Microsoft Access Data Analysis: Unleashing the Analytical Power of Access

• Go beyond Excel(r) with Access's more powerful analysis capabilities
• Get better visibility into your data with custom views
• Scale up your data pool without limitation
• Master the four fundamentals of data analysis
• Discover shortcuts with the helpful Input Mask Wizard
• Integrate your data with the web and enterprise data sources
• Avoid the common pitfalls of data crunching
• Harness VBA to improve data analysis
• Leverage information from the field with real-world scenarios

Companion web site
See examples from this book firsthand, in our companion web site at www.wiley.com/go/accessdataanalysis. The site also includes templates and tools to get you started.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Wonderful!, 2008-05-02
So, there you are at your Access job interview. You are a whiz at VBA, ODBC, SQL queries that boggle the mind and creating cool forms. And the hiring manager hands you over to the IT team you'll be working with, Data Analysts who know their numbers inside and out and how to wrangle them.
The IT leader says, "OK, please show me how to build an Access Pivot Table - with parameters. Nothing complex, just a simple example."

You give her blank look. Huh? "OK..a pivot table..yeah..ummm...I think I can do that.." And you fumble and stumble through the process until the Team Leader sighs and says, "OK, we'll skip this. Do you have any questions for me?". And you, blushing with embarrasment, are toast.

Why? Because you forgot about the DATA!

And how to manipulate it. You've been pre-occupied so long with cool tricks to make your db app do neat things, that you forgot that people have to take data from a raw source and present it in a meaningful way.
This great book, from Michael Alexander is NOT another whiz-bang developer book, but an intro to Access for Data Analysts.

Alexander takes you from simple concepts to intermediate areas like pivot tables and sub-queries, etc. to advanced topics like VBA and automation.
Everything from soup to nuts, but, the difference is, doing something really USEFUL, instead of making you wade through complex ODBC setups and the like.

For me, an IT consultant, this book was like a refresher, taking me down familiar paths and concepts but reminding me that it's the DATA in the end that really counts here.

If you are a DA who works with Costpoint, etc. you'll really appreciate this book, because it gives you an alternative to working with those blasted limited Excel sheets when your manager finally realizes that Excel isn't cutting it for archiving your growing sheets.


3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Well organized but poor explanations for "on the go" use. , 2007-07-08
Perhaps the biggest short coming of this book is the author's assumption that you will sit down and read the book from cover to cover. He writes each chapter under the assumption that you have just finished the chapter before and completed all prior exercises. Rather than explaining concepts "cold turkey" he references earlier examples and give short, curt explanations for functionality. If you're in the working world and need a quick answer, this is not the book for you. You're better off with another book of even Access help on Microsoft's web site. Although the author clearly knows his material, this book is only best used in a classroom setting and not for real-world reference.


0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Very useful book, 2007-06-02
Yes, that's a very useful book. And the title don't lies, is a book for people that know the basics of access and wants to walk on the possibilities on data analysis.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

For Intermediate Users, 2007-05-12
This book is not for novices. However, slack a bit of deep programming. This book shows you the power inside MS Accesss through the macros and wizards. Show you the first steps in order to master Access to do what you want.
If you seek more programming tips, you will need other book. However, it's a great book.




3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Great book., 2007-04-16
I just bought this book for 28 USD, and when I got it I thought it had not much content. As I flipped through its pages, I found out it only describes how to use Access, but it has not many application examples, if any.

This makes sense, because statistics and its presentation tools as are pivot tables and pivot charts in their varied forms, are user and application specific. So, this book is small with merely 12 chapters in or around 338 pages and the rest of the book to complete the 486 pages of content is made up of apendices, meaning that it's more of a reference book to whet your appetite to use Access as a Data Analysis tool and move away from Excel, which I strongly, strongly recommend you do as soon as possible for the power of Access as a fully functional database software.

Overall, it's a very good book, but I gave it a 4 out of 5, because if you already use pivot tables and pivot charts in Access, you will mostly be using the apendices for reference on formulas and VBA functions, which is a little overpriced for what it delivers. If you already use access to analyze data to the pivot table and charts level, you won't be needing much of its content, so I'd recommend you buy a used copy of the book.

Otherwise, if you're ready to move to data analysis from Excel to Access, this is the book for you to get you started and making you a true expert in managing Access' powerful features.

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