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Job Description Manager build in Access?

Anonymous
2015-08-23T23:42:05+00:00

I'm being tasked with rebuilding job descriptions for our company.  We have over 50 departments each with at least 5 different positions needing different job descriptions.  I've been looking for a job description manager solution, but every vendor I speak to is telling me that I want is what Access can do and their software cannot. 

I'm looking to build the job descriptions around core competencies.  There will be a master list of core competencies that will be pulled for various positions.  Instead of having to copy/paste or retype each and every job description, I hope to have a system to where I can select a few core competencies and they will populate on the job description.

Example:

Counselor Job Description:

Core Competencies:

 (Here I would select the 4-5 competencies and a bullet list would appear below them, a similar position in a different department would have a slightly different list of competencies, but again just selecting the title of the competency would populate the list)

Does this make sense???

Sorry, I'm not that knowledgeable about Access, but have a college professor friend who teaches an Access class who is helping me learn the program. 

I'm open to all questions and ideas about this one!

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  1. ScottGem 68,810 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-08-24T17:17:40+00:00

    I'm not that surprised it hasn't been developed. HR has not always been upfront in adopting new technology.

    I doubt if this would be difficult for an experienced Access developer, but it may have some gotchas and you seem to have plenty of time.

    I don't see any reason this cannot be easily adapted to performance reviews. You would add a table of questions:

    tblQuestion

    QuestionID (PK Autonumber)

    Question

    JobDescriptionID (FK)

    Or if question can apply to more than one description add:

    tjxJobQuestion

    JobQuestionID (PK Autonumber)

    QuestionID (FK)

    JobDescriptionID (FK)

    Leave the FK out of the Questions table.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-08-24T17:02:43+00:00

    The process for the requirements and sign-off has already been developed, it's just the production and distribution I'm trying to figure out.  We have I/T staff at our company that have developed reports in Access before, but are no longer fans of the software.

    Could you explain the statement, "designing forms and reports?"  Is that part of the putting the cart in front of the horse or another reason?

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-24T16:58:57+00:00

    Great, thank you.  It's great to hear that someone else was thinking about this.   Overall, it would be perfect if not only the job description was run through the database with the relationships you listed, but would also be used for an employee evaluation process where the questions would have a relationship to the same competencies.  This way the evaluations would directly relate to the job descriptions and be specific to the work being done by the position in the department.  

    I'm surprised this hasn't already been developed or at least a template floating around.  

    I am seeing this becoming a lot of up-front work with what would hopefully be a very easy to use end product.  I thankfully have until the end of March to have a final product.  If not in Access it may have to be copy/pasted into Word which is why I'm trying to find a way to not do this manually.  

    Thank you for the feedback.

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  4. ScottGem 68,810 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-08-24T12:20:56+00:00

    I've been pushing my HR dept to request such a database. So I've been thinking about one. 

    I'm a little unclear of your requirement here. It sounds like you need the following tables:

    tblJobDescription

    JobDescriptionID (PK Autonumber)

    JobTitle

    TextDescription

    ...

    tblCoreCompetencies

    CoreCompID (PK Autonumber)

    CoreCompetency

    tjxJobComp

    JobCompID PK Autonumber)

    JobDescriptionId (FK)

    CoreCompID (FK)

    DeptID (FK)

    tluDepartments

    DeptID (PK autonumber)

    Department

    tjxJobDept

    JobDeptID (PK Autonumber)

    JobDescriptionID (FK)

    DeptID (FK)

    It appears you have many to many relationships between your description and depts and between descriptions and competencies. The tjx tables are junction tables that model those relationships.

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  5. Tom van Stiphout 40,201 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-08-23T23:55:09+00:00

    That's a very broad question, so you will get broad answers.

    The first things you should work on are:

    * Defining the requirements, documenting them, discussing them with stakeholders and getting sign-off.

    * Design the database that fits these requirements.

    The things you should NOT work on include:

    * Entering data into tables

    * Designing forms and reports.

    Frankly, this is a lot to take on as a beginner, but maybe you can hire your mentor on a part time basis. Access is not a tool where you can just click-click crank out an application in a few afternoons. This will require a serious commitment.

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