Hello,
I have donated a computer to a local Samaritans organization, and I have
volunteered to assist them in getting computerized. I will not do the
actual data input, but I will be creating/providing the means to do so.

I am in the computer/data network business, but I'm an absolute beginner
when it comes to creating a database in Excel (and btw, I'm by no means
certain that Excel is what I need here, so I am open to suggestions).
However, this responsibility falls upon me, and in fact I'm eager to learn
how this works. I would really appreciate some help.

Please see the forms I've posted he

http://home.midsouth.rr.com/themitchells5/

The bottom form is filled out by the clients who request assistance from the
Samaritans. The top form is what the Samaritan admin person fills out after
the client goes through the interview process and the assistance is
determined, along with copies of checks, special notes, etc. These forms
currently take up several file cabinets dating back a few years. The hope
is to get all the back data entered at some point.

I would like to create a front-end form into which the Samaritan
volunteer(s) can input the data. These volunteers are not computer savvy,
so the interface needs to be simple and straightforward. I was hoping to
create a look much like these hard copy forms, if that is advisable. It
would be nice if the person keying in the data simply had to tab from one
field to the next.

But this is where I get fuzzy about how to handle the data. The data must
be easily searchable, and it would be great if we had the ability later on
to massage the data in various ways. I don't mean real sophisticated
reporting, but at least the ability to discern who received assistance and
when, how much, etc.

Is all of this going to require more expertise than I'm likely to able to
gain in a few weeks study? I'm willing to work hard and dedicate a lot of
time to it.

All help greatly and sincerely appreciated. I would love nothing more than
to be able to provide these really nice people a good solution.

thank you,

jm

Hi

You do not say how many records will be included in this database? 50 000,
100 000 or what. That would determine what program to use. While Excel can
handle the 50 000, it will not handle 100 000. Access will not handle 500
000 and a SQL database can handle terrabytes.

"JM" wrote:

Hello,
I have donated a computer to a local Samaritans organization, and I have
volunteered to assist them in getting computerized. I will not do the
actual data input, but I will be creating/providing the means to do so.

I am in the computer/data network business, but I'm an absolute beginner
when it comes to creating a database in Excel (and btw, I'm by no means
certain that Excel is what I need here, so I am open to suggestions).
However, this responsibility falls upon me, and in fact I'm eager to learn
how this works. I would really appreciate some help.

Please see the forms I've posted he

http://home.midsouth.rr.com/themitchells5/

The bottom form is filled out by the clients who request assistance from the
Samaritans. The top form is what the Samaritan admin person fills out after
the client goes through the interview process and the assistance is
determined, along with copies of checks, special notes, etc. These forms
currently take up several file cabinets dating back a few years. The hope
is to get all the back data entered at some point.

I would like to create a front-end form into which the Samaritan
volunteer(s) can input the data. These volunteers are not computer savvy,
so the interface needs to be simple and straightforward. I was hoping to
create a look much like these hard copy forms, if that is advisable. It
would be nice if the person keying in the data simply had to tab from one
field to the next.

But this is where I get fuzzy about how to handle the data. The data must
be easily searchable, and it would be great if we had the ability later on
to massage the data in various ways. I don't mean real sophisticated
reporting, but at least the ability to discern who received assistance and
when, how much, etc.

Is all of this going to require more expertise than I'm likely to able to
gain in a few weeks study? I'm willing to work hard and dedicate a lot of
time to it.

All help greatly and sincerely appreciated. I would love nothing more than
to be able to provide these really nice people a good solution.

thank you,

jm