Create a schedule database

[Guest]

My job currently uses Microsoft Outlook to keep our work schedule. We are a
24/7 operation and have 2-4 people working per shift. Shifts stay the same
for the entire quarter except for when subs are made etc. The problem we are
having is Outlook is not letting us make anymore changes to the schedule
because its at its capacity. What I would like to do is create a database
which would include employee information, and also create a schedule. Is this
possible to do in Access? Like I said the schedule stays pretty much the
same. It is updated weekly though to show sub requests, and when subs are
made. Any insight into this idea would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John Vinson]

My job currently uses Microsoft Outlook to keep our work schedule. We are a
24/7 operation and have 2-4 people working per shift. Shifts stay the same
for the entire quarter except for when subs are made etc. The problem we are
having is Outlook is not letting us make anymore changes to the schedule
because its at its capacity. What I would like to do is create a database
which would include employee information, and also create a schedule. Is this
possible to do in Access? Like I said the schedule stays pretty much the
same. It is updated weekly though to show sub requests, and when subs are
made. Any insight into this idea would be greatly appreciated.

This is quite feasible in Access. You'll need to do some careful (but
not very complex) table design, and work on the user interface; it
won't look like Outlook without quite a bit of form design, but you
should be able to come up with a user-friendly form without too much
effort.

Without knowing much about your business structure or the nature of
the scheduling, I can't be very comprehensive, but I'd expect you'll
need at least three tables:

People
PersonID Primary Key (a unique employee number, probably NOT
autonumber)
LastName
FirstName
<other info, such as phone number, other contact info>

Shifts
ShiftID
StartTime
EndTime
Description

<this may need some care for shifts that cross midnight>

ShiftAssignment
PersonID <link to People>
ShiftID <link to Shifts>
StartTime <date/time shift actually started>
EndTime <date/time ended, if needed>
<other information about this person on this shift>

John W. Vinson[MVP]