Real World Access (36)

One of a series of articles about where Microsoft Office Access applications have found a real-world niche.

 Sascha Trowitzsch's Remote Equipment Service

A manufacturer produces machines for industrial application, that fully automate the milling of guitar necks. The sound of the instruments will be optimized this way.

They needed a database to administer all sold machines, their parameters and processes.

I developed an application named "plekBase", based on of Access 2003, which acts as a remote service centre for machine maintenance.

The devices are deployed worldwide.  They produce daily error log reports, and send them by email. "plekBase" receives these emails, records and analyzes them, and notifies technicians about malfunctions and operational deviations.

Based on the data received, the application independently generates a service case if necessary. If a service case is produced, the database reveals all customer's data to the current user technician, who can decide to immediately contact the client via phone with a click of a button (TAPI interface), or send a service enquiry via email.

The database also contains a catalog of all parts of any machine, including pictures, technical drawings, and documentation. This guides the attending technicians with the troubleshooting of specific errors they received.

Technorati tags: Microsoft+Access, Microsoft+MVP, software+development, remote+diagnostics

New Blog - GPG On Access

Hey!  I have noticed that Access MVP George Hepworth (aka Grover Park George) has recently joined the ranks of Access bloggers.  He calls it GPG On Access.

I'll be keeping my eye on his blog. I expect he will be targeting some interesting topics, and he has a great knack for explaining things neatly.

Technorati tags: Microsoft+Access, Microsoft+MVP, blogging, Grover+Park+George

Office 2007 Ribbon Saga

There is some fantastic information available, about the evolution of the Ribbon (Fluent User Interface) for Office 2007.

I first heard about it on Clint's post to the Access Team Blog.

He points to an article by Jensen Harris, Group Program Manager of the Microsoft Office User Experience Team.

And in particular a video of a recent presentation done by Jensen, showing some of the steps in the process of deciding on the Ribbon concept, and putting it together.

(Note: 146 Mb, 70 minutes)

For some reason, this has really caught by imagination, and I have just looked through it a second time.  Even though I had heard about a lot of it before, I have found it totally fascinating to get a glimpse behind the scenes of such a bold process.

It is a very nicely done presentation.

Of course, the Ribbon interface itself has received a mixed reception.  This is not surprising - adjusting to the unfamiliar is always uncomfortable.

Judging by some of the responses to the blog posts mentioned above, there are still a lot of people who are putting up a fight.  Then again, judging by these survey results, they are a minority.

I think there is a lot of good information around, to assist people to learn the Ribbon.  This includes interactive reference guides for finding Office 2003 toolbar and menubar commands in Office 2007 ribbons.  In the case of Access, it is here.

There are some good tools available too, to facilitate customising the Ribbons.  I have used these, and can recommend:
RibbonCustomizer
RibbonCreator

And there are also a number of third-party tools available, which mimic an Office 2003 interface within Office 2007, for those who want to live in the past.

But to suggest that Microsoft might revert to the old style, or provide users with a choice, is away with the fairies.

The Ribbon isn't perfect, and nowhere is that more true than in Access.  I look forward to seeing improvements in due course.

But no matter how much moaning anyone does, what we have now is still a great step forward, from which there will not be any turning back.

My belated congratulations to Jensen Harris and his team at Microsoft, for stepping up to the plate, and doing what had to be done.

Technorati tags: Microsoft+Access, Microsoft+Office, Office+Ribbon, software+development