Question for the IT folks out there - databases

[Nuralanya]

I know there are programmers and other IT people out there, so I'm wondering if someone can help me out here!

A little background: the roofing company I work for has kind of an odd way of doing some things, and we store our records (of both previous jobs and ones in progress) in Excel spreadsheets that are getting too large and unwieldy. Because of the way the information is stored, it also means there's a lot of duplication of input into different spreadsheets for various purposes.

So our IT guy finally convinced the manager that we should have a database instead, and he was supposed to be creating that for us over the quiet winter months. Unfortunately, he's been taken ill and will be spending the next few months recovering, so that ain't happening any more!

My question to you good folks is, how hard is it to set up a relational database? I used to work in IT myself, but it's been over 20 years since I touched any coding so 'rusty' is not an adequate word for my skills! And since I never really worked with databases, I'm not sure where to start. But I'm wondering if getting this up and running is something I could tackle myself, or if we're just going to have to wait for our guy to recover and hope we can get it next year instead.

Any suggestions?

[Tobril]

Learning the relational database stuff is going to take you some
time and possibly involve “learning opportunities” that may
adversely impact your business.


Getting a pro would be my recommendation for needing a lot
of customization not available in a commercial package.

However…

Unless you are huge (think amazon huge) I really can’t make a
decent argument for a business like what you described to require
what the various accounting packages under $1000 can’t accomplish.
(quickbooks pro, sage, etc)

[Zenako]

Any idea what your in house guy was going to use? I mean something simple like Filemaker can serve many needs for some.

In any event, assuming you expect to keep that in house guy, best thing would be to also solicit his/her thoughts on what to use as well. Future harmony and all that.

In my captive heat treating operation, I was able to learn and customize the user interface with Filemaker pretty easily and it is only a few hundred bucks or so last time I looked.

Just a thought. Don't pay for a Cadillac if all you need is a Chevy...

[Phoenix-daBard]

Any idea what your in house guy was going to use? I mean something simple like Filemaker can serve many needs for some.

In any event, assuming you expect to keep that in house guy, best thing would be to also solicit his/her thoughts on what to use as well. Future harmony and all that.

In my captive heat treating operation, I was able to learn and customize the user interface with Filemaker pretty easily and it is only a few hundred bucks or so last time I looked.

Just a thought. Don't pay for a Cadillac if all you need is a Chevy...

Very much this. My company started much of its systems with MSAccess and it did the job quite competently. That was 16 years ago, these days it is an even more powerful tool.

Today we are a 16 million dollar company that no longer uses Access but it did the job we needed when we needed it.

[Gkar]

Very much this. My company started much of its systems with MSAccess and it did the job quite competently. That was 16 years ago, these days it is an even more powerful tool.

Today we are a 16 million dollar company that no longer uses Access but it did the job we needed when we needed it.

I work for a multi billion dollar company that spends many millions/year on IT, and access is still often the right tool for the job. Oh sure, its not as effective as a custom coded web based interface that ties to a SQL database but most people don't need that power anyway.

The nice thing about Access is that it isn't hard at all to design a fairly simple relational database and basic forms. If you used a basic DB tool in your past IT life it won't take you long to get up to speed on Access.

Also don't be afraid to look for "off the shelf" solutions. If you need it in your place, others may need it as well and there might already be a easy to buy/set up solution that addresses 90% of your needs.

[Nuralanya]

Thank you for the thoughts so far.

I have no idea what he was planning to use, or if he'd even found something that would suit us, but I also don't see the point of spending a fortune on some fancy thing when a fairly basic system might do just as well. We're going to need something that I can input a lot of data into in one go, and then create customisable reports to pick out the bits that I need for various purposes.

We do use Simply Accounting for all our accounts stuff, but it's the little details of the individual jobs - not the financial aspects - that we have these spreadsheets for.

I don't mind learning something new, and construction is generally pretty dead around here between November and whenever spring decides to arrive so I should have time - I just don't know if it would be enough time given that I'd have to start from a position of knowing next to nothing!

[rimble]

If you can find an application (preferably free!) that does what you're trying to do, that will likely be pretty easy since during installation you'd probably just point it at the database (which you could figure out how to create a blank empty database relatively easily) and the installer would set up the database how you needed it.

If you're trying to do it from scratch, I believe you will find it to be pretty difficult.

Outside of that, I agree with others that Access is a great solution for small needs.

As a final (not so great) option to consider, you could maybe use Google spreadsheets that might help you consolidate your various spreadsheets into an easily accessible and shareable place.

[RaidMR]

Not really knowing the size and scale of the data contained in the company's workbook, it's hard to say what they need, or what your IT guy has already done.

However I'm willing to guess this business has purchased Microsoft Office and unless the IT guy was really overly ambitious he was using Microsoft Access to create the databases. I think this would serve the company, and you just fine. If I remember correctly Microsoft Access uses a GUI window to build the code. First time users may like the GUI interface at first, but I would recommend getting familiar with Transact SQL (T-SQL or TSQL) coding anyway as it will help in the long run.

[Phoenix-daBard]

I work for a multi billion dollar company that spends many millions/year on IT, and access is still often the right tool for the job. Oh sure, its not as effective as a custom coded web based interface that ties to a SQL database but most people don't need that power anyway.

Agreed but my company is at that point in the process of maturing where rogue systems can kill the company. In a few years Access will have a place here again I am sure.