Business

Efficiency and Collaboration Proposal

BIS/220

November 23, 2011

Efficiency and Collaboration Proposal

Microsoft Access is database software that aids companies to handle large volumes of data. Access presents companies with multiple benefits that will help the employees process data information more efficiently and more accurately. If there is going to be data stored and changed over time Access would be a better option to use over Excel. Access allows it to be easier to create reports based off this changed data. Employees would be able to create custom reports when necessary. The best time to use Access is when data is being stored over long periods of time. Now, Access may be difficult for some to get used to at first but once all are comfortable with it labor productivity will increase, and overall company reports and operations will benefit from the use of Microsoft Access. Picture 1.1 shows what Access is capable of.

1.1

Microsoft has created many great programs which are extremely user friendly and easy to navigate. However, without prior education or training, Access might be confusing and might be construed as the least popular computer application within the Microsoft Office Suite because of this. Users want an application which anyone can enter data in and come to an end solution simply and quickly. Smothers (2009), “Besides the steeper “learning curve,” MS Access has the following disadvantages:

• Access needs more careful planning and setup time. It is really a “data management system” where the last step is data entry. With Excel, data entry begins immediately and most calculations and formatting can be done “on the fly”; not so with Access, where every field and table must be designed with the end product in mind. Although Access databases can evolve and grow, the process must be carefully managed so as not to spoil what has already been designed.

• In Access, mathematical calculations are done through queries and ad hoc table and...