FE Security for Linked Tables & purpose of Shortcut

[JAG11300]

Hello

I’ve been reading and reading and I believe I’m more confused now than I was
when I began my hunt for information. I apologize in advance for the length
of this, but I want to fully explain my dilemma.

I consider myself at a lower-intermediate level with Access. I’m currently
using Access 2003 and am running XP as my OS.

I’ve created numerous databases to provide tons of wonderful information to
my little group. Essentially, here’s what I have:

One main database (I’ll refer to it as Database A) that houses all of our
raw monthly data.
- A simple database password is all that is used for it
- Data is loaded into here via Monarch
- Basically it’s the back end to everything we do

Multiple other databases performing various tasks, queries, reports, etc…
- These all have links to some or all of the tables in Database A
- Basically these are all just different front ends for Database A
- All have security created ny way of the User Level Security Wizard
- Everyone accessing these databases currently has either Read-Only
or Admin permissions

All of the databases are presently saved on the network.

For the first time, I needed to create a database that would allow users to
insert/delete/edit data in a few tables that would be stored locally (in the
new database). The queries take the data in these tables and look it up
against one of the linked tables from Database A depending on the selections
on the form. I thought this would be cake. As usual, I referred to our
trusty User Level Security Wizard (ULSW). I did everything the same as usual
with the exception of deselecting the local tables on the first screen. This
would allow the users to ‘play’ in the local tables, but keep my linked
tables secure.

All looked great. Everyone’s shortcuts routed them to the correct place
with the correct security settings. I even asked one person with Read-Only
rights try to mess things up and no problems were had. I was a happy camper.
That was until I realized that I wasn’t as brilliant as I thought. I had a
‘DUH!’ moment when I realized that this wouldn’t work. If more than one
person is in the database, they have the potential to overwrite the data
another person has entered for lookup and vice versa.

That’s when I reached out to my favorite resource and teaching tool: The MS
Discussion Groups. Based on what I’ve read, I need to do a separate Front
End for each user. My question is how do I do that while keeping my linked
tables locked down tighter than Fort Knox? If I’m supposed to actually put a
FE on each machine, how do they access it? I’m used to providing the ULSW
generated Shortcut to the users and it handles everything. Would I put a
(FE) database and shortcut on each person’s PC?? Forgive me, but I am quite
confused. Please feel free to assume that I know nothing and write to me in
a way that my 8-year-old could understand. I will not be offended. You
all are the experts!!!

Thank you for taking the time to read such a LONG post!
-- Juli --

 

[JAG11300]

First of all, thank you for being brave enough to read my post. I know
it was LONG!

Second, thank you for the response!! I’m rather impatient. So, I toyed
around with things yesterday and was able to get everything in working order.
I wanted to remove my question, but wasn’t sure how to do that either.
Yesterday was not a shining moment in my life. haha

I did as you suggested and gave each user their own FE mdb (stored on their
local drives). I just used the original mdw file I created for their
shortcuts to route through. All is working perfectly.

I greatly appreciate your time and assistance. With this being my first
attempt at creating a more ‘interactive’ database, I’m sure I still have
plenty to learn. Thank you, again.

-- Juli --