Pros/Cons of using Outlook vs. Access

[Guest]

What would be the benefit of using Outlook vs. Access to enter students and
their personal data? I am entering all the students in our elementary school
in Outlook so that we can go 'somewhat' paperless. So, I know I need to use
Outlook for the email purposes and also for the secretary to be reminded of
the students' birthdays.

Should I create a custom form for the contact form in Outlook that they can
enter all the students' personal data too (i.e. allergies, emergency contact,
medications, etc)? Or, should this be done using Access?

I just want to know why I should use Access or if I should keep all the data
in Outlook (using a custom form)?

Thanks.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

I personally think access would be better and could hold more information
(grading, etc) - it's a true database application and has better reporting
capabilities.

 

[Guest]

I guess my only issue, and the reason for asking, is that I have to enter
these students in Outlook (for email and birthday purposes), so why double up
the work using two different programs? Or, am I missing something?

 

[John Blessing]

What would be the benefit of using Outlook vs. Access to enter students
and
their personal data? I am entering all the students in our elementary
school
in Outlook so that we can go 'somewhat' paperless. So, I know I need to
use
Outlook for the email purposes and also for the secretary to be reminded
of
the students' birthdays.

Should I create a custom form for the contact form in Outlook that they
can
enter all the students' personal data too (i.e. allergies, emergency
contact,
medications, etc)? Or, should this be done using Access?

I just want to know why I should use Access or if I should keep all the
data
in Outlook (using a custom form)?

Thanks.

Bite the bullet now and do it the right way - using Access or some other
database.

It will require more technical expertise to do a proper job and to fully use
its extra features (reporting etc.) You can easily export from it to a list
which can be used for mailing purposes. But at least you won't waste time
on producing something in Outlook that you will eventually have to throw
away.

Set it as a project for your computer studies department <g>


--
John Blessing

http://www.LbeHelpdesk.com - Help Desk software priced to suit all
businesses
http://www.room-booking-software.com - Schedule rooms & equipment bookings
for your meeting/class over the web.
http://www.lbetoolbox.com - Remove Duplicates from MS Outlook, find/replace,
send newsletters

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

THere are a couple of slick tools for exposing an Access database in Outlook. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/database.htm#tools . You can also use Access to write your own birthday reminder routine and can use an Access table for mail merge.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

I guess my only issue, and the reason for asking, is that I have to enter
these students in Outlook (for email and birthday purposes), so why double up
the work using two different programs? Or, am I missing something?

I personally think access would be better and could hold more information
(grading, etc) - it's a true database application and has better reporting
capabilities.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

What would be the benefit of using Outlook vs. Access to enter students
and
their personal data? I am entering all the students in our elementary
school
in Outlook so that we can go 'somewhat' paperless. So, I know I need to
use
Outlook for the email purposes and also for the secretary to be reminded
of
the students' birthdays.

Should I create a custom form for the contact form in Outlook that they
can
enter all the students' personal data too (i.e. allergies, emergency
contact,
medications, etc)? Or, should this be done using Access?

I just want to know why I should use Access or if I should keep all the
data
in Outlook (using a custom form)?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I guess it will be 'my' job in the future, but right now I just want to get
the students' email addresses in Outlook so that I can set up distribution
lists for emailing purposes. In using Access for other databases I know its
capabilities, but I'm not sure that I need to use it if I can set up a lot of
the info in a designed contact form in Outlook (i.e. pull reports (like
Access reports) by just sorting by the field, etc).

So, my question is...do I really need to type all the students in Outlook or
should I set them up in Access and then do the mail merge mentioned??? And
then set up the distribution lists...