Payroll -- Is it even possible?!

[BruceM]

In reading my posting in this part of the thread I'm not sure I made it
clear I agree with you in principle.

 

[REJesser]

Good morning,

Thank you all very much for the input. It is greatly appreciated.

I guess I made this sound much more involved than it needs to be. I need to
create something that can track the number of days a crewmember is at work.
I would like to be able to go back up to 5 years to find out how many days
the person worked, which boats they worked on, and how many days on the
specific boat they worked. For example, Captain Popeye worked a total of
1000 days in the last five years as a wheelman (driver). He worked on the
Titanic for 250 days, the Mayflower for 125 days, and the Super Ron (I
couldn’t resist) for 625 days.

Our company has a program (Great Plains) that deals with taxes and all that
other stuff. I am the HR guy for the company. I basically need a glorified
attendance sheet that I can assign pay rates to. I am sorry I made is sound
much more complex than it actually is.

Thanks for any help you can provide. As for Steve, thanks, but no thanks
for your offer.

 

[Keith Wilby]

I guess I made this sound much more involved than it needs to be. I need
to
create something that can track the number of days a crewmember is at
work.
I would like to be able to go back up to 5 years to find out how many days
the person worked, which boats they worked on, and how many days on the
specific boat they worked. For example, Captain Popeye worked a total of
1000 days in the last five years as a wheelman (driver). He worked on the
Titanic for 250 days, the Mayflower for 125 days, and the Super Ron (I
couldn’t resist) for 625 days.

Our company has a program (Great Plains) that deals with taxes and all
that
other stuff. I am the HR guy for the company. I basically need a
glorified
attendance sheet that I can assign pay rates to. I am sorry I made is
sound
much more complex than it actually is.

Thanks for any help you can provide. As for Steve, thanks, but no thanks
for your offer.

The first thing I would say is that you would derive the total number of
hours worked and not store it. You would calculate it in a query. I would
also store each crew member's details in a lookup table, you could then
choose a crew member for a period of work to store in your main table. Each
period of work would equate to one record in your main table where you would
store start and end times/dates. You could then run a report against start
and end dates for a given crew member to show what they were doing and when.

This is all very high level stuff, I'm just trying to nudge you into the
right direction ... as I said before, a look at the relationships in the
Northwind example might help.

Keith.
www.keithwilby.co.uk

 

[Wayne-I-M]

H Bruce

the idea that it can be done simply, quickly, and cheaply as an alternative
to off-the-shelf is an unsustainable boast, particularly in the absence of
project details.

I think that is just Steve's way of "hooking" new cutomers. I also think
that everyone on this forum knows that it would be quite a detailed project
to start.

But as I have never met Steve so (as my mum has alwasy told me to do) I will
give him the benifit of doubt and assume that he can do a good job - but I
still dis-agree with his idea of using this forum to advertise. There is a
place for advertising, but (I thinktthat) most people come here for what they
imagine will be free advice - or just a chat about access applications.

 

[Steve]

Wayne,

<<the idea that it can be done simply, quickly, and cheaply as an
alternative to off-the-shelf is an unsustainable boast, particularly in the
absence of project details>>

Take a look at the OP's post this morning. I interpretted the OP's initial
post correctly and offered to do it simply, quickly, and cheaply for the OP.
You and others like you cost the OP the opportunity to get a cheap viable
solution to his problem!!

Why don't you go chase the peddlers selling watches, shoes and other
merchandise that are cluttering the newsgroups?

Steve

H Bruce

the idea that it can be done simply, quickly, and cheaply as an
alternative
to off-the-shelf is an unsustainable boast, particularly in the absence
of
project details.

I think that is just Steve's way of "hooking" new cutomers. I also think
that everyone on this forum knows that it would be quite a detailed
project
to start.

But as I have never met Steve so (as my mum has alwasy told me to do) I
will
give him the benifit of doubt and assume that he can do a good job - but I
still dis-agree with his idea of using this forum to advertise. There is
a
place for advertising, but (I thinktthat) most people come here for what
they
imagine will be free advice - or just a chat about access applications.

 

[BruceM]

Steve has made some good suggestions from time to time, but I have to wonder
why he keeps thinking he can slip in a solicitation or two below the radar.
Also, I tend not to trust the person who low-balls the competition unless
they can make a good case for economy of scale or superior automation or
some such objective criteria.

Then again, Steve may lead a very economical or self-sufficient lifestyle
that requires just a little cash from time to time. Could happen.

H Bruce

the idea that it can be done simply, quickly, and cheaply as an
alternative
to off-the-shelf is an unsustainable boast, particularly in the absence
of
project details.

I think that is just Steve's way of "hooking" new cutomers. I also think
that everyone on this forum knows that it would be quite a detailed
project
to start.

But as I have never met Steve so (as my mum has alwasy told me to do) I
will
give him the benifit of doubt and assume that he can do a good job - but I
still dis-agree with his idea of using this forum to advertise. There is
a
place for advertising, but (I thinktthat) most people come here for what
they
imagine will be free advice - or just a chat about access applications.

 

[Steve]

It is not my intention to low-ball the competition. In fact I don't consider
anyone in the newsgroups competition. I am altruistic and believe in helping
people. Had the Op's problem been a true payroll system, I would not have
touched it. I saw an OP who had a "small" problem and simply offered to
provide him a simple cheap solution. All responders here mistakenly thought
the OP wanted a full-blown payroll system I did not. I have done umpteen
small projects like this and everyone is happy.

If you want to condemn anyone you ought to condemn people like Visio John,
Arno R and Keith Wilby. They provide very little if any help to posters.
There constant attacks are against the intent of the newsgroups.

Steve

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I am attempting to create a Payroll Database. I work for a boating
business. I need the database to contain:

Employee Number (linked to Employee Table)
Employee Name (linked to Employee Table)
Rate of Pay (linked to Rate of Pay Table)
Extra Pay
Boat assigned to (linked to Vessel Information Table)
Date

FWIW I would call this a Time Keeping database and not a payroll
database. I suspect that is causing some confusion to some of the
posters here.

Tony

 

[John... Visio MVP]

It is not my intention to low-ball the competition.

You really do not get it. These newsgroups are for FREE help. How can you
low ball FREE?

In fact I don't consider anyone in the newsgroups competition.

Considering your past demonstration of your "skills", you are definitely not
competition.

I am altruistic and believe in helping people.

Not really the only one you are interested in helping is yourself.

I have done umpteen small projects like this and everyone is happy.

but they do not seem to want to come to your defense.

Steve

John... Visio MVP

 

[tina]

thanks for the clarification, RE. turns out i didn't guess too far off the
mark. i stand by my original advice: if you're prepared to invest a
significant amount of time and energy into learning relational design
principles, and then learning to use the Access tool to build the
application you need, go for it. to get started, see
http://home.att.net/~california.db/tips.html#aTip1.

i firmly believe that 1) no database is simple enough to build badly, and 2)
any data important enough for a company to store and analyze must be be
stored correctly so that analysis yields valid information.

hth

 

[Keith Wilby]

Visio John, Arno R and Keith Wilby. They provide very little if any help
to posters. There constant attacks are against the intent of the
newsgroups.

A quick search of these groups proves that that is a lie. However, here's
the truth:

http://home.tiscali.nl/arracom/whoissteve.html

Oh, and it's "Their". Look it up in one of your reference books.

 

[Wayne-I-M]

Hi John

What is "low-ball" please ?
Non parlo bene inglese

 

[BruceM]

The intent of the group is to provide free support and discussion. It is
not a forum for advertising, not even for cheap "solutions". I don't know
what part of that you do not understand.

If you have done "umpteen" projects that make "everyone" happy, why do you
need to troll here? You should be very busy.

I have suggested several times that you get your web site in order. When
somebody has a problem you could point to some explanation or examples on
your web site. While there they could look at the paid services you offer,
but would be under no obligation to do more than look at the free stuff.

I will not go after the people who stop you from using the free newsgroups
as your personal advertising forum, but I will keep my eye on you. Some of
your suggestions are quite good. If your message included a link to your
(well-maintained) web site, no objections.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

In this case, it's the 3rd usage at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowball

It's a questionable business practise of deliberately pricing your bid to be
lower than anyone else's.

 

[BruceM]

I have to admit I was misusing the term somewhat in that I took it to mean
underbidding the lowest price, but with shoddy work rather than the bidder's
expectation of cost overrun as the outcome of lowballing, but of course
either could hold true, perhaps both at once: ("What did you expect for that
price? I can give you what you want, but it will cost you more.").

 

[Wayne-I-M]

Ok, ho capito (completamente - I think

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Dwi ddim yn siarad Cymraeg

I see that Doug provided a suitable answer. I did "lose" a client once who
accepted a low ball bid. Even though our team was the only one that had
points for technical knowledge, we lost because another team zero bid the
contract (offered to do the contract for free). The winning team turned a
six month project into a three year contract and they made their money (more
than four times our bid) through change requests. Two years into the
contract, the client realized their mistake and wanted our team to finish
the contract. We declined because we were glad to be rid of that client.

John... Visio MVP

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

Hi,

the problem we had with our boating (seafaring co) was in fact that no
commercial package really covered our needs. Naval laws and situations
are
very special, like being on see working 3 months without 1 day of leave
(including Sundays and holidays), and then coming home and having a
vacation
of some months. Believe us, we made a thorough study of existing packages
before deciding on writing our own.

Fair enough. Well, in answer to your original question, yes, it certainly is
possible. It is, to say the least, a non-trivial undertaking. Not just the
initial development, but the ongoing upgrades to keep pace with changes in
legislation. I personally would start looking for another job if ever asked
to do it again, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

If you want to condemn anyone you ought to condemn people like Visio John,
Arno R and Keith Wilby. They provide very little if any help to posters.
Wrong.

There constant attacks are against the intent of the newsgroups.

That should be "Their constant attacks ..."

Tony

 

[Armen Stein]

I did "lose" a client once who
accepted a low ball bid. Even though our team was the only one that had
points for technical knowledge, we lost because another team zero bid the
contract (offered to do the contract for free). The winning team turned a
six month project into a three year contract and they made their money (more
than four times our bid) through change requests. Two years into the
contract, the client realized their mistake and wanted our team to finish
the contract. We declined because we were glad to be rid of that client.

Hi John,

Interesting timing - I just posted a newsletter article called "Why
Fixed Bid Software Projects Are a Bad Idea". It's at
www.JStreetTech.com/Newsletters. There's a link to subscribe if you
want to receive more of my ruminations.

In the article I tell a similar story about a client that was lured
away by a low-ball fixed bid. I'll let you read the rest of the story
yourself, but I bet you won't be surprised by what happened.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com