Why Do I Need a Database?
What
is a Database?
A database allows you to
store information related to a specific topic in an organized way. In addition
to storing data, you can also sort, extract, and summarize
information related to the data. One of the software programs that allow you to
do this is Microsoft Office Access 2007, which is a database creation
and management program.
Access 2007 Example
Why
Not Use Excel?
There are many types of data you may
need to store and manage: text and numbers, for example. Depending on what you
want your data to do for you, you may or may not need to use a database. You
might be able to use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. How do
you know which data can be adequately managed with Excel and which data really
requires Access to manage it more efficiently? It depends on how much data you
have to manage, and what you want your data to do for you. Let's try to answer
this by looking at a bookstore scenario.
If you work for a bookstore
business, you might have to keep track of your customers and their orders.
You could use Microsoft Excel to store and manage this type of data; however, Excel is a spreadsheet software program that is traditionally used to manage numerical information, like totaling up all purchases by one customer. While it can do an adequate job at storing some types of text-based data -- like the customer's name and contact information-- that is not really what Excel was designed to do.
You could use Microsoft Excel to store and manage this type of data; however, Excel is a spreadsheet software program that is traditionally used to manage numerical information, like totaling up all purchases by one customer. While it can do an adequate job at storing some types of text-based data -- like the customer's name and contact information-- that is not really what Excel was designed to do.
The following examples will show you
why an Access Database may be a better choice for the bookstore business.
Sorting and Filtering to Locate Data in Excel
In Excel, you can store your data in a worksheet so that you can mail promotional information to the entire list or sort to find specific customers to target mail. You can even filter the customer information to display all the customers that live in a particular state, like in the following image. Additionally, you can sort the data to order it in a particular way.Data Filtered to Display NC State Records
However, if you want to see very specific results in your data, like how many orders a single customer placed in a year, Excel is not as efficient as Access at providing you with that data.
Data Entry in Excel
If you use an Excel spreadsheet to track your
orders, each time a customer places an order, you would have to enter a new row
of information in the spreadsheet. This would likely include the customer's name
and address. If that customer orders from your company more than once, that
information would have to be entered each time. You spreadsheet would contain redundant
information.
Data Sorted By Customer in an Excel Spreadsheet
As you can see in the image above, customers Tonya Bullock and McKenzie Grant each placed several orders on different days and for different books. Their customer contact information was entered every time they placed an order. This is the limitation of spreadsheet software such as Excel because it is a single, flat file.
Access Example: Customers and Orders Tracking
Entering Data in Access
This information is entered into an Access table designed to hold basic customer information on clients. A table is a list of related information in columns and rows. In a table, each row is called a record and each column is called a field . An Access table in Datasheet View looks similar to an Excel spreadsheet, as you can see below.
Data in an Access Customer Info Table
Access is called a relational database management program, because the tables are linked, or related, as you can see in the image below.
In this example, the Customer Info and Orders tables are linked by Customer ID and Book ID.
Table Relationships Diagram in Access
The Customer Info table contains information about the states, and the Order table includes information about which books were ordered. You will need information from both tables to identify the book that was most popular in a specific state.
You could look at the information in these tables separately to answer your question of which book was most popular in North Carolina. In the Customer Info table, you could see all the customers from a specific state, NC. And in the Books table, you can see all the books that you have in stock. The real power of Access comes in being able to link and extract information from multiple tables to answer specific questions.
As you can see below, the results of your specific question, or query, are displayed for you.
Challenge!
Try to answer this questions:
- What is a database?
- What type of software program is Microsoft Office Excel?
- What type of software program is Microsoft Office Access?
- Think of at least two differences between Access and Excel.
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