about is typing in the information? That would make it insanely easy and he wouldn't have to worry about any of the backend stuff. Also, if you know any VB, it's incredibly easy to whip up a small program that can interact with his database and do anything you'd like.
Very good thought.
__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.
onetime2 is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 07:43 AM   #11 (permalink)
Runt
 
Location: Denver
I convinced him to use Access. My plan is to throw together a database and use forms to make it easier for him. The requirements of this db are pathetically small and Access may even be an overkill. Something like 500 records with 15-50 fields.


thanks for the help
__________________
<--The great infidel-->
Polyphobic is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 08:50 AM   #12 (permalink)
Darth Papa
 
ratbastid's Avatar
 
Location: Yonder
Are you really sure that a database is the thing he needs? The data you describe would work well in a spreadsheet, and some clever sorting would probably work in place of database queries. Especially given he's already proficient in Excel...

A lot of times my clients will tell me they need X when they really need Y. It's part of my job to gently convince them otherwise.

An Access forms interface might help him, but he'll be hamstrung if it ever needs structural changes. You know, if you move away or anything...
ratbastid is offline  
Old 08-09-2004, 09:30 AM   #13 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Location: NJ
Quote:
Originally posted by onetime2


That being said, how much data is in each field and how many records will he be creating?

Excel allows for more than 16,000 rows and 250+ columns on each sheet. Unless the cells need to contain more characters than Excel allows, why not use Excel since he's already comfortable with it?
Quote:
Originally posted by ratbastid
Are you really sure that a database is the thing he needs? The data you describe would work well in a spreadsheet, and some clever sorting would probably work in place of database queries. Especially given he's already proficient in Excel...

A lot of times my clients will tell me they need X when they really need Y. It's part of my job to gently convince them otherwise.
Great minds and all that good stuff.
__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.
onetime2 is offline  
 

Tags
business, database, small

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:47 PM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360