It was quite easy to produce tables and reports as outputs in Access. When I selected what query I wanted to use I then decided which fields I wanted to display in my output designs. This was easy as all I had to do was 'tick' or 'untick' the 'show' row in the query 'design view'. These made my output results clearer and contain only the information that I was searching for. It was easy to see what the table looked like by simply clicking on the datasheet view in the top left of the screen.
Producing, forms and reports were easy because Microsoft Access has ‘wizards’ which take you stop my stop through the processes. It helped me with such things like – how to design my output, what layout, what information I wanted to be displayed, what title I wanted to use and in what format I wanted my output to be in (Tables, records). Buttons and Macros were also easy to design as they also had ‘wizards’ to help you, and they also let you decide when designing the buttons which macros, forms or queries you want to use, and I could decide where I wanted the button to take me to e.g. next record, a welcome page. It was easy to see how outputs would look like with the ‘design view’ in Access. It was easy to change what the output looked like because I could change the appearance of the information e.g. font size, colour. It was easy to create the different fields because I could choose what information I wanted to insert in them. I could easily choose what I wanted other people to type into the fields as well, by setting up simple validation rules e.g. Maximum number of characters 15.’
It was quite easy to produce tables and reports as outputs in Access. When I selected what query I wanted to use I then decided which fields I wanted to display in my output designs. This was easy as all I had to do was ‘tick’ or ‘untick’ the ‘show’ row in the query ‘design view’. These made my output results clearer and contain only the information that I was searching for. It was easy to see what the table looked like by simply clicking on the datasheet view in the top left of the screen.
I could see my tables just by clicking on the design view. Producing reports was quite easy to do, I could chose which queries I wanted to use in the report, and by using the ‘show’ row again, I could decide which field results I wanted to show. Reports were very easy to design because of the ‘wizard’ that was provided. I could choose the layout i.e. whether I wanted my results in tabular, columnar, or justified, what design I wanted etc. I could choose if I wanted any grouping which could maybe made the report easier to read. I could also sort some of the fields to make it easier for users to work with, and I could chose which orientation I thought looked best for the page e.g. portrait, landscape. I could also change the title of the report to whatever I decided. With reports I could easily designed the way they looked my going into design view. In this I had three sections, header, footer and main section. I could put information in all three sections. The results were automatically put into the main section. In the design view I could easily move these around and co ordinate the page as I liked because it was just like moving graphics around a normal page. I could also delete some fields and change the order of them. I could change what text I could have in the text boxes and change the orientation of the whole page. I could also choose different colours and fonts etc for the writing, text boxes and background. I could do all of these things in records as well, but with the records I could use one page for just one persons information rather than having all information set out on one page. I could also revert from welcome pages to different records and use buttons to direct me from one record to the next etc.
Looking at the original design and the final piece, there are many difference, in fact I have basically changed the whole design. But I feel that it has been a successful move and was definitely not done immediately. It took many steps to improve upon the previous versions and printouts, but as I said, I feel that this has been a good move.
I feel that I have covered all areas available to me in the project and have used most of my computer skills to produce it. I am very pleased with its outcome and the comments made by people on the publication. I think by printing out copies of the publication as I went along helped me to see mistakes and therefore put them right. You will see the step-by-step route I took by looking in the implementing design section, where I have shown in detail how I managed to get to my final piece. If I were to extend on the piece I would have to think carefully as to what was wanted by the school or a similar school so that this could then be added. I was pleased with the pictures and the text and the layout of the publication and would not change any of the immediate layouts. I feel that although the pictures were effective I could have used scanners and widened my range of skills shown during the process of producing the publication. This would also have made the publication look more professional.
Overall I think Microsoft Access was the correct program to complete my work in, it had many good features which helped me throughout my project and was easy and simple to use after I had learnt the basics. I tried to please the user by putting their thoughts before mine and ultimately it was efficient enough to get the needed tasks done. The user of the database also told me that they had liked my idea and wouldn't consider changing back to pen and paper methods. This means that the main objective was achieved - to change the original paper and pen method to an easier to use database.
Common functions of a database:
The second part of this Task will be carried out in Microsoft Word
Mail Merge letters are letters that are written to save time and energy. They save time for the secretary so they can get on with other work. They are a set letter that only has to be changed in a few areas, such as a few words i.e. names, addresses, courses and venues and so on. The Mail Merge letter that I produced was specifically for students who have been accepted or rejected for a particular course. The letter is produced using a word processing pram and blanks are left where the data, usually from the database, is inserted. The letter is written and the proposed data is inserted. The data has been inserted from the source data; this is from the produced query from my database. The query that has been produced are ‘qryAcceptance’ for those who have been accepted for a particular course and ‘qryRejection’ for those who have been rejected for their chosen course.
Overall I think Microsoft Word was the correct program to complete my work in, it had many good features which helped me throughout my project and was straightforward and simplistic to use after I adapted to the features. I tried to please the user by putting their thoughts before mine and ultimately it was efficient enough to get the needed tasks done.
Common functions of a word processor:
Penultimately, I would recommend to anyone who is using Microsoft Access to have worked with a ‘paper-based system’ such as MS Access because it requires a lot of thought from the user and it will be difficult to pin-point an aspect for an inexperienced beginner. However, for a user to use Microsoft Word it will be straightforward using features such as: bold, underline italics etc. Thus, they must be very cautious when they are using the ‘mail-merge’ because the process is achieved by a step-by-step method and the slightest of mistakes can take the user off the significant criteria – So they have to pay attention to their preceding action.
I enjoyed working with these packages – MS Word and MS Access; because I feel that I have learnt a lot more concepts of what the packages are capable of producing. I would be most obliged if I have to work on such a sophisticated package in the aftermath.