Software version number: 97

Course length: 1 day(s)

Prerequisites: Access 97: Level 1 (Windows 95) or equivalent knowledge.

Delivery method: Instructor-led, group-paced, classroom-delivery learning model with structured hands-on activities.

Benefits: Students will learn how to take the guesswork out of creating databases by using data-normalization techniques. They will learn how to take advantage of relational database efficiency to maintain data. In addition, students will be able to save time by controlling data entry and automating tasks. Students will also benefit by becoming familiar with Access features that will enable them to customize forms and reports.

Target student: Students enrolling in this course should understand the basics of creating and using database objects, including tables, queries, forms, and reports.

What's next: Students who want to learn advanced features can take the third course in this series, Access 97: Advanced (Windows 95). In that course, students learn to create advanced queries, create more efficient forms and reports, and work with macros. The final course in this series, Access 97: Introduction to Application Design (Windows 95), teaches students to create custom applications.

Performance-based objectives

Lesson objectives help students become comfortable with the course, and also provide a means to evaluate learning. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Normalize sample tables by identifying design problems.
• Establish relationships between tables by analyzing table relationships and enforcing referential integrity.
• Customize table designs by setting field properties to maintain data integrity and by creating indexes.
• Design select queries by using multiple tables to calculate, group, average, and concatenate values and to show top values.
• Customize form designs by creating calculated fields, combo boxes, and unbound controls.
• Display table information that has a one-to-many relationship by creating forms that contain subforms.
• Customize report designs by grouping, sorting, and summarizing data, and by adding subreports.

Course content

• Normalizing data
• Normalizing data for fourth and fifth normal forms

Lesson 2: Principles of table relationships

• Analyzing table relationships
• Establishing and testing referential integrity

Lesson 3: Table design techniques

• Data validation techniques
• Indexing techniques

Lesson 4: Designing select queries

• Working with calculations
• Creating multiple-table queries

Lesson 5: Enhanced form design

• Customizing the form design
• Adding calculations to a form
• Adding combo boxes to a form
• Adding unbound controls

Lesson 6: Subform design

• Creating a form that contains a subform
• Using the Form Wizard to create a form that contains a subform

Lesson 7: Customizing reports

• Customizing a report created by the Report Wizard
• Subreports

Appendix A: Using the Chart Wizard