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1. Microsoft ® Office Access ® 2007 Training Build a database I: Design tables for a new Access database [Your company name] presents:
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3. Overview: Tables, the backbone Say you’ve been using Microsoft Office Excel ® to manage your company’s assets. It used to work well, but now your spreadsheet is large and unmanageable. Access can make that information easier to manage. But where do you start? By planning tables, the backbone of any database. This course provides a comfortable entry into the design process and into Access 2007.
6. Start with a plan Before you start planning, remember a key fact: Databases organize your information into separate tables, and each table contains unique data. The database then uses relationships to join the data in the tables in a meaningful way. That set of tables and relationships is called a relational structure , which the picture shows.
7. Decide on a purpose The first step in planning a new database is to write down its purpose. In this case, you need to enter and manage your company’s asset data. But don’t stop there. Ask yourself who will use the database and how they’ll use it. For example, the technician who fixes a defective machine has different information needs than the accountant who tracks costs. Make sure your purpose statement addresses those different needs and uses.
8. List the data you want to store A good database design helps ensure your data is complete, and most importantly, that it’s accurate . To reach those goals, start by listing the data you want to capture. You can start with your existing data — in this case, your spreadsheet. Or, if you use paper ledgers or forms, gather examples of those. And don’t hesitate to ask your coworkers what they need.
9. List the data you want to store Another way to identify the information you need to store is to create a flowchart of the tasks associated with your data. And while you’re at it, think about the reports or mailings you want to produce from the database. Looking at the data you need to enter and consume can help you decide which data to store.
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12. Group your data by subject Your groups may not result in a complete list of tables, but they’re a good starting point. Just make sure each group contains unique data — just the asset information in one group, only the supplier data in another, and so on.
13. From groups, fields The next step in your design is to list the fields for each table. In an Access table, columns are called fields and individual records are called rows . You plan your fields by deciding the specific information each of your groups should capture.
14. From groups, fields For your asset database, you’ll probably want to list each item and information about each item, such as purchase dates and costs. As part of this, try to reduce each field to its smallest logical component. In a good design, a field represents a single piece of data, and the name of the field clearly identifies that data.
15. From groups, fields As you work, you may find yourself wanting to use data from one table in another. For example, the picture shows that the Assets group includes fields for suppliers and support. That’s natural — you’re seeing how you need to relate your tables, and we’ll discuss those relationships in just a bit. For now, include all the fields you think each table should have.
16. From groups, fields As you work, you may find yourself wanting to use data from one table in another. Finally, in case you’re wondering, you don’t plan rows. Those come naturally as you enter data in your fields.
17. Plan your primary keys A final step in your plan is to add a primary key field to each of your tables. A primary key is a field, or a combination of fields, with a value that makes each row in a table unique. Primary keys are another way to avoid duplicating your data, because you can never duplicate a value in a primary key field.
18. Plan your primary keys Access provides several ways to create primary keys. You can use existing values such as part numbers, but only if each value will always be unique. Once you define a field as a primary key, Access never lets you enter duplicate values in that field. Also, your key values should never change, because if they do your tables may become out of synch.
19. Plan your primary keys Access provides several ways to create primary keys. If your existing data won’t work as a primary key, you can use an AutoNumber field. Access simply increments the value in that field by one whenever you add a new record.
20. Plan your primary keys So how do you plan primary keys? Start by adding an “ID” field, such as “Asset_ID”, to each of your tables. Or, if you want to use multiple columns of data to create a composite key, make a note next to each column you want to use.
21. A quick look at relationships So, you’ve divided your data into tables and listed the fields and primary keys. How do you relate your data back together? You create relationships by using the primary key field from one table as a field in another table. The picture shows this. You can see how the primary keys in the Suppliers and Support tables have become fields in the Assets table. Those duplicate fields in the Assets table are called foreign keys.
22. A quick look at relationships At this point, you may be thinking, “Hang on, I’ve just duplicated some data!” Don’t worry, this kind of duplication is okay. Primary key values are small, and you can’t extract meaningful information from your database unless you use them in relationships. So, as a final step in your design, indicate your foreign key fields.
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31. USING THIS TEMPLATE See the notes pane or view the full notes page ( View menu or tab) for detailed help on this template.
Notas del editor
[ Note to trainer : For detailed help in customizing this template, see the very last slide. Also, look for additional lesson text in the notes pane of some slides.]
The assets in question: costs, locations and suppliers for furniture and other equipment. Even if you want to customize an Access 2007 database template, a plan is still a good idea because it can save you time, effort and money — you can look at your data needs and make any mistakes on paper before you start building, and it’s then that much easier to design and build the rest of your database.
Here’s an example of the key fact: a table of asset data shouldn’t contain sales information, and a table of employee data shouldn’t contain medical records. As the picture shows, the original spreadsheet places the data in one long list, while the database divides it into tables. In turn, the tables are related together in a way that lets you find information and extract meaning from your data. Relational structures have several advantages over simple lists: They reduce the amount of data that you enter and manage because you only store a piece of data once. Reducing the amount of repeated data helps ensure accuracy, because you know you’re not counting an item more than once. Relational structures make it easier to extract answers from your data. For example, you can find out which company supplies most of your furniture, or which computers have had the fewest support calls.
Keep your purpose statement handy and refer to it as you design your tables. And don’t try to make the statement perfect, you can always change it.
What tasks are associated with the data? For example, who will enter the data, and how? What kinds of forms will they need? Reports or mailings: For example, do you want to know when desks and chairs need to be replaced? Who needs that information?
Again, you can refer to your existing data — the spreadsheet, a ledger, or even your card file. You can also open an existing database, such as one of the Access database templates, and see which fields it uses.
For example, your tables should have separate fields for first and last names because that makes it easier to find and sort your information. Also, ask yourself if you need to record international data. If you do, you’ll need fields for Country, plus Region instead of State, and Postal Code instead of Zip Code.
Note : If a field name contains more than one word, you can separate each word with spaces, but that may not be a good idea. Spaces can make it harder to create other components, such as Microsoft Visual Basic ® for Applications code and a type of formula called an expression . If you need to use multiple words in a field name, you can eliminate spaces altogether, or separate each word with an underscore. The Quick Reference Card that’s linked to at the end of this course provides more information about characters you can use in field names.
Primary keys also enable relationships among your tables. That’s what makes your data powerful, because relationships allow you to ask questions and extract meaning from your data. We’ll look at relationships in the next section.
The next course in this series, titled, “Build a database II: Create tables for a new Access 2007 database,” shows you how to create a primary key.
This is a basic explanation of relationships; they’re covered in detail a later course in this series. Check back in the coming weeks.
For example, the relationships in the picture allow you to answer questions such as, “Who supplied the monitors that we bought two years ago?” If you need more information about keys, relationships, or database design, see the Quick Reference Card that’s linked to at the end of this course.
[ Note to trainer : With Access 2007 installed on your computer, you can click the link in the slide to go to an online practice. In the practice, you can work through each of these tasks in Access, with instructions to guide you. Important : If you don’t have Access 2007, you won’t be able to access the practice instructions.]
Using This Template Do you need a comfortable entry into the Microsoft Office Access 2007 database design process? This Microsoft Office PowerPoint template offers that, by providing training content on planning tables, the backbone of any database. It’s geared for you to present to a group and customize as necessary. This template’s content is adapted from the Microsoft Office Online Training course called “Design tables for a new Access 2007 database.” Features of the template Title slide: On the very first slide, there is placeholder text over which you should type the name of your company. Or you can delete the text box altogether if you don’t want this text. Animations: Custom animation effects are applied throughout the presentation. These effects include Peek , Stretch , Dissolve, and Checkerboard . All effects play in previous versions back to Microsoft PowerPoint 2000. To alter animation effects, go to the Slide Show menu, click Custom Animation , and work with the options that appear. If this presentation contains an Adobe Flash animation: To play the Flash file, you must register a Microsoft ActiveX control, called Shockwave Flash Object, on your computer. To do this, download the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player from the Adobe Web site. Warning about saving the Flash animations: The Flash animations will play in versions back to PowerPoint 2000. However: If you want to save this template in PowerPoint 2007, save it in the earlier PowerPoint file format: PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation (*.ppt) or PowerPoint 97-2003 Template (*.pot) . (You’ll see the file types in the Save As dialog box, next to Save as type .) If you save it in a PowerPoint 2007 file format, such as PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx) or PowerPoint Template (*.potx) , the animations won’t be retained in the saved file. Slide transitions: The Wipe Down transition is applied throughout the show. If you want a different one, go to the Slide Show menu, click Slide Transition , and work with the options that appear. Hyperlinks to online course: The template contains links to the online version of this training course. The links take you to the hands-on practice session for each lesson and to the Quick Reference Card that is published for this course. Please take note: You must have Access 2007 installed to view the hands-on practice sessions. If you don’t have Access 2007, you won’t be able to access the practice instructions. Headers and footers: The template contains a footer that has the course title. You can change or remove the footers in the Header and Footer dialog box (which opens from the View menu).