About Tables

Similar to a traditional spreadsheet, a table is a collection of fields (columns) and records (rows). Each table contains information about a single topic or entity and a database is simply a collection of these tables. By using separate tables for each topic or entity, your data is stored only once. This results in a more efficient database and reduces the chance of data redundancy or errors in data entry.

If your data will reside only on MS Access, you can create tables using the data import function provided by Access. The imported data can be modified as needed in the same way you would modify any other tables in Access.

Database Table Design

A properly designed database is critical to ensure increased efficiency and capacity, as well as reducing the maintenance and risk of database corruption. While many people create simple databases in MS Access, a complex database structure requires careful planning and design. Please contact us if you need to create a complex database and let our experienced DBAs assist you with creating a relational database designed specifically to meet your business requirements.

Our team of experts are familiar with design techniques such as the use of numeric index pointers to increase the data display, and auto number fields in order to link related tables. Our experts also know that some standard  techniques used in the past such as duplicating primary key fields in subordinate tables could result in serious and time consuming problems if a key field was later changed. In this case our team would use a more efficient  approach by creating an alternate key (or pseudo key as it is called), using the auto number field, which is completely independent of the table data.

Refer to the links below for more examples of table designs in MS Access:

  • Table Relationships Set-up
  • Table Design Normalization

Connecting to a variety of Data

MS Access is able to connect to a wide variety of data and database formats. Find out more by selecting the link below:

  • Connecting to other Databases

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