I work for a small repair facility. Prior to me they have used all Excel sheets and physical log books for tracking jobs. Over the last 2 years, I have developed (complete untrained novice, so it is not properly designed or structured, but I am slowly working on that so be gentle) an Access Db now that we use for tracking once jobs are in the building.
Prior to being entered in the dB each job is hand written up on physical job cards (Job cards are required for our business and documenting work thru the building). These job cards were made in excel and are empty and printed on cardstock and stacked in the shipping area. The salespeople and mechanics then fill them out when they bring work in. The format/design has been tweaked over the years to what works for the shop so I cannot alter the layout.
My goal is to take bringing the jobs in and writing them up directly into the Db. Rather than the sales people hand writing info, and then office staff enters that information into the Db later. We will put a computer terminal out at the incoming area and want to have them enter data directly into the tracking Db and then print out the job card. I am already making the separate forms/queries dB for them to do the data entry without having the back office info there where it can be mistakenly altered.
However now I need to figure out how to print the data onto a report that is identical to the excel sheet we have, or maybe it is easier to export the data to the excel spreadsheet and have it print? We do not need to save the Excel sheet with data, it is just literally a form template that we normally print out blank. I need to make this seamless to the users, literally they fill out the fields and hit print, no having to open or manipulate Excel and print. There are roughly 11 fields of data that will be entered and printed on the job card.
Trying to manually recreate the form in Access would be an excersize in frustration, and probably take more hours than we could save in probably years of streamlining this change will make. It would also have to be done 3 times as each Dept uses a very different form. Is it possible to import the excel sheet in somehow and convert it to a report? Or is there a way for push the data to excel and have it automatically print? Would printing the Excel template to a PDF allow easier use with Access and report printing?
I attach a PDF print of one of the forms here. The info to be printed would be the top 3 rows for customer and unit information and then the shipping type at the bottom. ( I may convert that area to be blank rather than checkbox for simplicity as that is for us in the office and we can adapt)
Looking for any ideas you all may have.
Prior to being entered in the dB each job is hand written up on physical job cards (Job cards are required for our business and documenting work thru the building). These job cards were made in excel and are empty and printed on cardstock and stacked in the shipping area. The salespeople and mechanics then fill them out when they bring work in. The format/design has been tweaked over the years to what works for the shop so I cannot alter the layout.
My goal is to take bringing the jobs in and writing them up directly into the Db. Rather than the sales people hand writing info, and then office staff enters that information into the Db later. We will put a computer terminal out at the incoming area and want to have them enter data directly into the tracking Db and then print out the job card. I am already making the separate forms/queries dB for them to do the data entry without having the back office info there where it can be mistakenly altered.
However now I need to figure out how to print the data onto a report that is identical to the excel sheet we have, or maybe it is easier to export the data to the excel spreadsheet and have it print? We do not need to save the Excel sheet with data, it is just literally a form template that we normally print out blank. I need to make this seamless to the users, literally they fill out the fields and hit print, no having to open or manipulate Excel and print. There are roughly 11 fields of data that will be entered and printed on the job card.
Trying to manually recreate the form in Access would be an excersize in frustration, and probably take more hours than we could save in probably years of streamlining this change will make. It would also have to be done 3 times as each Dept uses a very different form. Is it possible to import the excel sheet in somehow and convert it to a report? Or is there a way for push the data to excel and have it automatically print? Would printing the Excel template to a PDF allow easier use with Access and report printing?
I attach a PDF print of one of the forms here. The info to be printed would be the top 3 rows for customer and unit information and then the shipping type at the bottom. ( I may convert that area to be blank rather than checkbox for simplicity as that is for us in the office and we can adapt)
Looking for any ideas you all may have.
