Database & Spreadsheet Design

In business virtually every aspect of day to day life can be made easier if information that you need regularly is stored in an easily retrievable database or spreadsheet.

Names and addresses of customers, suppliers and how much they charge for regularly purchased items, screenshots of maps to frequently visited sites and many other pieces of information can be instantly available.

I can create an Access database or Excel spreadsheet for you customised for your business and can manipulate data and extract reports for you from existing databases.

As databases and spreadsheets are created individually the likely costs will be discussed once the clients requirements have been determined.

Uses for database systems include:

They store data
They store special information used to manage the data. This information is called metadata and it is not shown to all the people looking at the data.
They can solve cases where many users want to access (and possibly change) the same entries of data.
They manage access rights (who is allowed to see the data, who can change it)
When there are many users asking questions to the database, the questions must be answered faster. So, the last person to ask a question, can get an answer in reasonable time.
Certain attributes are more important than others, they can be used to find other data. This is called indexing. An index contains all the important data and can be used to find the other data.
They ensure that the data always has context (makes sense). There are a lot of different rules that can be added to tell the database system if the data makes sense. One of the rules might say November has 30 days. This means if someone wants to enter November 31 as a date, this change will be rejected.

Spreadsheets

A spreadsheet "can" perform most of the operations that a database can but its prime function is to carry out calculations based on the information supplied and display the results!

In a Nutshell Use a database if...

the information is a large amount that would become unmanageable in spreadsheet form and is related to a particular subject.
you want to maintain records for ongoing use.
the information is subject to many changes (change of address, pricing changes, etc.).
you want to generate reports based on the information.

Use a spreadsheet if...

you want to crunch numbers and perform automatic calculations.
you want to track a simple list of data.
you want to easily create charts and graphs of your data.
you want to create "What-if" scenarios.

In most cases, using the combination of a database to store your business records and a spreadsheet to analyze selected information works best.

Other IT and Network Issues

Having worked as a Systems Administrator for over 30 years I have come across most of the IT and Network problems that face individuals and small businesses so it is quite unlikely that I would not be able to help with any other issues that you might be having.

Please give me a call and I will give you an honest opinion as to whether I would be able to help and what the likely costs would be.