G
Guest
BACKGROUND INFO:
We have a software company that allows potential users to download and
pre-try our software. When someone fills out a webform we place their info
(name, address, email, etc) in a single table ("entryTable") in access. We
then forward their information to the regional re-sellers in their part of
the world (a list of 1-10 individuals). The names and email for the
re-sellers is in a 2nd table ("resellers"). The regions are recorded in a 3rd
table "salesRegions".
MY QUESTION:
I have a giant list of emails in Outlook which record the manual forwarding
of downloader information to resellers. We currently have no way to
enter/track that information in our database.
What I envision is a form that has a field where I can search for an email
from an already entered downloader and select a region. This would trigger a
list of resellers in that area (maybe with check boxes?) that I could select.
(Because resellers change, it seems important to link downloaders directly to
the current individual resellers rather than just their region.) The form
would also have a field to record the date the info was forwarded and a notes
field to capture any thing unusual about the transaction (for example - if
the downloader was a person of particular interest). Ideally, the same form
might be used to track further correspondence to, from and about the
downloader.
If this is a good approach how would I do it? I'm having trouble visualizing
how fields that track the dates of contact back & forth would look. Right now
I can only think of a series of fields (lamely) "date_1st_contact_from_us"
"date_1st_contact_from_them"
"date_2nd_contact_from_us""date_2nd_contact_from_them"
When I go further than that imagining a table or series of tables that link
the resellers with the downloaders and record a series of dates and notes -
it's like the 3 stooges ("you try to think and nothing happens").
DAMMIT JIM - I'M A WEBDESIGNER NOT A DB ADMIN:
In the moment, I would be very grateful if anyone can step me through the
process to get the resellers linked to the downloaders so I can produce the
report that our owner is asking for. As I've been reading the posts in this
forum, I notice that I am fuzzy on some of the terms (for example, I only
sort-of grasp "combo box") and I have no idea where or how to "input code" so
it would be impossible to insult me by over-explaining or using baby steps.
To put it bluntly - when it comes to access, I'm definitely ignorant and
might possibly be stupid.
In the medium term, I would like to outsource this sort of stuff if I can
find someone trustworthy, competent and reasonably affordable.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND WHINING:
Through banging and dumb luck I have come up with a form that works pretty
well for entering downloaders ("entryForm"). For example, I got the entryForm
fields to suggest completions based on previous data. This was the result of
a fortunate dinking around with queries on one highly caffeinated morning,
and I've just been copying and pasting the field and adjusting its properties
since. In short, I have no idea what I did, or how to reproduce it and I'm
nervous about making changes.
It's tedious to enter each email by hand into the above form and I
frequently fall behind, so....My current work flow is to parse the Outlook
forms into notetab pro, then into excel then copy and paste the data into
entryTable. (On a separate issue my access will no longer import from excel
and reregistering the dlls doesn't work :S) A requirement that each
downloader have a unique email keeps me from duplicating records. (Sort
of...the Chinese, in particular seem to have multiple email addys) In a
perfect world this would be an automated process from the forms that come in
to Outlook from our website.
Since I started pasting, access started giving me a table called
"PasteErrors" which is a bonus, since I can then go and manually note in the
record that this individual has asked for a 2nd/3rd download and pass this
info onto the reseller. This data goes into the notes field - which seems
really sub-optimal.. All this I'm willing to limp along with, but we're
blowing it by not capturing/tracking what happens to the downloaders once
they're in our database.
Thanks
Diane Meriwether
Biomechanics Research Group
www.lifemodeler.com
(e-mail address removed)
We have a software company that allows potential users to download and
pre-try our software. When someone fills out a webform we place their info
(name, address, email, etc) in a single table ("entryTable") in access. We
then forward their information to the regional re-sellers in their part of
the world (a list of 1-10 individuals). The names and email for the
re-sellers is in a 2nd table ("resellers"). The regions are recorded in a 3rd
table "salesRegions".
MY QUESTION:
I have a giant list of emails in Outlook which record the manual forwarding
of downloader information to resellers. We currently have no way to
enter/track that information in our database.
What I envision is a form that has a field where I can search for an email
from an already entered downloader and select a region. This would trigger a
list of resellers in that area (maybe with check boxes?) that I could select.
(Because resellers change, it seems important to link downloaders directly to
the current individual resellers rather than just their region.) The form
would also have a field to record the date the info was forwarded and a notes
field to capture any thing unusual about the transaction (for example - if
the downloader was a person of particular interest). Ideally, the same form
might be used to track further correspondence to, from and about the
downloader.
If this is a good approach how would I do it? I'm having trouble visualizing
how fields that track the dates of contact back & forth would look. Right now
I can only think of a series of fields (lamely) "date_1st_contact_from_us"
"date_1st_contact_from_them"
"date_2nd_contact_from_us""date_2nd_contact_from_them"
When I go further than that imagining a table or series of tables that link
the resellers with the downloaders and record a series of dates and notes -
it's like the 3 stooges ("you try to think and nothing happens").
DAMMIT JIM - I'M A WEBDESIGNER NOT A DB ADMIN:
In the moment, I would be very grateful if anyone can step me through the
process to get the resellers linked to the downloaders so I can produce the
report that our owner is asking for. As I've been reading the posts in this
forum, I notice that I am fuzzy on some of the terms (for example, I only
sort-of grasp "combo box") and I have no idea where or how to "input code" so
it would be impossible to insult me by over-explaining or using baby steps.
To put it bluntly - when it comes to access, I'm definitely ignorant and
might possibly be stupid.
In the medium term, I would like to outsource this sort of stuff if I can
find someone trustworthy, competent and reasonably affordable.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND WHINING:
Through banging and dumb luck I have come up with a form that works pretty
well for entering downloaders ("entryForm"). For example, I got the entryForm
fields to suggest completions based on previous data. This was the result of
a fortunate dinking around with queries on one highly caffeinated morning,
and I've just been copying and pasting the field and adjusting its properties
since. In short, I have no idea what I did, or how to reproduce it and I'm
nervous about making changes.
It's tedious to enter each email by hand into the above form and I
frequently fall behind, so....My current work flow is to parse the Outlook
forms into notetab pro, then into excel then copy and paste the data into
entryTable. (On a separate issue my access will no longer import from excel
and reregistering the dlls doesn't work :S) A requirement that each
downloader have a unique email keeps me from duplicating records. (Sort
of...the Chinese, in particular seem to have multiple email addys) In a
perfect world this would be an automated process from the forms that come in
to Outlook from our website.
Since I started pasting, access started giving me a table called
"PasteErrors" which is a bonus, since I can then go and manually note in the
record that this individual has asked for a 2nd/3rd download and pass this
info onto the reseller. This data goes into the notes field - which seems
really sub-optimal.. All this I'm willing to limp along with, but we're
blowing it by not capturing/tracking what happens to the downloaders once
they're in our database.
Thanks
Diane Meriwether
Biomechanics Research Group
www.lifemodeler.com
(e-mail address removed)