Access Project - More Power and Functionality Brings Complexity

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Microsoft ACCESS - Serious Business Tool, Much More Powerful Than Excel But Not As User-Friendly...

Microsoft Access can do so much more than Excel, as Access provides more power and functionality.  There is one small drawback though, and that is that this attribute in and of itself, makes Access less user-friendly and much more difficult to learn.  However, the benefits businesses gain from utilizing Access far outweigh the high level of difficulty Access's learning curve can present. 

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

This past week Access was the project assigned for ISM 3004.  Time only allowed for limited hands on experience but the project requirements weren't overly easy.  Even though we only touched the peak of the iceberg this project was still challenging and I'm very thankful Dr. Olson had mercy on us as this could have been a very, very difficult project. 

Over the past week I have created databases, imported data into Access (data from Excel files and from CSV text files), created tables, queries, forms, and reports.  As I stated before, this is only the tip of the iceberg of what Access can do, however, with these limited skills, I still possess the knowledge and ability necessary to facilitate the needs of most businesses. 

Also, with the additional information provided in Dr. Olson's "Access Skill Track", I was able to enhance the functionality of the database that I created by using features in Access that increases the integrity of the data or increased productivity: 

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012

• After I created (per the project specifications) the "Members" table and the "New Members Entry Form", I cut down the potential for errors by adding validation rules to the "gender" and "membership type" fields. 
• After I created (per the project specifications) the "New Members Form", I added an informative text label and I changed the "tab order" of the form so that Access would not tab through the "ID" field and only tabbed through the fields provided to enter new member's information.
• After I created (per the project specifications) the "Recently Departed Individual Members" report, to make all pages of the report more informative I moved the "report header" to the "page header" section and I changed the formatting so that "section headings" repeated.   

To further enhance the functionality of this database, it could be used to house and analyze the results of a survey designed to determine how services currently being provided could be improved to increase membership and retention rates.  Survey would be provided to current and past members.  The database would also be used to retrieve the contact information for previous members.

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012

Access is so extensive each time I'm exposed to it I never remember everything I learn to meet the requirements for a class assignment or even to get through a project for work.  I can however say that the number of my core skills (skills I consistently remember) increases each time.  So who knows, I might just become an Access Expert e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y... 

Week 10 - Clear: Got Skills? You'll Need Them!

Mastering Access Requires An Extensive Skill Set

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Although my first interaction with Access was a little over a decade ago and over the years since, I've worked with it sporatically for projects here and there and even after the refresher in this class, ISM 3004 and other computer and business courses, today I still cannot say that I am an "Access Expert" and I probably never will.  Microsoft Access is a very complex application and to master it requires a very extensive skill set as well as using the program on a regular basis.  Dr. Olson's Access Skills Track has reminded me of so much about Access that I'd forgotten which was great but also at the same time, I was reminded of so much that is still to be learned. 



Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Speaking of the things still left for me to learn - I did pick up some new skills and one I am really delighted about is the "Tab Stop".  Have you ever had a record with a ton of fields but you really only needed to edit a couple of them so you had to either, tab through all of them, enter through all of them, use the arrow keys, or take your hand off the keyboard so you could use the mouse to place the pointer in the next field you needed to edit?  Well, I have and let me tell you it is a productivity killer - it wastes so much time.   

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Here's the simple fix!!  To restrict Access to only tab through (or only tab to) fields that you will actually edit:  In "Design View" highlight the field(s) that will not be edited.  Click "Property Sheet", on the right of the screen click the "Other" tab.  Choose "no" from the "Tab Stop" dropdown list, then press "enter".  That's it - problem solved - "tab stop" is disabled and now Access will only go to the fields that will be edited, even if it is only one (1) field.  Isn't that great!!  I think so! 

Week 9 - Clear: Days May Be Numbered for Silicon Computer Chips

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48329209@N03/4427797042/sizes/z/in/photostream/ 

by  Tomizak 

Changing the Rules for Production & Mother Nature's Laws of Physics & Quantum Tunneling Will All Contribute to Silicon Valley's Eventual Demise or Transformation!!! 



Wow!  Or should I say, whew!!
Most of this week's material wasn't totally muddy but it definitely wasn't crystal clear either - more like blurry - but very, very fascinating. I hope that I am around to see how some of the theories, new technologies and predictions play out - especially those involving Moore's Law - Gordon Moore's observation that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two (2) years.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwa23/85298610/sizes/z/in/photostream/

                            by schwa23 

In Electronics Magazine, Moore stated "transistors per chip, a proxy for power, would double every two years", which Carver Mead, a CalTech Professor and chip entrepreneur dubbed "Moore's Law".    The Business World gives Moore's Law the following definition:  Chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months or next generation chips today should be twice as fast but cost the same as chips from eighteen months ago.
 
   
Consumer demand for smaller, faster, more powerful, yet cheaper chips seems to be the driving force that has given Moore's Law a bountiful playing field for decades but it appears that all may be coming to a screeching halt.  As computer chips are produced smaller and more powerful, size, heat, and power all become significant stumbling-blocks to the possibility of Moore's Law continuing to apply.  The laws of physics (a chip's pathway can never be smaller than a single molecule) and quantum tunneling (Mother Nature has set the actual physical limit - which in all probability is larger than a single molecule - so chip pathways can never be smaller than this without spontaneous disruption of its electrons), are both indicators that silicon computer chips' days may be numbered.  Will Silicon Valley just gracefully bow down or stand up and fight, getting into the game by embracing new technologies, principles, materials, etc. - new rules - all for the production of next generation computer chips which satisfies consumer demand? 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/5188529284/sizes/o/in/photostream/

by pennstatelive  

Efforts to overcome the speed bumps of shrinking silicon chips are already underway and have been for some time now.  Solutions which include the graphene wafer (pictured left), three dimensional transistors like Intel's "3-D Tri-Gate", protein computers, DNA computers, optimum computers, quantum computers and many others are on the horizon. 

The fight is on... 

Excel Project: Why Work Harder When You Can Work Smarter?!

Use "EXCEL" - One of the Most Powerful Applications in the Arsenal of Business Tools  

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Excel is one of the most useful software tools available today!  VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet application which simply crunched numbers, provided bankers, accountants, financial managers and others with the power to work more efficiently with numbers.  Making it possible for users to not only perform simple, mathematical calculations like addition, subtraction, division and multiplication more quickly but to also do it accurately - even when handling a large amount of information. 

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

While Excel still provides the same functions provided by VisiCalc, Excel also provides users with so much more.  With Excel, one has the ability to perform much more complex mathematical functions which utilizes logic, financial and statistical formulas.  Excel also provides the tools necessary to analyze and comprehensively display information using charts, graphs, tables and pivot tables.  Excel is very user-friendly and provides a function library which makes it easy for users to find the needed syntax (correct format) for any formula.  Or users can press the "F1" key for access to Excel's built-in "Help and How-to" library.     

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Over the last couple of weeks I have used Excel to complete a class assignment and it was obvious to me that Excel's functionality is one of the reasons why it is such a useful and popular tool.  Excel is utilized by many different entities (charities, schools, hospitals, banks, and businesses of all types - large and small, etc.) and also across all industries.  Excel gives entities the power of processing and analyzing data with just a few key strokes. 

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

I used Excel's various methods of displaying information to create all the images shown in this blog.  The first one is the result of a pivot table and the others are that same information displayed differently.  This is my favorite function of Excel because it is so flexible and it only takes a few seconds to display information in a very useful way - which is why Excel is also the top choice for anyone who needs to analyze and display information. 

Excel definitely allows users to work SMARTER and not HARDER...

Live Meeting Blog - UF to Take On-line Classes to New Level

UF On-line Students Soon to Gain Real-Time Learning Experience! 

I am really excited about UF's plans to change how students participate in on-line classes!  Students choose on-line classes for various reasons - i.e.:  "I need this class to graduate and it's only available on-line this semester", or "I take on-line classes as a part of the curriculum for UF's Online Business Administration Program", or "Right now, I have to work to support myself and take care of my responsibilities, so I need to take classes which affords my schedule the most flexibility", or "I cannot afford to live on nor commute to campus so I take classes on-line" - usually flexibility and convenience are the most often cited reasons.  No matter the student's purpose for choosing on-line classes in lieu of traditional attendance, UF's goal is to significantly enrich the student's on-line experience by utilizing technology to eliminate the trade-off of the loss of the live connection provided by face-to-face (traditional) classes, which students must give up for their choice of the flexibility of on-line classes. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamishmc/5579387051/sizes/z/in/photostream/

by {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester} 

Over the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to participate in UF's pilot tests of Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, Big Blue Button and Unity (I participated in all except the Unity meetings).  All four (4) offers technology which will allow on-line students to interact and experience real-time (live) class sessions via their web application.  UF hopes that one (1) of these web meeting / synchronous learning tools will meet/exceed the University's requirements and students' needs, and can be utilized to provide a real-time learning experience to on-line students. 

The pilot was carried out via live web meetings for all four (4) web applications.  The meetings were hosted on various days and at various times by the instructors for ISM 3004.  The access information and the schedules (the dates were also provided in the syllabus) for the live meetings were broadcasted on the ISM 3004 class website (home page) and attendance was random as students were free to exercise choice and could choose to attend or not attend any meeting.  At the conclusion of each meeting, students were required to complete surveys geared to collect information regarding the students experience with the tool.  Below, please find my opinion/experience with each: 

Unity:  As I stated before, I didn't participate in the Unity meetings - there were two (2) opportunities provided (the same number as provided for the other tools).  I had a quiz during the first one but from what students who did attend have said, I didn't miss anything because there were issues and it never really got started.  I did attend the second opportunity but it seems that history repeated itself - there were issues again which could not be resolved within the necessary time-frame. 

Cisco WebEx:  It was really neat to be able to see not only the instructor but any student with a webcam powered up.  And there was a list of everyone in attendance so even if they didn't use a webcam you could still use text or voice to communicate with them.  Utilizing Cisco WebEx: we could take and get immediate results for polls; we could write on whiteboards; share our desktop or just an application on our computer with the entire class; chat/send text messages to the entire class, just to the instructor or to a specific student; we could share a file or web content and the presenter could be switched from the instructor to a student.  Overall, I thought Cisco WebEx was okay, it did seem a little awkward to use and it would be nice if more than one (1) person at one time could be a presenter as this would be very helpful during group projects. 

http://www.timothyedwarddowns.com/Tim_Downs_Portfolio/illo/Pages/infog.html#34
*Image by Timothy Downs. Written Permission granted for reused with attribution.

Big Blue Button:  It was also really neat to be able to see not only the instructor but any student with a webcam powered up. There also was a list of everyone in attendance so even if they didn't use a webcam you could still use text or voice to communicate with them. Utilizing Big Blue Button basically offers the same core interactions: we could take and get immediate results for polls; we could write on whiteboards; share our desktop or just an application on our computer with the entire class; chat/send text messages to the entire class, just to the instructor or to a specific student; we could share a file or web content and the presenter could be switched from the instructor to a student. Overall for me, Big Blue Button would be the one I'd least likely choose, only one person could annotate at a time and this annoying and very distracting "beep" sounded every time someone entered the meeting.  I do not think that this would facilitate learning as your concentration is constantly being broken.... 

Adobe Connect:  And last but certainly not least as this turned out to be my choice of the three (3) tools I evaluated.  Utilizing Adobe Connect also provided the same benefits as the other tools - being able to see not only the instructor but any student with a webcam powered up.  A list of everyone in attendance was also provided so you could still use text or voice to communicate with other students not using a webcam.  Utilizing Adobe Connect does offer the same core interactions: we could take and get immediate results for polls; we could write on whiteboards; share our desktop or just an application on our computer with the entire class; chat/send text messages to the entire class, just to the instructor or to a specific student; we could share a file or web content, however, it also offered more.  Everyone could be presenters, everyone can attend the main room our a breakout sessions as instructed.  And everyone could control a whiteboard. Overall for me, Adobe Connect would be the one I'd most likely choose, because it seems to offer more tools that really facilitate easier team collaborations and feel more like the interaction in a face-to-face class....

This technology will make it much easier for on-line students to work on group projects requiring a team of students to collaborate.  For on-line classes like finance, math, accounting, computing, and any of the other classes requiring extensive explanation and or demonstration, the on-line student will be provided a better resource of help and assistance.  All that being said, whether, UF chooses one of the tools discussed above or a totally different one I know that the addition of the live web meeting / synchronous learning tools will drastically improve the student's on-line experience - taking on-line classes to new levels...


*Timothy Downs written consent for reused by Hawiane Tidwell with attribution: