You have built up an excellent data store

in a spreadsheet application but are now encountering the following problems: -

• You have too many records for the spreadsheet to handle
• There are multiple spreadsheets which all link to each other
• More than 1 user wants to access and edit the information at a time
• Generating reports and observing trends is time consuming
• Data is being input inconsistently or being left blank

Although spreadsheets are excellent and have functionalities to resolve most of these, it may be time to consider using a database to capture this information instead.

The database can be simply a basic data entry table with no user-friendly interface input screens. Even this simple solution can provide added value to the quality of your data by dictating which fields are mandatory, the format of each field, date range restrictions and lookup lists of finite values for consistency and speed of input.

Case Study – CHCC Spreadsheets – imported into access to create reports, run data validation checks, link history of patients, perform analysis of implant life.

Case Study– NJR weekly data – flat file received each week of all hospital submission data, imported into Access with date stamp. Generated queries to analyse trends, monitor performance.