I am the office manager for a non-profit
organization which runs a campground,
and I have downloaded an access template
that I believe can be modified to work as
a reservation program for our campground,
but I am clueless as to how to begin.
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html has good
information on Resources, including tutorial information and self-study
texts. Because you are likely to have to modify the database application
that the wizard-like template will create, you are going to need to learn
about the tool you'll use to build that database application (computer
program).
A book I often suggest for newcomers to Access is "Microsoft Access
<versionnumber> Step by Step" from Microsoft Press, then either "Microsoft
Access Inside Out" by John Viescas, also published by Microsoft Press or
"Special Edition -- Using Microsoft Access" by Roger Jennings, published by
Que. For more advanced (that is, Intermediate to Advanced) database
developers, the consensus choice is "Microsoft Access <versionnumber>
Developer's Handbook" by Litwin, Getz, et al, published by Sybex.
For just getting started understanding what Access can do for an end-user
(and you need to know this, very well, because much of what we do in
creating database applications is to automate what can be done manually in
the user interface), the Training link at
http://office.microsoft.com leads
to some very good (and free) online training courses.
If you want your application completed quickly, however, you should probably
try to find a developer to hire/contract, or as you are a non-profit,
perhaps one who will work pro bono. (Unfortunately, in a number of years of
leading an Access user group, I have seen almost every pro bono project fail
that was begun -- some developer who doesn't currently have a contract will
volunteer but if a contract comes along before the pro bono project is
finished, the developers tend to be off doing the paying work.)
Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
