New to the whole DB world

[freddy]

I am a desktop support person and I have a vbscript to inventory all the
computers on the network. I use the script to gather information like
username, memory, hard drive space, and I am thinking about getting installed
software. I have the script writing to an excel file, which is ok for now. I
would like to use Access 2003 but my problem is the design. Do I create one
table and have a field for username, computer name, memory, and so on or do I
create more than one table like for username and one for computername. Plus
how do I handle the installed software?
My idea was to have three tables: one for username which will have full
name, one for computername which will have all the computer stuff like
memory, hd, etc and one for software which will have software name, version,
installed date, etc. Please someone help me out.

Thanks
Freddt

 

[Bernard Peek]

My idea was to have three tables: one for username which will have full
name, one for computername which will have all the computer stuff like
memory, hd, etc and one for software which will have software name, version,
installed date, etc. Please someone help me out.

That's a plausible starting point but it will pay you to do some
groundwork with the traditional HB pencil and a large sheet of paper.
Don't forget the eraser, you will need it.

Start by plotting all of the entities on your paper, those are the types
of things that your system will know about. Machines will be there but
you may need to separate them into groups, for instance by physical
location. If so then locations will be another entity.

Once you have the entities, sketch in the relationships between them.
One location has many machines so draw a 1:many arrow from Locations to
Machines. The traditional format is a line with a crows-foot symbol at
the many end.

Now start detailing what attributes each entity has. That's the data
that your system needs to know about each instance of that entity. One
of those data items, or a combination of them, will uniquely identify
each instance of that entity. That attribute, or combination of
attributes becomes the Key of the entity. At this stage you shouldn't be
thinking about a Primary Key.

Put all of this design onto a clean sheet of paper, with the entities
arranged in some logical fashion. Go fishing for the weekend.

Come back and see whether the design still makes sense.

Now you can start turning each of those entities into an Access table.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I am a desktop support person and I have a vbscript to inventory all the
computers on the network. I use the script to gather information like
username, memory, hard drive space, and I am thinking about getting installed
software. I have the script writing to an excel file, which is ok for now. I
would like to use Access 2003 but my problem is the design. Do I create one
table and have a field for username, computer name, memory, and so on or do I
create more than one table like for username and one for computername. Plus
how do I handle the installed software?
My idea was to have three tables: one for username which will have full
name, one for computername which will have all the computer stuff like
memory, hd, etc and one for software which will have software name, version,
installed date, etc. Please someone help me out.

Thanks
Freddt

You'll need more tables than that - in particular, you'll want one table for
Software (with one record each for Microsoft Word 2007, Zork-1, etc.), and
another table for SoftwareInstalled, with links to the table of computers and
the table of software, and fields for date installed, etc.

Here are some resources to get started. The tutorials at the end of the list
may be particularly helpful:

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

 

[jacksonmacd]

I know this is an Access newsgroup, and you are looking for an Access
answer, but have you considered that you might be reinventing the
wheel? Perhaps an off-the-shelf solution like Spiceworks
(spiceworks.com) might save you a lot of work.

But then again, you might be looking to improve your Access skills.

PS. I have no affiliation with Spiceworks or any other similar
software.

 

[Fred]

All of the given answer are good.

If you want help going the "make an Access DB" route, then start doing what
the first 3 respondents have said and, if you need/ could use help, repost,
telling us your answers are to the question posed in those responses.

 

[freddy]

The problem is that the company does not want to spend money.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Oho! Willing to spend people's time/salary, but not willing to purchase
software or hire expertise...?

Best of luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Why?

If you already have the data going into Excel, what is it that you expect
Access will do that Excel isn't doing?

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

 

[jacksonmacd]

Spiceworks is free.

The problem is that the company does not want to spend money.