Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Microsoft Access - Work Smarter, Not Harder

There are some things in life that one must work hard at - such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, there are somethings that can be accomplished by working smarter - and Microsoft Access can help bring that efficiency to the forefront.
Five years ago - almost- when I started in my role as the High School Distance Learning Instructor, there was paper everywhere! It was a generational difference, as the person running the program was getting close to retirement and I respected her need for paper-based items. Slowly, I moved toward a more paper-reduced program (due to the nature of High School Distance Learning we can't go entirely paperless). I began by moving our log book into MS Excel (it just counted the number of students). Next, I made the registration process easier on me by putting labels on the top of columns in excel. Once we'd transitioned for a year and my colleague said her final good-bye, I planned for the next move toward less paper - a database.
Between self-teaching and help from a resident expert, I never attended a Microsoft Access class until last night - and my life at the end of each quarter just got easier! I had figured out the basics of tables, forms, and queries; but, I did not know that I could easily generate a report with a few mouse clicks. Now, I can run a report that summarizes all the information that I would spend between 8 & 10 hours on manually and I have saved myself time and am working smarter.

Image from iClipart for Schools

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