That Was a Waste of Time
I’ve spent more time than I care to admit digging around an Access database since starting my new job. I’ve gone in and made changes to table structure, queries, reports, etc. Access is a great program. (heh- sure) I’ve learned that you can’t read Microsoft’s instructions and learn anything - that takes external web sites. I once wanted to be able to duplicate certain records in the database and Microsoft’s help excruciatingly detailed how to write a macro. A day later I found there is a built in function that requires as many as three lines of code instead of the 40+ that Microsoft’s web site was forcing me to write.
Of course this is just a prelude to the latest in my work saga. When arrived at work two mornings ago, there was a minor discussion between the Director and my other dispatcher (not #2) that essentially required that I/we make some changes to our trip form. We needed a new section that showed how much we charge the school/team when the driver has to get a hotel or motel room if the trip will go over our legal driving time. This means that I had to modify two trip ticket forms (adding some conditional text - try looking that up) two invoice forms and an invoice summary form. And they all had to calculate correctly.
If you’re not familiar with Access, let me just say that as a database bundle of tools, I’m not overly impressed. Some of that may be how our particular database is set up but I think a hefty portion falls at Bill Gates’ feet. More than one user seems to be able to directly manipulate tables and data - no security, no logging, no audit trail. Row and record logging only take place if you use the entry “forms” and there is nothing that I know of that forces users to use the forms. If you want to modify a form or a report - which are not directly a database functions, but rather are bolted on “features” - all other users have to be logged out of the database or you can’t save your changes. What this all means is that for somewhere around three hours I had to have exclusive access to Access.
Cue the whining. #2 complained that she couldn’t work on her invoices. (We invoice at the end of the month, so she’s either late or early, neither would surprise me). Of course, I was modifying the invoice and invoice summary forms so she couldn’t print those anyway, but she told me that she didn’t want to get “too far behind”.
Part way through, I happened to save the form I was working on and proceeded to the next form and was greeted with the “you do not have exclusive access to the database, you will not be able to save your changes” popup screen. #2 had apparently been attempting to get into the database the whole time I was working on it (six feet away from her) and as soon as the lock would let her she was in there. I, of course, was not done and told her to back out of the database. She went and complained to the boss that I wasn’t letting her get any work done since I locked her out of the database for over two hours - which I found out later. Again, I was modifying the forms that she needed to use so they weren’t accurate and some of the calculations were coming up completely blank. It was completely pointless for her to be in the database at that time; she would be unable to do any work until I was done.
When I had finished my modifications, I told her that she could log in. She spent less than five minutes doing whatever it was she was hounding me about. She spent more time than that three days ago removing staples from single sheets of paper - maybe so they will fit in the file folders easier. Then she was back to browsing Craigslist for boyfriends, reptiles and furniture, reading her email, calling the District Administrative offices to tell them that they had the wrong formula for vacation days alloted (to the tune of a whole hour per year), etc.
