A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!
How does it work? Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.
Keep in mind that the interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
Week One
Lesson 01 - Reviewing Terms and Importing Data
Wednesday
In this lesson, you'll review Access key concepts and terminology. You'll also learn how to share data between Access and other applications. The objects you import in this lesson will be the basis of a project that you'll work on for the rest of the course.
Lesson 02 - Key Fields and Action Queries
Friday
You'll learn how to set up key fields in tables, plus you'll use action queries to quickly and easily manipulate multiple-table records with one command.
Week Two
Lesson 03 - Relationships of the Database Kind
Wednesday
What are table relationships, and what does referential integrity mean? It's time to find out how and why to use these features.
Lesson 04 - Creating and Modifying Forms
Friday
Forms are the user-friendly gateway to Access table data. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create and modify forms and make them easy to use.
Week Three
Lesson 05 - Subforms and the Tab Control
Wednesday
In this lesson, you'll learn how to add a subform to a main form without the wizard, and you'll use the Tab control to arrange form data.
Lesson 06 - Queries
Friday
You've already learned to put data into your database in an efficient way. In this lesson, you'll learn about query joins and data functions. These tools will help you get timely, high-quality data out of your database, so you see all the data you want and none of the data you don't want.
Week Four
Lesson 07 - Query Calculations
Wednesday
Suppose your boss tells you, "I want a list of the customers who placed the most orders and a separate list of the customers who spent the most overall." How can you find these answers quickly and accurately? Access comes to your rescue again! In this lesson, you'll explore Access functions, crunch numbers with the best of them, and even design a mathematical formula of your own.
Lesson 08 - Summary Queries
Friday
In this lesson, you'll build powerful, fast summary queries that total, count, or average the values in a set of records. You'll also discover the power of the crosstab query, which can not only summarize data but also rearrange it so that it becomes easier to understand. Finally, you'll add query parameters that allow you to change a query's criteria without altering its design.
Week Five
Lesson 09 - Building Reports That Pinpoint Key Information
Wednesday
In this lesson, you'll use the Report Wizard to build a basic report. You'll then fine-tune what you've built and learn some tips and tricks about building Access reports. Finally, you'll learn about a fantastic tool—conditional formatting, which allows you to visually identify key report data. With a few clicks, your report will change from a mass of numbers to a map of trends and changes that affect your business.
Lesson 10 - Run Reports from a Custom Dialog Box
Friday
Just about every time you run a report, you'll want to limit the data it displays. You might want to see only a certain customer or a particular month and year. In this lesson, you'll build a dialog box that allows the user to run reports based on custom-built criteria.
Week Six
Lesson 11 - Using Visual Basic to Automate the Reports Dialog Box
Wednesday
Visual Basic is a powerful programming language that allows database developers to automate simple and complex tasks. In this lesson, you'll learn a little bit about Visual Basic, using it to make the reports dialog box you built earlier fully functional.
Lesson 12 - Putting It All Together
Friday
If you're creating a database for others, you must make it easy to use—and as you may remember, Access can look intimidating to a newbie! In this lesson, you'll build a navigation form that directs users to the forms and reports they need. You'll also set up a database for shared use and modify the startup options.