How to Develop a Data Base in Access Vs. Sequel Server

You need the right information to set up your database

Both Microsoft Access and SQL (formerly known as Sequel) Server are popular database programs, but many people find Access a lot easier to learn and use. Microsoft Access provides a number of user-friendly tools and wizards to make creating tables, building queries and entering data easier. Even so, it is necessary to prepare carefully before developing and building your Microsoft Access database. It is important to get the user specifications up front and use those specs as guidelines for building the database structure.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Tablet
• Microsoft Access

Instructions

1. Set up regular meetings with the management team and with those who will actually be using the finished database. It is important to get the input of the end users, since they will be the ones actually entering the data.

2. Bring a tablet with you to the meeting and sketch out the fields you will need. Be sure to ask the managers and users which fields they think they will need, and how long each field should be. It is much easier to build a field with the right size from the start than go back and try to expand the it later on.

3. Determine which field should be the primary key for the database. The primary key is a field that all database records will contain and having that primary key defined makes searching the database and manipulating data easier. For a list of employees, the primary key may be the employee ID or Social Security number. For a list of products, the primary key could be the product number or stock number.

4. Open Microsoft Access and click on the "Tables" tab. Choose "Create Table in Design View" and type your list of field names. Be sure to choose the proper data type for each field. For instance, a price field should use the "Currency" data type, while an address field would be "Text."

5. Save the table with a descriptive name, then go to the "Forms" tab and start building your data entry form. The easiest way to create a new form is with the wizard option. Simply start the wizard and choose the table you just created, choose the fields you want to display and click "Finish."

References

• Microsoft Support: Creating and Working with Databases and Objects