DBA-ITC8103 - Intermediate Microsoft Access 2016

Course Description

Do you want to take your Microsoft Access skills to the next level? In this course, you'll master more advanced techniques for this powerful database program and build an entire database project from scratch. From building reports to using conditional formatting, you'll see how to present your data and gain techniques for using Visual Basic to automate common tasks. Finally, you'll build a navigation form to make it easy for your users to find their way around your database. By the time you've completed the course, you'll have a fully functional database that tracks customer and order information.

Course Outline

1. Lesson 01 - Reviewing Terms and Importing Data
   • In this lesson, you'll review Access key concepts and terminology. You'll also learn how to share data between Access and other applications. The objects you import in this lesson will be the basis of a project that you'll work on for the rest of the course.
2. Lesson 02 - Key Fields and Action Queries
   • In this lesson, you'll learn how to set up key fields in tables and use action queries to quickly and easily manipulate multiple-table records with one command.
3. Lesson 03 - Relationships of the Database Kind
   • What are table relationships, and what does referential integrity mean? It's time to find out how and why to use these features.
4. Lesson 04 - Creating and Modifying Forms
   • Forms are the user-friendly gateway to Access table data. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create and modify forms and make them easy to use.
5. Lesson 05 - Subforms and the Tab Control
   • In this lesson, you'll learn how to add a subform to a main form without the wizard, and you'll use the Tab control to arrange form data.
6. Lesson 06 - Queries
   • You've already learned to put data into your database in an efficient way. In this lesson, you'll learn about query joins and data functions. These tools will help you get timely, high-quality data out of your database, so you see all the data you want and none of the data you don't want.
7. Lesson 07 - Query Calculations
   • Suppose your boss tells you, "I want a list of the customers who placed the most orders and a separate list of the customers who spent the most overall." How can you find these answers quickly and accurately? Access comes to your rescue again! In this lesson, you'll explore Access functions, crunch numbers with the best of them, and even design a mathematical formula of your own. Don't worry if math makes you nervous, because this lesson will walk you through every step!
8. Lesson 08 - Summary Queries
   • In this lesson, you'll build powerful, fast summary queries that total, count, or average the values in a set of records. You'll also discover the power of the crosstab query, which can not only summarize data but also rearrange it so that it becomes easier to understand. Finally, you'll add query parameters that allow you to change a query's criteria without altering its design.
9. Lesson 09 - Building Reports That Pinpoint Key Information
   • In this lesson, you'll use the Report Wizard to build a basic report. You'll then fine-tune what you've built and learn some tips and tricks that were developed while building thousands of Access reports. Finally, you'll learn about a fantastic tool—conditional formatting, which allows you to visually identify key report data. With a few clicks, your report will change from a mass of numbers to a map of trends and changes that affect your business.
10. Lesson 10 - Run Reports From a Custom Dialog Box
    • Just about every time you run a report, you'll want to limit the data it displays. You might want to see only a certain customer or a particular month and year. In this lesson, you'll build a dialog box that allows the user to run reports based on custom-built criteria.
11. Lesson 11 - Using Visual Basic to Automate the Reports Dialog Box
    • Visual Basic is a powerful programming language that allows database developers to automate simple and complex tasks. In this lesson, you'll learn a little bit about Visual Basic, using it to make the reports dialog box you built earlier fully functional.
12. Lesson 12 - Putting It All Together
    • If you're creating a database for others, you must make it easy to use—and as you may remember, Access can look intimidating to a newbie! In this lesson, you'll build a navigation form that directs users to the forms and reports they need. You'll also set up a database for shared use and modify the startup options.

Notes

This is an asynchronous online course offered through the third party vendor ed2go. This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs. The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online. There are twelve lessons in the course, and two lessons are released each week on Wednesdays and Fridays. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.