Partial Record Complete Later Possible?

[tbrogdon]

I work at a production facility. My main users are the floor
supervisors. Our current data collection is in Excel. The supervisors'
current habit is to input partial records throughout the day (e.g.,
Workstation, Part Number..) but not the Employee(s) name or
QuantityComplete until the end of shift.

In my db I have 1 table that collects the ProdDate, Shift, and
Department (tblProduction), a 2nd table that collects ALL of the
details for each instance in the first table (tblProductionOperation -
a large junction table).

Currently I have very effective forms for colecting this data at the
end of shift BUT the supervisors can't enter partial data (again,
Workstation and PartID) and then return later to complete each record.
I know I could make some fields NOT required but in reality all of the
fields ARE required - at least at the end of shift when the supervisor
closes out their shift.

Can comeone suggest a workaround? If I have to re-design or add tables
to do this I understand. I am hoping there is adiffernet alternative
however.

Thanks again,

Tim

 

[Jeanette Cunningham]

Hi,
This is a common situation, wanting complete records. Do you try to force
people to fill in all fields or not is not always easy to decide. What
happens with your current setup in Excel. I assume that people can leave
columns empty as they wish. Is everyone happy with this situation or are you
doing it in an access database to force people to comply with filling all
the necessary data?
I remember a post on this issue. It went something like this - if a patient
arrives at hospital needing emergency treatment, do they have to wait till
someone gets their name and address and enters it in the database before the
treatment can begin?
In the end you have to decide what is reasonable at your workplace and build
the database to suit.

Jeanette Cunnningham

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Tim

It sounds like you are describing a need to have the record(s) editable ...
until someone says "I'm done!".

If you didn't require the fields (at the table level), you could use the
form for data entry and edit, until the user clicked the "I'm done!" button,
at which point they could either not see the record or see it and not edit
it ... your choice.

You'd handle that by including either a date/time field that would get a
Date-Time-I'm-Done value, or a Yes/No field that gets "checked" when "I'm
done!" ... and you could use a simple checkbox on the form to accomplish
that!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[John W. Vinson]

I work at a production facility. My main users are the floor
supervisors. Our current data collection is in Excel. The supervisors'
current habit is to input partial records throughout the day (e.g.,
Workstation, Part Number..) but not the Employee(s) name or
QuantityComplete until the end of shift.

In my db I have 1 table that collects the ProdDate, Shift, and
Department (tblProduction), a 2nd table that collects ALL of the
details for each instance in the first table (tblProductionOperation -
a large junction table).

Currently I have very effective forms for colecting this data at the
end of shift BUT the supervisors can't enter partial data (again,
Workstation and PartID) and then return later to complete each record.
I know I could make some fields NOT required but in reality all of the
fields ARE required - at least at the end of shift when the supervisor
closes out their shift.

Can comeone suggest a workaround? If I have to re-design or add tables
to do this I understand. I am hoping there is adiffernet alternative
however.

Thanks again,

Tim

Well, either the fields are required or they're not required. It sounds like -
during the day at least - the fields are not required, and that you cannot
require them (there's presumably no way to know at 8:30am what the
QuantityComplete will be at 4:30pm!!)

I would suggest making the fields optional; and perhaps have a "signoff" field
in the main table to indicate that the record is complete for the day. You
could have VBA code in the Form to check for complete data once the signoff is
selected.

John W. Vinson [MVP]

 

[tbrogdon]

Hi All,

In fact you are all correct. To make matters more interesting - I am
actually also one of the supervisors so I do know first-hand that it
could be very beneficial from a time-management standpoint to allow
for ongoing/incomplete input throughout the day. Currently, if all
data entry is done at the end of shift it can easily add an extra hour
to an already long day.

I'm wondering now about Jeff's suggestion above - using the idea of an
"I'm Done" button. Is it possible to to do exactly that and when the
user checks the "I'm done" box have Access then check for fields left
empty throughout the entire recordset built during the shift and
return those records to the user for further editing?

I'm pretty new to all of this so a pretty good shove in the right
direction would be most helpful.

Thanks a bunch.

Tim

 

[John W. Vinson]

I'm wondering now about Jeff's suggestion above - using the idea of an
"I'm Done" button. Is it possible to to do exactly that and when the
user checks the "I'm done" box have Access then check for fields left
empty throughout the entire recordset built during the shift and
return those records to the user for further editing?

Absolutely. Either a button (as Jeff suggests) or a yes/no checkbox (as I
rather cryptically suggested <g>) would work.

The command button code might be something like

Private Sub cmdIAmDone_Click()
Dim strNotDone As String
strNotDone = "Please complete:" ' initialize warning string
If IsNull(Me!txtThis) Then
strNotDone = strNotDone & "This Textbox,"
End If
If IsNull(Me!txtThat) Then
strNotDone = strNotDone & "That Textbox,"
End If
<and so on for all required controls>
If strNotDone <> "Please Complete:" Then ' Did the user leave any out?
MsgBox strNotDone & " and then click again", vbOKOnly
Else
Me.Dirty = False ' save the completed record
End If
End Sub

John W. Vinson [MVP]

 

[tbrogdon]

Hi John,

I'm re-working a section of the db currently before I implement your
suggestion. Thanks a bunch,

Tim