Denver Area Access Users Group

Learn about the existing option of deploying the full richness of MS Access using your existing Desktop Application. This covers existing Microsoft technologies used by many companies today. Hear how this option can lower the Total Cost of Ownership for Access applications. It also streamlines MS Access desktop deployment and increases security.

The presentation will cover actual MS Access Developer’s history of deploying Access 97 through Access 2013 over Citrix. It includes the concept of split-databases with MS Access Databases and SQL Server Database. We will cover the lessons learned for successful deployment. Expect a top-level design concept geared for Access Programmers. There will be useful code tips and tricks that enhance the thin-client experience.

Robert Miller was one of the early MCSD, MCT, MCP in Office 95, 97, and 2000 with SQL Server and Citrix experience. As a MCP, one of his specialties was the Excel Object Model Programming. He traveled an average off 32 weeks per year around the country for six years. His consulting experience typically includes SQL Server, MS Access, Excel Objects, and Citrix (Cloud) applications used nationally. In his spare time, he authored a popular interactive Test Preparation for MS Access and the Windows Architecture I & II that was required for the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer. His latest project is developing a Rules Based Engine for Compliance Management in a SQL Server / Access national application that is rich in customized Excel reports.

Access Web Apps present a challenge for many developers. How do they fit into the spectrum of business solutions? In this talk, DAAUG member George Young will review the critiques of Access Web Apps. He will demonstrate various ways to extend Access Web Apps well beyond SharePoint/Office 365, including a full Access 2013 Client application, an Excel Workbook, an ASP.NET MVC Web Application, and an ASP.NET Web API service driving a Windows 8 application.

George Young first encountered Microsoft Access when using the early versions of Office to teach Statistics and MIS in the early 1990’s. It’s been true love ever since! George has worked as a software developer for the past twenty years, including twelve at Microsoft (in just about every group other than Office). He is currently an independent consultant living at 6700 feet in Castle Rock, Colorado, working primarily on .NET applications. George still has a commercial site or two that is driven by an Access database sitting in the server file system.

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In this talk, C# and Visual Basic author Rod Stephens discusses some database design issues. In the first half of the talk, Rod will review database normalization. He’ll describe the first, second, and third normal forms. He’ll explain how they help make a database powerful and flexible while preventing potentially disastrous problems. He’ll also explain situations where you may prefer to live on the edge and partly denormalize a database. If time permits (and anyone is still awake), he’ll briefly describe elusive higher degrees of normalization.

After a break for cookies and caffeine, the second part of the talk will begin with a brief summary of three general approaches to database design: existing data centered, UI centered, and database centered. He’ll then lead the group in an attempt to design a database from scratch.

Rod Stephens started out as a mathematician, but while studying at MIT, discovered how much fun programming is and has been programming professionally ever since. During his career, he has worked on an eclectic assortment of applications in such fields as telephone switching, billing, repair dispatching, tax processing, wastewater treatment, concert ticket sales, cartography, and training for professional football players.

Rod has been a Microsoft Visual Basic Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for more than 12 years and has taught introductory programming. He has written 28 books that have been translated into languages from all over the world, and more than 250 magazine articles mostly covering Visual Basic, C#, Visual Basic for Applications, Delphi, and Java. Rod’s popular VB Helper web site (http://www.vb-helper.com) receives several million hits per month and contains thousands of pages of tips, tricks, and example programs for Visual Basic programmers, as well as example code for this book. His C# Helper web site (http://www.csharphelper.com) contains similar material for C# programmers. You can contact Rod at Rod Stephens at C# Helper or Rod Stephens at VB Helper.

Successful mobile app development is becoming less about programming skill and more about good design and execution. Microsoft has recently released a browser-based mobile app development tool for Windows Phone and Windows 8. In this workshop Microsoft Technical Evangelist Randy Guthrie will show how quick and easy it is to get your first app into the marketplace, and along with it share the essentials of app marketing and key strategies for driving downloads.

Randy Guthrie is a Technical Evangelist for Microsoft Corporation. In this role, Randy provides academic and research support to faculty and students at schools in the western United State. Randy’s research interests include Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Technology Pedagogy and his current technology passion is Windows 8 app development. Prior to his working at Microsoft, Randy was a professor at Cal Poly Pomona, where he taught software engineering, programming and information systems courses. During his tenure at Cal Poly, Randy was also the volunteer Director of a community employment center, which helps explain why he commonly can be found giving career workshops to tech students and IT professional groups. Before his appointment at Cal Poly, Randy spent thirteen years working for the Northrop Grumman Corporation, where he was a contract manager on the Stealth Bomber project, a project manager, and financial analyst. Randy earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the University of La Verne in 1991, an MBA in 1998 from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a PhD in Information Science in 2007 from the School of Information Science and Technology at Claremont Graduate University. Randy currently resides in Denver, Colorado with his wife Jane and daughter Molly, where he can be found training for sprint triathlons when it’s warm and skiing when it’s cold.

Armen will present tips and tricks for making your Access applications more robust and easier for your users. Topics covered will include navigation techniques, database design ideas and UI improvements. Example code will be available to attendees.

Armen Stein is the founder and president of J Street Technology, a Microsoft Partner located near Seattle. J Street is a team of developers with expertise in custom Access desktop and ASP.NET web applications. Armen is a Microsoft Certified Professional and an Access MVP, and has spoken at many user groups and conferences, including Microsoft TechEd, Office DevCon in Australia, the PAUG Conference, and the UK Access User Group in London. He also organizes Access Day, a one-day conference devoted to Microsoft Access, and is co-author of Access 2007 VBA Programmer’s Reference (Wrox). His other interests include travel, photography, backgammon, movies, and driving his 1969 Ford Bronco in the sun.

NOTE: Meeting location change. Due to construction at the Microsoft office, we will be meeting at the Rox Bar & Grill in Littleton at the intersection of C-470 and West Ken Caryl Avenue.

Consulting is a great career choice, from the increased pay, (sometimes less), to the flexible hours, (working nights and weekends), you will work with a wide range of customers, (if you can find them), that will lead you to wonder why you didn't start earlier? (and walk away from a cushy job).I would not trade my consulting career for any other choice, I love the rewards and the freedom it provides me, but I've learned the hard way.

In this session you will learn sales, marketing and management strategies to get your practice off the ground, sand traps to avoid along the way and a honest, down to earth assessment of the consulting life. An essential session for those thinking about this choice and/or those who are just starting out. For a preview of this chat please visit Presentation Preview and click on the video halfway down the page.

Juan Soto is the President of IT Impact Inc. and a Microsoft Access MVP. He is also the co-founder of AccessUserGroups.org, an online virtual organization of Access User Groups worldwide. He specializes in Access with SQL Server databases and is a frequent blogger for Microsoft's official Access blog at http://blogs.office.com/?s=juan+soto and at SQL Saturday's across the US. Having the practice since 1994 has taught him to deal with a wide range of issues: managing growth, employees and clients. To learn more about Juan, please visit his blog at AccessExperts.com/blog.

DAAUG President, Jim Pilcher, has a favorite saying: “Code fixes everything!” So, this month let’s get down and dirty with VBA and fix it all! Jim will demonstrate several VBA solutions for common problems and situations encountered by an Access developer. At the end of this presentation, you will never have Access problems again, because everything will be fixed!

Jim Pilcher, the current DAAUG President, is a prominent Microsoft Access developer in the Colorado Front Range, having worked with Access professionally since its introduction in 1992. Jim’s company, DataOne, Inc., maintains a broad clientele base providing database solutions for local and state-wide enterprises, as well as large international companies. A frequent presenter at the Denver Area Access Users Group, Jim has served eight terms as its President, and five terms in other DAAUG capacities. Visit his web site at www.dataonedenver.com

Access offers two kinds of modules: standard modules and class modules. A class module is a great way to encapsulate related functions into a portable, self-contained object. Most developers don’t make use of what class modules have to offer. In this session you will learn why class modules are important. You’ll see how easy it is to create custom objects, properties, methods, and events. You’ll leave the session with several practical examples of how you can benefit from class modules.

Alison Balter is the president of InfoTech Services Group, Inc., a computer consulting firm based in Venice Beach, California. Alison is a highly experienced independent trainer and consultant specializing in Windows applications training and development. During her 28 years in the computer industry, she has trained and consulted with many corporations and government agencies. Since Alison founded InfoTech Services Group, Inc. (formerly InfoTechnology Partners) in 1990, its client base has expanded to include major corporations and government agencies such as Cisco, Shell Oil, Accenture, AIG Insurance, Northrop, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Prudential Insurance, Transamerica Insurance, Fox Broadcasting, the United States Navy, University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others.

Alison specializes in teaching others how to develop Windows and Web applications. She is a leading author of 15 Microsoft Access books and SQL Server books, including Alison Balter's Mastering Access 2003 Development, Alison Balter's Mastering Access 2007 Development, Teach Yourself SQL Server 2005 Express in 24 Hours, Using Access 2010, and Access 2013 Absolute Beginners Guide. Alison is also featured in numerous training videos for both SAMS and Experts Exchange.

Most recently, Alison was given the honor of Microsoft Access MVP for the third year in a row, an honor bestowed on a select few individuals who have donated their time to bettering the development community. She was also selected as 2012/2013 Ventura County Woman Business Owner of the Year. Alison can be reached at alison@techismything.com.

This presentation will show the planning process, made repeatable, for software-application programmers and their team in creating and publishing Application User Guides for their customers.

There are many types of support documentation and this presentation's focus is on the Application End User Guide.

Having good User Guide software documentation frees up the time which programmers usually use to answer real-time end users questions when the user encounters application errors or has questions. A User Guide helps an end user accomplish their work quickly without having to call a developer. A developer is then free to build better, more efficient algorithms.

In the framework of end user application support, there exists Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III, end user support. These tiers help identify the support given to end users with problems and questions when using an application. Programmers usually help solve Tier III or IV level software problems and questions, depending on the size of the company. A User Guide provides Tier I help to the end user.

Overall, good software documentation is specific, concise, and relevant, providing all the information important to the person using the software. The Tier I support level User Guide documentation contains answers for end users of the most frequently asked questions and provides solutions to the most frequently occurring problems. Offloading a programmer from these recurring interruptions is best when provided by a professional technical writer who creates User Guides and other support documentation.

Constance Wells is a leading expert on technology management of large-scale efforts comprising portfolios of projects for government and business requiring contractual documentation (System Guides, User Manuals, Quick Guides, Help Desk Guides, End User Appl Training, etc.). As the owner of Business Intell Technology, Wells partners with executives to meet performance goals, drive change management efforts across the enterprise, write proposals and respond successfully to RFPs. She manages IT portfolio project budgets from $500K to $300 million, builds and leads teams, and recommends the appropriate staff and resource for global IT projects.

No Main Presentation - It's the Annual Christmas Holiday Party! The majority of the meeting is for members and visitors to meet, eat well, relax, and chat.