This Section is optional - if you have completed all of the work to date and wish to know more, please work through this section. Not completing this work will not affect your final mark in any way, however it will add to your understanding of Macros and will enable you to tailor an Access database to a high degree.

Macros, More Forms & Menu Systems

Aims of Session:

To enable you to:

Tailoring a complex system for ease of use by Novice Users

By this point in the course you will be using Access in an involved and sophisticated manner. However, you may be in the position of being "the office expert" and you may wish to present a much simpler interface to occasional and casual users. Although the GUI (Graphical User Interface - in this case Windows) helps greatly in enabling occasional users to use the technology, there can be no doubt that a sophisticated database package such as Access demands a great deal from the user; indeed, think about the work that you've put in to reach this point of the course.

 

How can we make things simpler for the occasional user?

 

We could provide some guided assistance, in particular we could provide a menu of choices for the user. The drawback is that there is a considerable lack of flexibility and the main advantage is that there are few or no training requirements for the user.

This section of the course is concerned with enabling you to place yourself in the position of being the "office expert" in a small organisation that does not have a dedicated IT support department. The solutions we shall explore are not to be thought of as computer programming but do represent a step in that direction.