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Expense Reports
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! |
#2
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Expense Reports
I have built Access expense reporting applications for several customers.
Each outside salesman enters his expenses into an independent Access application and at the end of the reporting period emails his data back to a central location. At the central location the expense data of all salesman are merged into a master database. The expense data of all salesmen are then crunched in the master database. Contact me if you would like me to create this type of application for you. Steve "Lorraine" wrote in message ... 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! |
#3
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Expense Reports
"Steve" wrote in message
... Contact me if you would like me to create this type of application for you. Steve Stevie is our own personal pet troll who is the only one who does not understand the concept of FREE peer to peer support! He offers questionable results at unreasonable prices. These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support. There are many highly qualified individuals who gladly help for free. Stevie is not one of them, but he is the only one who just does not get the idea of "FREE" support. He offers questionable results at unreasonable prices. If he was any good, the "thousands" of people he claims to have helped would be flooding him with work, but there appears to be a continuous drought and he needs to constantly grovel for work. Please do not feed the trolls. John... Visio MVP |
#4
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Expense Reports
"Steve" schreef in bericht ... .. Contact me if you would like me to create this type of application for you. Of course the OP does not want or need a payed solution... -- Get lost $teve. Go away... far away.... Again... Get lost $teve. Go away... far away.... No-one wants you here... no-one needs you here... This newsgroup is meant for FREE help.. No-one wants you here... no-one needs you here... OP look at http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html (Website has been updated and has a new 'look'... we have passed 11.500 pageloads... it's a shame !!) Arno R |
#5
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Expense Reports
I would look into packages expense reporting systems. It's an area that has
a large number of applications already built. Especially if you want anything tricky like built-in American express integration, imaging of receipts etc.... If the sales guys are on the road a lot, Access is not always the best fit. Assuming they would want to run the system locally on their own pc you then need to sync things back together at the main office if you want to analyze the numbers. It's all do able but I would suggest ruling out packaged software first. I'm an Access consultant as well so it pains me not to just say yes use Access and start from scratch and build your system. Perhaps a place to start: http://www.capterra.com/expense-report-software If your budget is really low and you only want something a little better than a good excel spreadsheet, Access might be the ticket. I thought sales guys loved Excel? Just not returning all their receipts. My two cents, Mark Andrews RPT Software http://www.rptsoftware.com http://www.donationmanagementsoftware.com "Lorraine" wrote in message ... 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! |
#6
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Expense Reports
the op asked for feedback not solicitation
Access is an ideal platform for your needs. If you be more specific as to what the excel spreadsheet currently does for you, there are many here in the discussion forum that will help you design one for yourself. (FREE OF CHARGE) "Steve" wrote: I have built Access expense reporting applications for several customers. Each outside salesman enters his expenses into an independent Access application and at the end of the reporting period emails his data back to a central location. At the central location the expense data of all salesman are merged into a master database. The expense data of all salesmen are then crunched in the master database. Contact me if you would like me to create this type of application for you. Steve "Lorraine" wrote in message ... 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! . |
#7
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Expense Reports
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! |
#8
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Expense Reports
test
"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! |
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