Access 2019 Bible

CHAPTER 12Working with Calculations and Dates

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Using calculations in your analyses
• Using dates in your analyses

The truth is that few organizations can analyze their raw data at face value. More often than not, some preliminary analysis with calculations and dates must be carried out before the big‐picture analysis can be performed. As you'll learn in this chapter, Access provides a wide array of tools and built‐in functions that make working with calculations and dates possible.

ON THE WEB

The database for this walkthrough, Chapter12.accdb, can be downloaded from this book's website. When you use the sample database, you'll be able to open the queries shown in the figures. Some of the queries look a bit different from the screenshots shown here. Don't be alarmed—Access sometimes shuffles around criteria and expressions because of its built‐in query optimizer. The query optimizer is charged with the task of structuring the query in the quickest, most cost‐effective way possible.

Using Calculations in Your Analyses

If you're an Excel user trying to familiarize yourself with Access, one of the questions you undoubtedly have is, “Where do the formulas go?” In Excel, you have the flexibility to enter a calculation via a formula directly into the data set you're analyzing. You can't do this in Access. So, the question is, “Where do you store calculations in Access?”

As you've already learned, things work differently in Access. A best practice when ...