Introduction
This tutorial can be looked at as giving a guide to users as to when they can most effectively use Access or Excel. It gives scenarios when to apply the two forms of data storage to effectively serve their respective purposes. Access or more officially Microsoft Access refers to a type of management system in a relational database.
This product from Microsoft applies a combination of graphics in the user interfaces together with a database engine called Microsoft Jet. This Relational database is thus one of the Office Suites of Microsoft. On the other hand, Excel could be described as an application mostly used in commercial applications in form of spreadsheets (Holowczak, 2009). It is also used on Microsoft Windows as well as on Mac OS X.
With the above knowledge, the choice between Access and Excel comes down to only a few issues. These issues include data amount that one wants to place under storage or that one wants to manage. Therefore, if the kind of data that you need to store is relational, then Access would be most ideal. On the other hand, Excel would be more ideal for storing structures of data that are flat.
Relational Database
Information or data is usually divided into logical pieces. These separate pieces are usually then placed in tables that are separate from each other. An example of such a database includes a database holding information on sales. In such a scenario, one table would be used to store information on customers. This information could include key facts like names and addresses. Another separate table could then be created to strictly hold information on the customer’s purchases.
Various advantages of such a data structure are quite vividly noticeable. These advantages include making the usage of stored data and information easier. Questions arising from stored data could also be easily answered through analysis. Such information like the top buyers of a certain product can easily be found. Additionally, the accuracy of the data is more guaranteed under this model. This is from the fact that users are somehow unable to insert data in incorrect tables.
Flat data structure
This refers to a non-related list of information or data. A more common example could include a list of one’s relatives or friends. A more practical example is a list of groceries that one might want to purchase at a local grocery store. From the above definition and examples, one fact stands out i.e. these structures are for holding data that can be easily created and maintained. However, the above holds provided the amount of information is not a lot.
From the definition of what a flat data file is, a conclusion can be drawn that a relational database is a combination of several flat files. However, the catch is that no relation is needed for data that is stored in a flat-file. This is unlike data stored in a relational data structure. These flat files are best manipulated in Excel
Data Structures
Several scenarios would certainly need relational data structures. These scenarios include situations when a lot of data that is repeated is encountered. An example could be if constantly city names or names of countries are entered into a data storage location. Such names could be placed on a new table. This would lead to saving a lot of time i.e. same information will not have to be entered now and again. The second scenario would be when it is necessary to perform tracking of actions. If these scenarios seem not to apply, then flat files ought to be used.
Other reasons that are usually put into consideration while choosing a data structure include whether data is to be stored and managed or analysis performed on it. If the analysis is to be performed, Excel could be the most ideal otherwise, use Access. Additionally, data that is numeric can easily be stored in Excel. Access on the other hand is most ideal for storing enormous text amounts. This is especially from the fact that excel was designed to perfume calculations that are the most sophisticated (Microsoft Corporation, 2011).
Access can be used if one feels the need to offer assistance to users while entering data. This is from the fact that forms could be created to make this process easier and more accurate. In case there is a need for the generation of reports, then one is advised to use Access. Additionally, if there is a need for connection of one data source to several users or if there is a need to connect several different sources of data. Excel on the other hand is perfect if data is mostly integers. It can help in the visual representation of data through bars, charts, etc. additional reports on PivotTables and Charts are easily attained.
Conclusion
This tutorial was very informative and easy to comprehend. This is especially from the fact that I easily answered the questions at the end of the tutorial and got all of the questions right. It also helped to differentiate between relational and flat data structures in a not-so-technical manner.
References
Microsoft Corporation (2011). Choose between Access and Excel. Web.
Holowczak, R. (2009). Microsoft Access Tutorial. Web.