MS ACCESS 101
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ACCESS vs. EXCEL - Concepts
ACCESS Components
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Access vs. Excel

1-to-many relationship
◦ A customer can have a basic information table, orders
table, shipping address table.
Customer ID
Billing Address
Telephone
Cell Phone
12345
12345 Road St.
626-123-1234
626-1234-1234
Order
No.
Customer
ID
Produc
t
Quantity
Cost
/Item
Total Amount
Shipping ID
874
12345
Pens
200
$1.00
$200.00
84
875
12345
Pencils 300
$0.50
$150.00
84
Shipping ID
Customer ID
Address Description
Address
84
12345
Work
23456 Circle St.
85
12345
Home
345 Square St.
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Access vs. Excel
Customer ID
Billing Address
Telephone #
Shipping Address
Orders
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Access vs. Excel

Concurrent users
◦ More than one user can access the customer
database file at the same time.
 A sales representative and a customer care
specialist can look at the history their customers at
the same time.
DATABASE
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Access vs. Excel

Data Size & Data Entry
◦ Access is better at managing large
amounts of data.
◦ A well designed database reduces
repetition of data.
◦ Forms can be designed to facilitate
accurate data entry.
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Access vs. Excel
Less about numbers and calculations,
more about relationships between
different records (relational database).
 Ideal for creating forms and reports such
as invoices and statements, i.e. utility bills
and bank statements.
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ACCESS Components

We will focus on the first four
components of ACCESS.
Relationship Designs
Visual Designs
Tables
Forms
Queries
Reports
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Tables
Think of each table like an object:
Customers, Invoices, Products, etc.
 Separates useful units of information into
columns.
 Columns should be made of the smallest
useful bit of data, i.e. there should be at
least two columns for a name, FIRST and
LAST. A column that takes the entire
name as the input is not useful—you will
not be able to sort by last name.
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Tables

Each table should also have a PRIMARY KEY (PK)
column. It is a number that represents one
distinct record in that table. Social Security
numbers are a type of PRIMARY KEY because
they are distinct numbers that represent ONE
distinct person.
◦ Relationships between tables can be defined by the
use of the PK.
◦ PK becomes the FOREIGN KEY (FK) when used in
other tables--A customer’s PK (his account #) in the
CUSTOMER table will be used in the ORDER table as
a FK.
◦ You can explicitly link or define the ‘relationship’
between two or more tables via PK & FK.
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Queries
Queries are what filters are to Excel
spreadsheets. It manipulates the data in
the Tables.
 You can pick the columns you want to see
and filter by the criteria of your choice.
 Combines all the data from different
tables.
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Form
Forms are more user-friendly ways to
input and call out records from different
tables, i.e. data entry.
 You can design the forms with different
logos, pictures, etc.
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Reports
Similar to Queries, in that it can filter and
display data from more than one table.
 You can visually design a report with
different logos, font sizes, colors, etc.
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