Products Vs Parts - Inventory in Microsoft Access


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Products Vs Parts

Shallena Ayers

4 months ago

For my Mobile Dog Grooming with a Boutique database we will have Consumable Items we purchase to use for the business (Shampoos, sissors etc), Products we purchase wholesale to resell (Brushes, dog toys etc) and Parts that we will put together to make a product to sell (Clothing, Rhinestones, Vinyl, drinkware etc). Is it better to keep each group of items separate for inventory tracking (their own tables, queries and forms) or is it better to keep them together and maybe add a field/ID to say that this is a consumable, product or part? I am going back and trying to put together a workable inventory management section to my database and am trying to figure out which videos to watch and the best order but then should i go through the videos once for consumables, once for products and once for parts. Any advice would be great! **Richard, I selfishly vote for the first Path after the ABCD database is built to be the inventory/manufacturing one

Sami Shamma @Reply

4 months ago

Without you going into further details about your db, my general recommendation would be to have all those items in one table and have an identifier that tells you what type of product it is.

You will cut down on the number of tables, forms and processes. Not to mention, I can imagine that you can purchase from one supplier products that fit multiple categories on one purchase order. With Filtering and Clever Search Form, you will be able to find what you're looking for easily.

For products that you put together to sell, you may want to consider adding a bill of materials. Where you define a new product that is made out of other product components. For that, you basically need just one more table.

Best of luck.

	Sami Shamma @Reply 4 months ago
I forgot to mention that it will make your generation of invoices to your customers significantly easier.

	Shallena Ayers OP @Reply 4 months ago
Thank you Sami, I have started and stopped so many times I need to clean up my mess I made and just go in one direction... My indecision and lack of experience has caused a lot of work. But the more times you do something the more it makes sense and the easier it gets right? lol! I appreciate you!

Richard Rost @Reply

4 months ago

You're definitely on the right path. The more you learn, the more you'll see opportunities to improve - and that often means going back and reworking parts of your database. I've restarted my own projects more times than I can count. The key is, you don't want to just rebuild the exact same thing over and over again. That's the old "definition of insanity" - doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Trial and error will teach you a lot, but it's also worth learning from outside sources - videos, books, examples, whatever you can get your hands on. Each time you revisit your design with new knowledge, you're not just redoing it... you're making it better. That's how you end up with something really solid in the end.

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