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#1
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Should I use Access or Excel?
I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand?
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#2
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Should I use Access or Excel?
Until you get fairly experienced, I'd say try it both ways on a few and see
which is easier. Think about the work to build a database vs. a spreadsheet and the amount of work to enter data. Is this offset by the report capabilities, more flexible sharing of data, and being able to build quick ad-hoc queries? Also, think about data structure. There are many tasks out there that just aren't formatted into logical records. I really think you can accomplish most task in either application. Comfort of use and personal preference are big factors. I probably build things in Access that other might do in Excel simply because I like the extra edits and error-checking you can get in your data entry and I like the possibility to expand. On the other hand, if a user will manipulate the data often and is not familiar with Access, I may do it in Excel. I have several Excel sheets with lookups and macros and buttons to try to do what could easily be done in Access simply because the users prefer it. Rick B "Kelsey" wrote in message ... I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand? |
#3
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Should I use Access or Excel?
Probably the first priority to upgrade from Excel would be any app where
there is matching of records, not easily done in Excel, followed by sorting. The type of operation that is a manual cut-paste in Excel and a "join" in Access. |
#4
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Should I use Access or Excel?
Excellent question! Good points made by all so far, and
you'll likely get more. I often decide based on whether the application is for "history" or for looking at the "big picture". If you want to keep records, use Access. If you want to see what's going on at the moment, use Excel. If you keep 1000's of records, Access is definitely better because of Excel's limitation on rows. I like Excel's graphics capability much better than Access. If you use a lot of charts and graphs, Excel is better, in my experience. Sorting of records is much easier in Access, although both Excel and Access have powerful record filtering capability. Don't forget that you can go back and forth. I have one case where the main data base table, in Access, is thousands of records long, each record with over a hundred fields. Users want to see limited subsets of these records in a nice report or in a spreadsheet. A nice set of utility queries tailored to your user's various needs and set up on a user switchboard can spit out the needed info into a spreadsheet at the press of a button. And this approach is super-useful with parameter input built into the query criteria fields (user-selection of start and end dates, specific text, specific departments/regions, etc.) Conversely, if you have a large, well-formed spreadsheet (nice uniform content with meaningful headers for each column) it's simple to import it into Access As Rick B points out, try things out. Very small data sets can probably work well in both apps. It's when your record sets get large and varied and when preservation of record information is the dominant requirement that Access begins to make more sense. Good luck. -----Original Message----- I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand? . |
#5
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Should I use Access or Excel?
For what it's worth, I'm with HCJ on this -- go by what you want the
particular application to do. I keep all the data in Access, partly because I want the flexibility that a relational rather than a flat database gives me, partly because it's so much easier to sort data in Access than in Excel and partly because if you're storing data in properly normalised tables you can't start duplicating data, which, if you do, is the road to a nervous breakdown because you're got to worry about keeping it synchronised. Excel and Access work perfectly happily together, and it just seems to me so much easier to pull out from Access the data that you want to use Excel's number-crunching power on and then to analyse it in Excel. Steve |
#6
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Should I use Access or Excel?
I'm also with hcj on this when he said "If you want to keep records, use Access.
If you want to see what's going on at the moment, use Excel." Also keep in mind that as another responder pointed out that integrated applications can be created that utilize Access and Excel in the same application. These applications can be very synergystic creating efficiencies that are much better than using either program on its own. To answer your question "Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand?", I am in business to provide customers with a resource for help with Access, Excel and Word applications. If you would like my help, contact me at my email address below. -- PC Datasheet Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications www.pcdatasheet.com "Kelsey" wrote in message ... I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand? |
#7
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Should I use Access or Excel?
Yeah, we know. You advertise almost daily. To us who
frequent the boards, it gets old fast. Grumpy Troll (Have to work late tonight) -----Original Message----- I'm also with hcj on this when he said "If you want to keep records, use Access. If you want to see what's going on at the moment, use Excel." Also keep in mind that as another responder pointed out that integrated applications can be created that utilize Access and Excel in the same application. These applications can be very synergystic creating efficiencies that are much better than using either program on its own. To answer your question "Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand?", I am in business to provide customers with a resource for help with Access, Excel and Word applications. If you would like my help, contact me at my email address below. -- PC Datasheet Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications www.pcdatasheet.com "Kelsey" wrote in message ... I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand? . |
#8
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Should I use Access or Excel?
From the "Rules of Conduct" for these newsgroups:
Advertising/Solicitation: These communities were created as a forum for providing peer-to-peer assistance on Microsoft products and services. We ask that you refrain from posting advertisements or solicitations that do not pertain directly to the intended use and purpose of the newsgroup or chat. My interpretation of the above is that if someone were to offer services for a fee, then that makes the 'assistance' no longer "peer-to-peer" but rather "seller-to-buyer" and therefore no longer pertaining directly to the intended use and purpose of the newsgroup. (Heard in the background -- "But Wait!! that's not all. For the low price of just a couple o' hundred bucks you get.....") ----- Troll wrote: ----- Yeah, we know. You advertise almost daily. To us who frequent the boards, it gets old fast. Grumpy Troll (Have to work late tonight) -----Original Message----- I'm also with hcj on this when he said "If you want to keep records, use Access. If you want to see what's going on at the moment, use Excel." Also keep in mind that as another responder pointed out that integrated applications can be created that utilize Access and Excel in the same application. These applications can be very synergystic creating efficiencies that are much better than using either program on its own. To answer your question "Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand?", I am in business to provide customers with a resource for help with Access, Excel and Word applications. If you would like my help, contact me at my email address below. -- PC Datasheet Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications www.pcdatasheet.com "Kelsey" wrote in message ... I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand? . |
#9
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Should I use Access or Excel?
Quote:
newsgroup. So do we still have to listen to a mediocre developer trying to peddle his "advice" for a fee? Grumpy Troll (Have to face traffic in a few minutes) -----Original Message----- From the "Rules of Conduct" for these newsgroups: Advertising/Solicitation: These communities were created as a forum for providing peer-to-peer assistance on Microsoft products and services. We ask that you refrain from posting advertisements or solicitations that do not pertain directly to the intended use and purpose of the newsgroup or chat. My interpretation of the above is that if someone were to offer services for a fee, then that makes the 'assistance' no longer "peer-to-peer" but rather "seller-to-buyer" and therefore no longer pertaining directly to the intended use and purpose of the newsgroup. (Heard in the background -- "But Wait!! that's not all. For the low price of just a couple o' hundred bucks you get.....") ----- Troll wrote: ----- Yeah, we know. You advertise almost daily. To us who frequent the boards, it gets old fast. Grumpy Troll (Have to work late tonight) -----Original Message----- I'm also with hcj on this when he said "If you want to keep records, use Access. If you want to see what's going on at the moment, use Excel." Also keep in mind that as another responder pointed out that integrated applications can be created that utilize Access and Excel in the same application. These applications can be very synergystic creating efficiencies that are much better than using either program on its own. To answer your question "Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand?", I am in business to provide customers with a resource for help with Access, Excel and Word applications. If you would like my help, contact me at my email address below. -- PC Datasheet Your Resource For Help With Access, Excel And Word Applications www.pcdatasheet.com "Kelsey" wrote in message news:AFAAF234-BE6C-4753-B6B8- ... I work in a company where Access is just starting to be utilized... and now all of a sudden everyone wants to use it. Since I am one of the few people with some experience (albeit limited!) I am being asked to look at their existing methods (often Excel) to see if Access can create greater efficiencies. Clearly if there is a great deal of statistical work I would use excel, and if it's a lot of data I can see Access... but many of their situations seem to be somewhere in the middle. Where can I get some help with deciding the best program for the situation at hand? . . |
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