Database Project

The Database Project was the most challenging project I have done in this class. I began using Access at the end of last year because I have been doing a survey conducted with the Veteran’s Administration at work. At first, I found that particular survey to be very difficult because of Access, but after a month I was able to conduct the survey with ease and teach others how to properly conduct the survey.  However, this project was still quite challenging for me but after completing it, I found the skills I have learned to be quite useful.  I found the Wizard for the table, report, query and form to be easy to use and to setup each item. The most difficult part was getting member’s left date to be in descending order while their last names should be in ascending order and formatting the footer correctly.  I also learned how to add new members in the form activity and lock their identification number. Originally, I must have missed the part about how Access was able to choose a primary key for me to use so it took me a while to figure out which data I should set as my primary key.

A way that I would enhance the functionality of the database would be to add more information to the Member’s Table such as a phone number and e-mail address.  By adding phone numbers, you can track down people who have not re-signed and publicize the latest deals to them over the phone in an effort to get them to re-sign. E-mailing members is also an effective way to get them to re-sign if they learn about a great deal. You could also add the reason they left the gym to the table so you know how to improve how the gym operates and so you can add additional members. In addition, you could remove the state that members live in because it would be very unlikely for anyone to join a gym here that does not already live in Florida in order to eliminate redundant values.

I am glad that I was able to learn how to use Access to keep track of a large database and think that it will definitely come in handy. My job as a supervisor at a Survey Center where there are currently hundreds of employees as well as thousands of past employees demands that I keep track of people’s first day of work, their last day of work, what surveys they completed, their professionalism and abilities on each call and if they retrieved any records to call back.  Although I had to start over a few times because I couldn’t find an undo button once I made an error, this project taught me a lot of new tips on managing a large database.