Access Asset Tracking Database

Question

I am trying to create an asset tracking database where I can input all my assets and easily search for them. I have tried using the asset tracking template, but there are many things I need to change about it and every time I make a small change, it messes up the whole database. I have tried watching youtube videos to create my own database from scratch, but they do not show everything. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks!

Answer 1

Any template is very unlikely to give the precise functionality which you or anyone else would find ideal, so you either have to compromise and accept the limitations of the template, amend it as necessary, or build your own application.

If the template's logical model, i.e. the set of tables and relationships between them represents an accurate model of the reality which you want to model, but the interface differs radically,  then you could adopt the template's model and design your own interface.  You could easily make trivial amendments to the model, e.g. the addition of columns to tables to represent attributes of the entity type in question which are not currently reflected in the template's tables.  You could even make modest amendments to the structure of the model, e.g. the introduction of an additional table to model a many-to-many relationship type between two or more entity types, where the relationship type is currently one-to-many.

As regards designing the interface you will need the necessary skills to do this.  Access is, after all, a development environment, not an end-user application.  Viewing YouTube videos is unlikely to be enough in itself; you will need to have, or be prepared to gain, sufficient knowledge of the principles and methodologies for developing relational database applications in Access.  It cannot be denied that the learning curve is not shallow.  The methodologies used in the design of the template's interface might well give you a useful start, but again you'll need to be able to deconstruct these and adapt them to your own requirements.

You will of course have access to a substantial body of expertise here and in similar forums as you develop your application.  I'd suggest four basic ground-rules to keep you on the straight and narrow:

1.  KISS (Keep it simple, stupid!).

2.  When in a hole the first thing to do is stop digging.

3.  Always take account of Murphy's Law: 'If something can go wrong, it will go wrong'

4.  Always follow the advice given by Richard Feynman to his students: 'Don't write it down until you understand it'.

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