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"roccogrand" wrote in message
...
Hi Lorraine,

I am actually surprised that 50 people who don't like Excel would suggest
Access. You have a group there that I would love to work with.

To address your question, I would say that Access is a great solution.

My first question is, How much experience do you have developing Access
applications? I ask because unlike Excel and Word or even Project, doing
things in Access (i.e., developing an application) is a long-term learning
experience. Unless you have programming experience and love sleeping next
to
a stack of Access books, it could be better for you to develop your
expense
reporting application in Excel. If Access is the best program and you
have
little or no programming experience, you may want to hire a local
developer
-- a computer programming student would do. This depends on your budget,
schedule, and desire to own the application, among other things.

Have you tried modifying the Northwind database to meet any of your needs?
I ask because I started learning Access playing around with Northwind.
Northwind has some issues but it is a great way to get your feet wet.
When I
started with Access, I bought a good Access book, loaded Northwind onto my
laptop, and went on vacation for a week. (It's almost time to install
Access
2010 and go on vacation again. Two weeks and counting down.)

When do you need to have the database up and running? I ask because
developing an Access application for 50 people with different computer
skills
could be a big project. I have been developing an application for five
years
and every few days I think of something new to add to it. Just think if
you
have 50 people wanting something new every other day. Can you make do
this
for me? Can you make it do that for me? The great thing about hiring an
outside developer is that when the budget for the project is gone, you can
say, sorry, we have used up our budget for the project and the student or
consultant is gone. You can't say that if you develop the application.

Have you asked your users how they intend to use the application? Again,
an
Access application for 50 users is big thing in my mind. You may need to
interview all 50 people and determine what they like and dislike about
Excel
worksheets they are using now. I am kinda like your 50 users, I hate, no
I
should say, I avoid Excel as much as I can.

Do any of them need to email reports to others in the sales team? I ask
because sending reports from Access can be done in several ways. It is a
great way to go but the application can get really complicated if you have
to
get into the heads of 50 people and build an application that works
Mondays
and Saturdays.

Have you uncovered all your users' needs beyond just entering a couple
numbers into a form? I ask because a good Access application is more than
a
table of data, it is also a set of efficient queries, easy-to-read
reports,
and error-enabled code and/or macros.

Are all of your sales people in the same office or are they scatttered
around the country or around the world? I ask because Access isn't
designed
for the Web, at least not through Access 2007. I am praying that Access
2010
will take us to the web with a little kick, like multi-value fields broke
database design rules and made using multiple values fun and easy.

David

"Lorraine" wrote:

I want some feed back as far Expense reporting goes. I have about 50
outside
sales guys and all of them hate using Excel and have suggested Access or
the
purchasing of online expense reporting software. Any opinions or
suggestions
will be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!