Access for my inventory needs?

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Guest

I have just opened an amish furniture store. I am trying to find a program
that I could use to manage inventory. I've tried many programs on the net,
and I have been unsatisfied with most of them. I was working with Quickbooks
POS, but I think it has more than I need.

The problem i've been encountering is that with my business there will be
alot of custom orders. I've have a showroom with inventory, but I am not
selling inventory off the floor, everything is special ordered. And i have
catalogues of different possible items but it is not worth it to me to enter
in all the inventory possible. Rather i would like to enter it as I go.

I do not need it to handle payroll or employees or barcodes, but it does
need to have alot of freedom on the entry. This is why I figured access.
Except I am only a beginner with Access, and I tried the inventory management
template from the website but that does not seem to fit my needs. I don't
need anything with purchase orders. But being able to handle cost and
selling price and profits would be ideal. I was wondering if anyone knew of
a program that they think might work for me, and/or a template that I could
use with Access that i wouldn't have to completely modify in order to fit my
needs.

Thanks
 
Depending on your needs, you may want to consider Microsoft Excel. It's a
straight Database Program. There are no forms to contend with, you can click
on a cell to add it to a formula, and you can format the data in a number of
different ways.
Example
A B C
D
1 Item Cost Sell Price Profit
2 Chair $50 $130 $80

You can actually type in the formula in the "Profit Column" as =C2-B2 and it
will automatically subtract the cost from the sell price. Excel has a much
lower learning curve than Access does but isn't as versatile in the trade
off. Might be useful for what you're describing.
 
Charles said:
Depending on your needs, you may want to consider Microsoft Excel.
It's a straight Database Program.
Click to expand...
Excell is NOT a datbase program.

You have a complex situation and managing your inventory may be a pain.
You might want to look at MYOB, Peachtree or Just QuickBooks.

The next step up will cost you a lot of money.

All three are good but MYOB has an excellent product matrix and allows you
to build packages.
If you are not familiar with a matrix it deals with pricing things that are
pretty much the same except for color or something.
E.G. You have a cast iron drawer pull which is three inches wide and comes
in several colors.

Packages might serve your needs also. You can build an Amish Widget with
three inch knobs, four inch rollers and pine sub-widgets.

You could also do this with Access and link it to MYOB through ODBC.
It would take some time and a bit of learning but it is the easiest to link
to.

Remember also that clipboards, paper and pencils still work and may be the
best solution.
 
Yes, I was thinking something along the same lines. That is my backup plan
if i cannot get something else. However, I was hoping to be able to create
invoices. And little more customer tracking, which i could again do in
excel. But the people who will be entering this data are so to say, slightly
computer illiterate, so the more user friendly, the better.

I do like excel, and can work through makiing functions and so forth. But
I like access' forms and sub-forms.
 
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