General Question on Reports

On Average, how long should it take a programmer to develop reports (or a
report) in Access? What is the fastest method to developing reports? If you
need a report with a lot of joins across multiple tables, what is the best
method?

Thanks

Define "report"...

How complex? A simple report against a single table? A multi-table source
with multiple related sub-reports? By someone who designed/developed the
table structure, or by someone who's never seen the tables and doesn't
understand relational data?

As a rough rule of thumb, first create a query and make sure it returns the
data the report will need. Then base the report on the query.

This handles the "joins across multiple tables" situation.

Unless you already have a pre-existing report defined that you can use as a
starting point/template for a new report, it might be faster to use the
report wizard to generate the "bones" of a new report. Then customize it.

With all the stars aligned and a knowledgeable programmer and a template and
a user willing to look at a "first draft" version, figure an hour.
Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP




"flash" wrote in message
...
On Average, how long should it take a programmer to develop reports (or a
report) in Access? What is the fastest method to developing reports? If
you
need a report with a lot of joins across multiple tables, what is the best
method?

Thanks

Let's go with your (2) scenarios:

Single report against Multiple tables

Multiple tables with multi sub reports

By someone - someone who is aware of programming in VB and understands
relational DBs

"Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!" Rough estimate on average. Is
this because you are fancy with design? Say average design. To longest
process would be returning the correct data with query and report - right?

Thanks

I am just looking for a ball park, average in both above scenarios.





"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

Define "report"...

How complex? A simple report against a single table? A multi-table source
with multiple related sub-reports? By someone who designed/developed the
table structure, or by someone who's never seen the tables and doesn't
understand relational data?

As a rough rule of thumb, first create a query and make sure it returns the
data the report will need. Then base the report on the query.

This handles the "joins across multiple tables" situation.

Unless you already have a pre-existing report defined that you can use as a
starting point/template for a new report, it might be faster to use the
report wizard to generate the "bones" of a new report. Then customize it.

With all the stars aligned and a knowledgeable programmer and a template and
a user willing to look at a "first draft" version, figure an hour.
Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP




"flash" wrote in message
...
On Average, how long should it take a programmer to develop reports (or a
report) in Access? What is the fastest method to developing reports? If
you
need a report with a lot of joins across multiple tables, what is the best
method?

Thanks

Ball park 2 to 4 hours to create a report. Simple ones can take as little
as 10 minutes, complex ones can take as much as two days. Yes, two days.

Get the user to define the specs
Design the query
Design the report
Show it to the user
refine the specs
Repeat several times


"flash" wrote in message
...
Let's go with your (2) scenarios:

Single report against Multiple tables

Multiple tables with multi sub reports

By someone - someone who is aware of programming in VB and understands
relational DBs

"Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!" Rough estimate on average.
Is
this because you are fancy with design? Say average design. To longest
process would be returning the correct data with query and report - right?

Thanks

I am just looking for a ball park, average in both above scenarios.





"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

Define "report"...

How complex? A simple report against a single table? A multi-table
source
with multiple related sub-reports? By someone who designed/developed the
table structure, or by someone who's never seen the tables and doesn't
understand relational data?

As a rough rule of thumb, first create a query and make sure it returns
the
data the report will need. Then base the report on the query.

This handles the "joins across multiple tables" situation.

Unless you already have a pre-existing report defined that you can use as
a
starting point/template for a new report, it might be faster to use the
report wizard to generate the "bones" of a new report. Then customize
it.

With all the stars aligned and a knowledgeable programmer and a template
and
a user willing to look at a "first draft" version, figure an hour.
Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP




"flash" wrote in message
...
On Average, how long should it take a programmer to develop reports (or
a
report) in Access? What is the fastest method to developing reports? If
you
need a report with a lot of joins across multiple tables, what is the
best
method?

Thanks

I'll go with John's estimates.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

"flash" wrote in message
...
Let's go with your (2) scenarios:

Single report against Multiple tables

Multiple tables with multi sub reports

By someone - someone who is aware of programming in VB and understands
relational DBs

"Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!" Rough estimate on average.
Is
this because you are fancy with design? Say average design. To longest
process would be returning the correct data with query and report - right?

Thanks

I am just looking for a ball park, average in both above scenarios.





"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

Define "report"...

How complex? A simple report against a single table? A multi-table
source
with multiple related sub-reports? By someone who designed/developed the
table structure, or by someone who's never seen the tables and doesn't
understand relational data?

As a rough rule of thumb, first create a query and make sure it returns
the
data the report will need. Then base the report on the query.

This handles the "joins across multiple tables" situation.

Unless you already have a pre-existing report defined that you can use as
a
starting point/template for a new report, it might be faster to use the
report wizard to generate the "bones" of a new report. Then customize
it.

With all the stars aligned and a knowledgeable programmer and a template
and
a user willing to look at a "first draft" version, figure an hour.
Fine-tuning it after that could take ... ?!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP




"flash" wrote in message
...
On Average, how long should it take a programmer to develop reports (or
a
report) in Access? What is the fastest method to developing reports? If
you
need a report with a lot of joins across multiple tables, what is the
best
method?

Thanks