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Comments for Access 328

Age	Subject	From
9 months	Purchase Reorder List Vendor Selection	Shallena Ayers

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Intro

In lesson 328, we will work with reorder levels and vendor information in Microsoft Access, focusing on how to manage purchase orders when stock runs low. I will show you how to determine when products need to be reordered, use a products under-stocked form to track inventory levels, and generate purchase orders to send to vendors. You will learn how to handle interaction between forms and pick up helpful tips, including using triple state checkboxes. This lesson builds on content from Microsoft Access 320 through 327.

Transcript

Welcome to Microsoft Access 328, brought to you by accesslearningzone.com. I am your instructor, Richard Rost.

In today's class, we are going to talk about reorder levels and vendor information. We are going to deal with making purchase orders. That is when you have to order products from a vendor. You are going to send them a purchase order, saying, "I need this much of this product."

We will need to know how much we have in stock, which we already do. Then, I want to know what my reorder level is. In other words, when the stock level gets down to a certain point, order more. That is what our products under-stocked form will tell us.

Then, with that information, I can say, for example, I have 10 keyboards but I need to have 15 keyboards. So I have to add 5 more to a purchase order. That is what the purchase order form will do. There will be lots of interaction between these two forms, and you are going to see all kinds of nifty, neat, new tricks and tips in here.

One such trick I am going to show you is triple state checkboxes. In addition to yes and no, your checkboxes can do something else really cool too. I will show you that in today's class.

This class follows Microsoft Access 320 through 327. I recommend you take all of those classes first before taking this one. Of course, you will need 326, which is the one right before this class where we built a lot of the stuff that you will need in today's class.

In this class, I will be working with Microsoft Access 2003. However, most of the material should be backward compatible with all previous versions of Access, back to about Access 2000.

I strongly recommend you sit back and relax, watch the lesson one time through, then watch it a second time following along with the examples, and build the database that I build in class. Do not try to apply what you learn immediately to whatever other databases you might be working on.

The database files for this class can be found online at accesslearningzone.com/students. You will find a list of all the sample database files there. Again, it is strongly recommended that you build the databases in class that I am building.

If you have any questions about the material covered in today's class, please feel free to post a note in the Student Interaction forums. You will see the Student Interaction forums next to the video window. If you are watching this class on our website or you are using our video player software and you are connected to the internet, you should see the little Student Interaction forums pop up right next to the video player.

If you have any other Access questions, please visit the forums on the website at accesslearningzone.com/forums. We have brand new interactive forums. As of October 2008, I created all brand new forums. You can log on, check them out, and chat with me, other students, and other Access experts.

Of course, I cannot stress enough: do the examples yourself. You will benefit the most by building the databases that I build in class.

Quiz

Q1. What is the main focus of Microsoft Access 328?
A. Creating forms for customer feedback
B. Handling reorder levels and vendor information for purchase orders
C. Setting up user permissions
D. Designing reports for sales

Q2. What is a reorder level in inventory management?
A. The maximum amount of stock you can keep
B. The point where you sell out of all products
C. The stock level at which you should order more products
D. The price at which products should be reordered

Q3. What forms will interact in the Microsoft Access 328 class?
A. Purchase order and invoice forms
B. Products under-stocked form and purchase order form
C. Customer form and vendor form
D. Employee list and attendance form

Q4. What will the purchase order form help you do?
A. Add customers to the database
B. Send invoices to customers
C. Add needed products to a purchase order based on stock levels
D. Calculate employee salaries

Q5. What is one specific new trick you will learn in this class?
A. Creating custom queries
B. Using triple state checkboxes in forms
C. Adding images to reports
D. Connecting to SQL Server databases

Q6. What course is directly recommended as a prerequisite for this class?
A. Access 101
B. Microsoft Access 320
C. Microsoft Access 326
D. Microsoft Access 400

Q7. What is advised before applying lessons to your own databases?
A. Try everything immediately on your main database
B. Watch the lesson and apply modules one by one
C. Watch the lesson once, then a second time while building the class example database
D. Ignore the sample databases and use your own data

Q8. If you have questions during the course, what is the recommended action?
A. Wait until the course is over
B. Email the instructor directly
C. Post a note in the Student Interaction forums
D. Look up the answers elsewhere

Q9. Which versions of Microsoft Access is the material in this class mostly compatible with?
A. Only Access 2003 and newer
B. Only Access 2010
C. Access 2000 and later versions
D. Access 97 only

Q10. Where can you find the sample database files used in the class?
A. On the Microsoft website
B. Through email request
C. At accesslearningzone.com students
D. On social media

Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-B; 4-C; 5-B; 6-C; 7-C; 8-C; 9-C; 10-C

DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Summary

Today's video from Access Learning Zone focuses on reorder levels and managing vendor information within Microsoft Access. In this lesson, I will guide you through the process of creating and handling purchase orders, which involves requesting specific quantities of products from your suppliers.

To manage this effectively, we need to keep track of our current inventory levels, something we have already set up in previous lessons. Now, we are taking it a step further by incorporating reorder levels. This means setting a threshold for each product, so when our stock drops to or below that point, we know it's time to order more. Our form for under-stocked products will help identify which items need to be reordered.

As an example, imagine you currently have 10 keyboards in stock, but your reorder level is set at 15. This tells you that you need to order 5 more keyboards to bring your inventory back up to the desired amount. The purchase order form we build will allow you to efficiently manage these replenishments. You will see how these two forms, the under-stocked products form and the purchase order form, work together seamlessly. Throughout the lesson, I will be sharing a variety of helpful tips and tricks to make your workflow smoother.

One interesting technique we will cover is the use of triple state checkboxes. Traditional checkboxes let you choose between yes and no, but there is a third state that can be very useful in your database design. I will demonstrate how you can take advantage of this feature in Access.

This class builds on the material from Microsoft Access 320 through 327, so if you haven't worked through those yet, I recommend starting there. Specifically, Access 326 contains much of the groundwork you will need for today's lesson. I am using Microsoft Access 2003 for the demonstrations, but the methods shown should work with earlier versions as well, going back to about Access 2000.

For the best learning experience, I suggest you first watch the lesson in its entirety without distractions. Then, watch it again while following along and building the same database that I create during class. Avoid the temptation to immediately apply these new techniques to other ongoing projects until you have practiced them in the context provided.

You can download the sample database files for this class from the student section at accesslearningzone.com. There, you will find all the files you need to follow along. Building the databases together in class will help reinforce everything you learn.

If you have questions about any of the topics we cover, I encourage you to use the Student Interaction forums, which are conveniently located next to the video player if you are viewing from our website or using our software. You can post your questions there and interact with me, as well as other students and Access users. For general Access questions beyond this lesson, visit the forums on the website, which were redesigned in October 2008 to offer a more interactive experience.

Most importantly, make sure to actually work through the examples yourself. You will gain much more by building the same databases that I demonstrate.

A complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions for everything discussed here can be found on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends.

Topic List

Reorder levels and their purpose
Tracking current stock levels
Determining when to reorder products
Using the products under-stocked form
Creating and managing purchase order forms
Linking reorder information to purchase orders
Triple state checkboxes in Access forms
Integrating reorder and purchase order workflows