Now Available

Since posting this, I have finished and released version 1 of the Access Project Management Template, complete with a video walkthru and sample database that you can download to try.

Old Post

Hey folks. This is just a quick post to see who's interested in something like this? I put this together for a personal project, and figured some of you might be interested in it. I'm probably not going to take the time to record a step-by-step video on building it. It took me a few hours and I really don't want to do it again, but I'd do a quick walk-thru video to show you the code in case you want to make modifications.

I did a quick Google search and I'm not seeing a lot out there for this in Access, and the few solutions I did see look like you have to install 3rd party components. What I build it strictly using native Access controls (labels, text boxes, etc.) and is fully customizeable.

Let me know, and if there is enough interest I'll package it up as a template. Also, let me know what features you'd like to see added. Right now it's just a simple proof of concept. You enter in a task description and set the start and end dates (with the mouse if you like). Buttons move left and right in time. What else?

Feature Requests

Timeline in 15min, 30min, hours, days, weeks, months, quarters - I guess the best thing to do would to pick an interval (minute, hour, day, etc.) and how many of those to make each block.
Hide weekends
Assign category, each with color
Mouse hover tooltips with description
Mouse drag to assign hours (not sure I can do this)
Complex Scheduling
Tasks can optionally have a ProjectID and a CustomerID if assigned to a project/customer
Tasks can optionally have one or more EmployeeIDs (analogous to shift hours for scheduling)
Option to not have same employee scheduled for more than 1 task at once (for scheduling purposes - no overlaps)
Add your ideas here.

Complex Scheduling Upload Images Link
Brandon Jackson
12 months ago

Tech Help Idea Complex Scheduling: Hello Mr. Rost! I have done some simple scheduling before on a mechanic shop manager database I built where a certain time slot during a certain day would be booked and not allow for overlapping times. This would then show up on the schedule report for the current day. However, I am now working on a stock database model for doctor's offices and I need to use a complex scheduling system where multiple appointments can be at the same time. For example, if a practice has multiple doctors or several nurses, there may be four or five appointments at 8 am. I feel like I'm on the right path with record sets, but I can't quite figure this one out. Also, I'd like to have some way of displaying this in a "schedule view" or "calendar style view". I did some experimenting with crosstab queries and was on the right track, but honestly, this is a very complex issue lol. I like the challenge though!

Richard Rost
12 months ago

This would be way beyond a TechHelp video, but I could add something like this either to the Planner template or as part of the Developer classes. Basically you'd just need to schedule doctors in one table and then appointments in another. If you don't have enough doctors for that time slot to see patients (assuming one patient per doctor per slot) then give an error message. I like a challenge too. I'll add this to the list. You wouldn't really even need a recordset for it - just a DLOOKUP.

Brandon Jackson
12 months ago

It's good to know I'm on the right track. That's the way I have it set up currently with doctors in one table and appointments in another. Also, knowing it would be way beyond a Tech Help video makes me feel better about it lol.

Alex Hedley
12 months ago

The Access Work Order Seminar covers a concept of finding the next available slot to schedule appointments

Richard Rost
12 months ago

I love Alex. He remembers stuff I put in lessons from 10 years ago that I had completely forgotten about.

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