Creating a database

[Guest]

I have been assigned two tasks which I hope can be accomplished by using MS
Office. I am new to all of the programs in the suite except for Frontpage,
and need advice on how to accomplish my assigned duties.
First, we have a supplier who’s website we download and update with our
own pricing information. Presently we do this manually, but want to setup a
database that will take certain data from the supplier’s website, update it
and put it in a format that can be used on our website. For example: If we
markup supplier pricing 15%, can I make a database that would take the
supplier’s prices from their website, add our markup, and put the new pricing
into a table that can be used on our version of the website?
The second task involves taking a volume of information from web
searches and organizing it into a database that can be searched according to
a number of criteria.
For example, we do a websearch for banks with mortgage programs for
individuals with certain credit scores or income levels. We want to place
the information into a table that loan officer’s can use to help borrowers
find the right mortgage for their particular situation. The loan office can
then search the database for loan program by income, loan type, housing type
requested, etc. Unlike the first situation, the results of our websearch
change daily and the time required to update this information manually is
daunting.
Am I on the right track here? Can the MS Office suite be used to
accomplish these tasks?

Thanks,

 

[Larry Daugherty]

The answer to your first question is "Yes", use an update query.

Access is the correct tool to use for everything you've mentioned. However,
it has a steep learning curve. To most people seeing it for the first few
times or scanning the images in a text book it looks like Excel. If they
try to use it like Excel they become frustrated. Expect to spend several
months learning about relational databases and the goodies that come with
Access as you build your first applications. If you need this stuff to work
right away you'd do well to hire an Access expert to get the job done for
you.

HTH