Need Major Help!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I am trying to create a database and need major help and don't know where
to get help! I am starting an telephone answering service and would like to
create a database to manager client info, call info, invoices, etc.
I have a general idea of what I thought would work, but I am open to any
suggestions! I thought of creating a switchboard with all my clients names.
When you click on the client name you are taken to another switchboard that
would contain call log info (each call detail for that company, customer's
info who called in, whether they scheduled an appt or left a message, etc),
invoices for the client, a multi-tabbed "workbook" with the clients
information, phone lists, trouble shooting, etc. and a way to be able to
print/email a report of all the calls for one particular day or date range.
I have spent hours and hours and have gotten no where with this! Can
someone PLEASE help? If so, please email me at (e-mail address removed). I
would greatly appreciate it. If you suggest that I pay someone to set this
up for me and have a suggestion on who might be able to do this or would like
to do it yourself please contact me as well.
Gina
 
Adores,
I would strongly suggest looking for a commercial "Answering Service"
application. Search the web... there must be many products available out
there.
You wrote...
... I want to...create a database to manage client info, call info,
invoices, etc...

This is a large and daunting project even for an experienced Access
developer!

For example, folks often ask "how to create a business
accounting/checkbook application in Access"... and the majority of
responders agree... go out and buy QuickBooks, or Quicken, or MYOB. Why
"re-invent" the wheel. For under $200 bucks, you can get a fully featured,
customizable, and ready to go accounting application. It's just not worth
the effort to "grow your own."
hth
Al Camp
Candia Computer Consulting - Candia NH
http://home.comcast.net/~cccsolutions
 
First, you most likely won't get an email. That would defeat the purpose of
a public newsgroup. What if someone has a similar question next month and
finds your post? They would certainly want to see the responses.

What you are trying to do is pretty common. Have you tried to use the
templates available and then modify them to meet your needs? I would think
that the "Contact Management" template that ships with Access would do about
50% of what you want. The "Time and Billing" template would probably cover
the other 50%, plus much more.

If I were you, I'd study these two templates and combine them into one
product, I'd then modify it to meet my exact needs.

You are welcome to post back with SPECIFIC questions, and you will find tons
of folks that are happy to help you get through it.

Good Luck,
 
sounds like you are a novice Access user (no shame in that, we all started
in the same place). Access is not a quick-and-easy-to-learn program. it's a
very powerful program, more than capable of handling the tasks you
mentioned - but the learning curve is steep, and requires a substantial
investment of time and effort.

even to modify existing databases requires a certain level of skill - after
all, you don't need to understand electrical wiring to flip a light switch,
but you sure need to know what you're doing before you re-wire your house!

if you prefer to build or modify a database for yourself, rather than buying
a commercial product, suggest you learn the basics of data modeling (also
referred to as normalization), and the basics of using the software, first.
a good book on data modeling is Database Design for Mere Mortals by Michael
Hernandez. a good book on using Access is Microsoft Access <version> Bible
by Prague and Irwin. you can also find a lot of useful information via the
links at
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie/resources.html
beginning with the Starting Out and Database Design 101 links.

hth
 

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