MS Access---what do I actually need to be able to do with it?

[mcgruff]

I soon plan to learn how to use MS Access, and I would like to concentrate my learning on the Access skills that would actually be important for an actuary. Unlike Excel, I have never had to use it as an engineer, so unfortunately, I'm pretty much starting from zero. Even though I have Access at work, I don't really have any legitimate reason to use it there, but I do have it on my new home computer (Access 2007), and I plan to play with it and learn it as much as possible. However, I'm unsure what Access skills I should try to develop. What do actuaries actually do with Access, and what should I actually be able to do with Access (including with VBA) that would satisfy a potential employer? Thanks.

[PSU2002]

Originally Posted by mcgruff

I soon plan to learn how to use MS Access, and I would like to concentrate my learning on the Access skills that would actually be important for an actuary. Unlike Excel, I have never had to use it as an engineer, so unfortunately, I'm pretty much starting from zero. Even though I have Access at work, I don't really have any legitimate reason to use it there, but I do have it on my new home computer (Access 2007), and I plan to play with it and learn it as much as possible. However, I'm unsure what Access skills I should try to develop. What do actuaries actually do with Access, and what should I actually be able to do with Access (including with VBA) that would satisfy a potential employer? Thanks.

First things first. Get the generally querying process down. Learn the general lay out, group by and summary functions. Be able to link a couple tables. Both left joins and normal joins. Learn the iif function. To me the point of access is to get the data set down to a summarized level that can be useful for a vlookup function or offset and match combination in Excel. Or just to get data summarized to a point where you can dump it to excel to filter it.

One key thing to know is that in access once you create a table that takes up space in your database, the database remains that size even if you delete the table. This makes thinking ahead a good practice. if you know that at some point you are going to have to add more columns to a table, add them now and leave them empty. Then do update queries to fill the fields. This eliminates the practice of making a new table every time you need to add a field, and it also eliminates the need to go into the table design and add the field manually to save space. Try to make it as automated as possible.

[Ron Weasley]

Blow off learning about reporting. I would also blow off forms.

Both of these items can be useful, perhaps essential, when developing applications. However, for "using Access" you're generally trying to git-r-done. Learning how to manage tables, build efficient queries, etc. is far more useful for ad-hoc projects.

[GadgetGeek]

Learn how to pull access data into excel via external data

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Be able to:
1. Join tables in database, in order to summarize one table's data by another table's field.
2. Create new fields.
3. Restrict extract data via criteria.
4. Copy and paste summaries into Excel.

[MountainHawk]

Originally Posted by Dr T Non-Fan

Be able to:
1. Join tables in database, in order to summarize one table's data by another table's field.
2. Create new fields.
3. Restrict extract data via criteria.
4. Copy and paste summaries into Excel.

[ADoubleDot]

Originally Posted by Dr T Non-Fan

Be able to:
1. Join tables in database, in order to summarize one table's data by another table's field.
2. Create new fields.
3. Restrict extract data via criteria.
4. Copy and paste summaries into Excel.

5. World Domination. (You may need VBA for this)

[Ron Weasley]

Originally Posted by ADoubleDot

5. World Domination. (You may need VBA for this)

4.5 Link Access query/table to Excel Pivot Table.

Once you've mastered Excel pivot tables, you are then ready to move on to step 5.

[JMO]

Whoa, everybody.

Before learning tricks to do with Access, I wish everyone would become familiar with normalized data structures, and think about how their data is going to be USED in Access. JMO of course.

[ADoubleDot]

Originally Posted by Ron Weasley

4.5 Link Access query/table to Excel Pivot Table.

Once you've mastered Excel pivot tables, you are then ready to move on to step 5.

Yeah, my bad. First pivot tables, then world conquest.

Originally Posted by JMO

Whoa, everybody.

Before learning tricks to do with Access, I wish everyone would become familiar with normalized data structures, and think about how their data is going to be USED in Access. JMO of course.

Uh, 2 years of experience guy says - what's a normalized data structure?