Access database for non-profit basic human needs agency

[Bob Alston]

I am looking for any Microsoft Access based software that could be used
for a United Way agency that provides basic needs assistance - food,
clothing, financial (rent, utilities, Rx, gasoline, etc). Preferably
free. Definitely with source code as we would most likely want to
customize it.

Are you aware of such?

Bob

[Salad]

Bob Alston wrote:

I am looking for any Microsoft Access based software that could be used
for a United Way agency that provides basic needs assistance - food,
clothing, financial (rent, utilities, Rx, gasoline, etc). Preferably
free. Definitely with source code as we would most likely want to
customize it.

Are you aware of such?

Bob

No, I am not aware of such a program. I'd wager there is one out there.

You may want to try http://www.tucows.com/business.html and see if there
are any apps already available.

If there isn't, and your needs aren't excessive, you should
tell/describe what data you need to track, what OS and Office versions
you are using. Maybe something could be cobbled together for you.

[Bob Alston]

Salad wrote:

Bob Alston wrote:

I am looking for any Microsoft Access based software that could be
used for a United Way agency that provides basic needs assistance -
food, clothing, financial (rent, utilities, Rx, gasoline, etc).
Preferably free. Definitely with source code as we would most likely
want to customize it.

Are you aware of such?

Bob

No, I am not aware of such a program. I'd wager there is one out there.

You may want to try http://www.tucows.com/business.html and see if there
are any apps already available.

If there isn't, and your needs aren't excessive, you should
tell/describe what data you need to track, what OS and Office versions
you are using. Maybe something could be cobbled together for you.

Thanks. Nothing in Tucows.
I am planning to create such an app. Just trying to do my homework first.

Bob

[Allen Browne]

Hi Bob

If you do proceed to create this yourself, the relational design is the most
important part of the project.

The basic design would probably include tables like this:
- Clients, where a "client" may be an individual, an organization (such as a
school), or possibly even a villiage.

- Projects, where you agree to help a client, either as a one-off or over
time.

- Assistance: an instance of assistance give to a client on a date as part
of a project.

- AssistanceDetai l: a listing of the item(s) included in the assistance on
that date, including fields for the Product given (rice, anti-malaria
tablet, US dollars) and Quantity.

- Products: a record for each type of help offered, possibly belonging to
ProductCategory , and with a field that identifies the Unit of measure for
this product (e.g. litres for fuel, tons for rice, ...)

The important bit is that there must be only one place where you query all
the Assistance/AssistanceDetai l information, not different tables for
different types of help offered. It is not always easy to get a field
structure that is flexible enough for this, and it may even be necessary to
create further related ProductXXX tables to handle the fields specific to
different types of product, but the core Assistance tables must be
centralized so you can query them and produce reports summarizing the help
given in a date period (for example).

If that's all familiar territory, you'll be fine. If it sounds really odd,
please follow through those ideas which fall under the general category of
normalization and are one of the basic skills for getting a successful
database.
There will be much more than that: for example there may be budgets
associated with projects, funding sources, donors, campaigns, and so on.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

"Bob Alston" <tu**********@c ox.net> wrote in message
news:dsBjd.4853 1$_g6.27680@oke pread03...

Salad wrote:

Bob Alston wrote:

I am looking for any Microsoft Access based software that could be used
for a United Way agency that provides basic needs assistance - food,
clothing, financial (rent, utilities, Rx, gasoline, etc). Preferably
free. Definitely with source code as we would most likely want to
customize it.

Are you aware of such?

Bob

No, I am not aware of such a program. I'd wager there is one out there.

You may want to try http://www.tucows.com/business.html and see if there
are any apps already available.

If there isn't, and your needs aren't excessive, you should tell/describe
what data you need to track, what OS and Office versions you are using.
Maybe something could be cobbled together for you.

Thanks. Nothing in Tucows.
I am planning to create such an app. Just trying to do my homework first.

Bob

[Bob Alston]

Allen Browne wrote:

Hi Bob

If you do proceed to create this yourself, the relational design is the most
important part of the project.

The basic design would probably include tables like this:
- Clients, where a "client" may be an individual, an organization (such as a
school), or possibly even a villiage.

- Projects, where you agree to help a client, either as a one-off or over
time.

- Assistance: an instance of assistance give to a client on a date as part
of a project.

- AssistanceDetai l: a listing of the item(s) included in the assistance on
that date, including fields for the Product given (rice, anti-malaria
tablet, US dollars) and Quantity.

- Products: a record for each type of help offered, possibly belonging to
ProductCategory , and with a field that identifies the Unit of measure for
this product (e.g. litres for fuel, tons for rice, ...)

The important bit is that there must be only one place where you query all
the Assistance/AssistanceDetai l information, not different tables for
different types of help offered. It is not always easy to get a field
structure that is flexible enough for this, and it may even be necessary to
create further related ProductXXX tables to handle the fields specific to
different types of product, but the core Assistance tables must be
centralized so you can query them and produce reports summarizing the help
given in a date period (for example).

If that's all familiar territory, you'll be fine. If it sounds really odd,
please follow through those ideas which fall under the general category of
normalization and are one of the basic skills for getting a successful
database.
There will be much more than that: for example there may be budgets
associated with projects, funding sources, donors, campaigns, and so on.

Thanks Allen. What you state sounds familiar and is certainly in line
with my plans. I have used Access for several years now and done a fair
amount with it. Someof the admonitions you mention are problems with
one agency's current implementation (beyond the just plain errors the
prior developer made). I have a preliminary prototype of some of the
app. Mostly looking for what others might have done before me. Either
to use as a base (unlikely but possible) or at least to glean ideas from.

Again, thanks.

Bob

[Bob Alston]

Bob Alston wrote:

I am looking for any Microsoft Access based software that could be used
for a United Way agency that provides basic needs assistance - food,
clothing, financial (rent, utilities, Rx, gasoline, etc). Preferably
free. Definitely with source code as we would most likely want to
customize it.

Are you aware of such?

Bob

So far I have received one reply offering Access database application
code. Let me offer to exchange with anyone who provides me such code, a
copy of the code now in use by one agency and a copy of the prototype I
am building.

Bob Alston