Cost Allocation

[Des]

I need to allocate costs from various cost pools to various cost objects
using difference percentages. I have set up a small test in excel which
works very well however as it grows it becomes quite cumbersome. Many of my
colleauges have suggested a database is direction to go in. We have a random
moment sampling system (written by a third party) that allocates the number
of hits to various activities that is written in access. Can something like
this be written in vanilla access or must visual basic programming be used or
is this the wrong direction to head in? Any comments will be appreciated.

 

[Arvin Meyer]

I need to allocate costs from various cost pools to various cost objects
using difference percentages. I have set up a small test in excel which
works very well however as it grows it becomes quite cumbersome. Many of my
colleauges have suggested a database is direction to go in. We have a random
moment sampling system (written by a third party) that allocates the number
of hits to various activities that is written in access. Can something like
this be written in vanilla access or must visual basic programming be used or
is this the wrong direction to head in? Any comments will be appreciated.

Any appreciable amount of data, or data which lends itself to relational
design, does better in a database. While you may not need to use VBA, you'll
proabbly want to at some point. The good news is that it is easy to learn by
following code that the wizards generate, and there are plenty of well
written books.

The one skill you'll need is similar to one you already have from Excel, and
that's how to write expressions (formulas in Excel). The main difference is
that you do them only once (in a query column or a form or report textbox)
and don't have to drag them down a column like you do in Excel.

To get started, buy a good book. I can recommend one by a fellow Access MVP:
Microsoft Office Access 2003 Inside Out by John L. Viescas. Which is an
intermediate level book, but gives you a good basic understanding, as well.

Any help you need, come here. We'll be glad to give you a hand.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

 

[Des]

Any appreciable amount of data, or data which lends itself to relational
design, does better in a database. While you may not need to use VBA, you'll
proabbly want to at some point. The good news is that it is easy to learn by
following code that the wizards generate, and there are plenty of well
written books.

The one skill you'll need is similar to one you already have from Excel, and
that's how to write expressions (formulas in Excel). The main difference is
that you do them only once (in a query column or a form or report textbox)
and don't have to drag them down a column like you do in Excel.

To get started, buy a good book. I can recommend one by a fellow Access MVP:
Microsoft Office Access 2003 Inside Out by John L. Viescas. Which is an
intermediate level book, but gives you a good basic understanding, as well.

Any help you need, come here. We'll be glad to give you a hand.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question. I definitely feel better about investing in learning more about Access. My next step is to get that book and I'll be back if more questions. Thanks!