Developing a Tracking System ASAP

[AnnieM]

I need to develop a tracking system in Access that five different people will
be using. Can I develop it so that five people can get in there at the same
time and update the database? Is it better that only one person use it at a
time? Also, is there a way to prevent these people from getting into my
database tables and their relationships? I thought maybe I could use forms to
do this. Can someone let me know ASAP? Thank you.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I need to develop a tracking system in Access that five different people will
be using. Can I develop it so that five people can get in there at the same
time and update the database?

Nominally up to 255 people; in practice it's best to limit it to thirty or
forty people simultaneously updating (different records).

Is it better that only one person use it at a
time?

Not particularly.

Also, is there a way to prevent these people from getting into my
database tables and their relationships?

Yes, and you should routinely do so.

I thought maybe I could use forms to
do this.

Forms are absolutely essential user interfaces; you should never let users
even see a table.

Can someone let me know ASAP? Thank you.

Check out the resources at
Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

Roger Carlson's tutorials, samples and tips:
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/

A free tutorial written by Crystal:
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

A video how-to series by Crystal:
http://www.YouTube.com/user/LearnAccessByCrystal

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials

And if you want a fully featured tracking system ASAP (e.g. "this week" or "by
Tuesday") then someone is playing you for "a sap". Access is a complex program
with a rather steep learning curve, and developing a full-fledged Access
application will take a fair bit of time even NOT counting your necessary
learning time. It's not clear what it is that you want to track, but you might
want to do a Bing or Google search to see if there is a commercial app out
there which would meet your needs; or else prepare to spend some time working
and learning.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Databases should be built in 2 sections. A server section or back-end that
contains the data, and a front-end containing all the queries, code, forms,
and reports which resides on each user's workstation and is linked to the
data on the back-end. If you limit the forms and linked tables on your
front-end, users won't (unless they are malicious) get to the data on the
back-end.