Database Project - Microsoft Access

Hello everybody,

Today I am going to tell you about my database project experience. This week I had to optimize a database for a gym. First of all I had to import the data of the gym's members from a text file into Access. 

Picture 1: Importing text in Microsoft Access

On this picture you see how it looks like when you import text. Fortunately, the text was already formatted with delimiters, characters in a text file that separate fields, for example a comma or a semicolon. So it was easy to import the text and Access already recognized the correct record and field sizes and data types. A really useful function of Access.

The next step in the project was to build a query that only returns those members of the gym with individual membership types and have left the gym within the last six months. 

Picture 2: Creating a query in Microsoft Access

 Building a query is also very intuitive and lets you easily display only desired parts of a database without having to sort it all out by yourself. Imagine the work you would have to do if it is a huge database. So again this part of the project taught me a valuable lesson.

The next two steps were creating a form and a report. Pictures 3 and 4 show how that looks like.

Picture 3: Creating a form in Microsoft Access

Picture 4: Creating a report in Microsoft Access

A form is a good way to display a database to users. It is in essence a nice user interface and lets you determine which fields can be changed and which ones are read only for example. Furthermore you can omit certain fields. Users can e.g. easily add new members to the database using a form.

The report is an illustrative tool. Using this function, one can quickly make a printout of the database, sorting it in a certain way and modifying its appearance.

One important issue with having huge databases is security. Especially in an example like this, a gym with a lot of customers, data security is extremely important. Penalties imposed on violators are potentially huge and the loss of reputation will most probably drive such a business out of the market. One solution to this is using a secure SQL server for data storage and MS Access only as the front end.

Her you'll find an article about Access as a front end to a SQL database.

In summary I can say that this project again taught me many useful things. Especially Access is a software within the Microsoft Office suite that I did not use for a long time. It is very important to have the basic skills in Access because most employers will demand that from their future employees. So, thanks Computing in the Business Environment course for teaching me something useful again!

Thanks for reading!

Best,


Funky Fred

Sources:

All images are screen captures from my computer.