relationship problems

[LarryE]

thankyou all for your contribution. I'm still reviewing all your comments and will get back to this thread, just swamped at work atm.

regarding test results. I wanted them in groups, as 1 test even has multiple "observations" that needs to be recorded. ie imagine you had a sample of oranges. The test might be called "quality assessment" or "shelf life" and within that test a number of observations are discovered and recorded. Over the weekend I tried @GaP42 suggestion that each observation was test, but I got cornered when I had test groups associated with a client. It meant I needed to enter tests in 80 times if I had 80 clients. So need to rethink a bit here.

regarding user signoff. I'd like this at the test group level. ie not at batch or sample, but at test group. ie "quality assessment" which has multiple observations = signoff.

@LarryE that is nice gesture. If you don't mind I'd love to have a look. thankyou.

OK. You have given us more information as to the Users role in the process so I will make changes to the model and post it for you in a day or so.
I have another question. What is the procedure for receiving an order to test batches of material? Do you use an order form of some kind? Do you assign each order an order number?

Here is a template modeled after what information you provided.

1. Each client may have multiple Orders
2. Each Order may have multiple Batches
3. Each batch may have multiple Samples for testing
4. Each Sample may have multiple tests performed
5. Each Test may have multiple results

This model has 3 test clients. Only the first one has an order with batches and samples for testing. The order has 2 batches. Each batch has 3 samples. Each sample has a sample number and sample type. Each sample has 6 tests that were performed, and each test has one or more results.

Any test may be used for any client samples because the Sample Test sub-form is not linked to any other form. It remains independent of clients orders and their batch samples. You can apply any test to any sample.

Click the checkmarks on the samples form and the test form to view the results for each sample and test performed. To add a test result, just select the sample, select the test, and click the New Record button on the Sample Test Results form...

You can also click the button at the bottom of the main form to view a client batch report. Only client 1 has an order so only client 1 will have a batch report. If you navigate to client 2 or 3 and click the report button an error message tells you the client has no orders.

When you open the report, the form closes and when the report is closed, the form re-opens.

You are welcome to use the model or not as you wish, but it can give you some idea of how ACCESS might work for you. Make sure you open the main form in design mode to see how sub-forms are used.

Have fun.