We are announcing a short course, which is taking place in November 2006
at The University of Reading, UK.  Summary information is given below.
For more detailed information and registration forms please see
http://www.reading.ac.uk/ssc/ providing your address and/or fax number, or
email [log in to unmask]

Microsoft® Access for Data Management: A Hands-on Approach
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Date: 20-22 November 2006.  Duration: 3 days.  Price: 270 GBP per day or 720
GBP for all three days.

This is a 3 day course but participants can choose to attend only 1 or 2
days with the understanding those attending just days 2 and/or 3 are assumed
to be familiar with the material covered in day 1.  The content of each day
is as follows:

Day 1:
The theme of this first day is "Data Modelling".  We'll look at examples of
datasets, surveys, etc and try to work out the best "model" for the data in
terms of tables and relationships between them.  For example a survey at the
household level and a survey at the individual level would have a model with
2 tables (entities) and a one-to-many relationship between them (many
individuals in each household).  Once we've covered the concepts of data
modelling we move on to the practicalities of creating the Access database.
We go through creating the tables, including setting data types, field
sizes, etc, and creating the relationships between the tables.  The end
result is a database structure that matches the data model.

Day 2:
Day 2 is all about extracting subsets and summaries from the data using
queries.
We start with simple queries (e.g. listing all the males in the household)
and work up to more complex queries such as how many individuals aged
between 15 and 20, regularly visit the local leisure centre during the
summer.  We learn how to use queries to view related data from several
tables and how to set multiple criteria.
We use queries to summarise the data.  We also look at queries that change
the data - referred to as "Action Queries".  We also try to use queries for
data checking.  The basic theme is asking questions of the data and how to
 phrase the questions so that Access understands what you are asking.

Day 3:
The final day is about creating the user interface.  Basically it's about
creating data entry forms.  We start with simple forms based on a single
table and move on to using sub-forms so that for example you can enter the
individuals in a household at the same time that you enter data at the
household level.  We look at the different types of "control" that are
available and how they should be used.  We look at ways to format the form
using keyboard shortcuts to adjust the layout.  Often you can't fit
everything onto a single form so we look at how to link forms using command
buttons and look at the VBA code underneath the buttons.  Finally we
techniques to prevent unskilled data entry staff from taking the "wrong"
route through the data entry forms.

The course assumes no prior knowledge of Access as we try to start from
first principles; those with previous experience should also be able to pick
up some
useful tips.

Julia Harris
Short Course Administrator
Statistical Service Centre
Tel: 0118 378 8689
Fax: 0118 875 3169