Hi All
At the boarding school that I work for, students frequently run away.
If we are unable to track them down within 24 hours, we are obliged to file a 'MISSING PERSONS' report with the police.
I am able to extract much of the information (Student details, parent and family member contact info etc) from our database.
However, there are two other groups of data that the police require, that we generally do not store in our system.
1. Descriptive info - (Height, Weight, Build, Complexion, Hair colour, Teeth description.)
Other info that helps with the investigation (is the student : Armed, Suicidal, Have Infectious diseases, Violent nature, etc )
Most of the above, we might want to store for future instances.
2. Investigation notes - These are 'progress notes' that the police complete during their investigation (Student bank account, last seen at etc)
I have built forms and queries etc that displays the 'known' information, but
A. What is the best way to treat the 'unknown' data (that we generally do NOT store) . . . for example: Should I create a form to gather the info at run time, or do i go the 'whole nine yard' and create additional table(s) to store the information - bearing in mind that things like 'Height','Weight' and 'Hair Colour' might change over time, but 'Build' and 'Complexion' are generally static.
The current method of filling in a blank form is labour intensive (even if the 'known' data is pre-populated), so I want to make the process as simple as possible, BUT I also don't want my user to get lazy. (IE ignore the 'changeable' info when filling out a new report.)
B. Do you have any suggestion on the most efficient/effective/best practice method that users can complete the required documentation...IE: Would you create an access form(s) and then produce an ACCESS REPORT... OR would you create a WORD document that links to a (temporary) table in the database and have the users complete the info in Word? (Can the WORD document write back to the ACCESS TABLE(s) - assuming it is being stored?)
Thanks for your time.
At the boarding school that I work for, students frequently run away.
If we are unable to track them down within 24 hours, we are obliged to file a 'MISSING PERSONS' report with the police.
I am able to extract much of the information (Student details, parent and family member contact info etc) from our database.
However, there are two other groups of data that the police require, that we generally do not store in our system.
1. Descriptive info - (Height, Weight, Build, Complexion, Hair colour, Teeth description.)
Other info that helps with the investigation (is the student : Armed, Suicidal, Have Infectious diseases, Violent nature, etc )
Most of the above, we might want to store for future instances.
2. Investigation notes - These are 'progress notes' that the police complete during their investigation (Student bank account, last seen at etc)
I have built forms and queries etc that displays the 'known' information, but
A. What is the best way to treat the 'unknown' data (that we generally do NOT store) . . . for example: Should I create a form to gather the info at run time, or do i go the 'whole nine yard' and create additional table(s) to store the information - bearing in mind that things like 'Height','Weight' and 'Hair Colour' might change over time, but 'Build' and 'Complexion' are generally static.
The current method of filling in a blank form is labour intensive (even if the 'known' data is pre-populated), so I want to make the process as simple as possible, BUT I also don't want my user to get lazy. (IE ignore the 'changeable' info when filling out a new report.)
B. Do you have any suggestion on the most efficient/effective/best practice method that users can complete the required documentation...IE: Would you create an access form(s) and then produce an ACCESS REPORT... OR would you create a WORD document that links to a (temporary) table in the database and have the users complete the info in Word? (Can the WORD document write back to the ACCESS TABLE(s) - assuming it is being stored?)
Thanks for your time.