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Online Data Collection Tools

tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
edited November 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
I work at an association that collects industry data from its members to process into reports for member use. Currently the system we use consists of some in-house designed web pages using Javascript to display data from and write to MS Access databases. Users log into the system with a username/password which allows them to update their records each quarter/year. Each report we do has multiple kinds of information that need to be separated, because they are collected on different levels - hence the need for different tables in each report's Access database. Also Access allows us to easily take that data and turn it into access reports that summarize the data in different ways.

The backend system of Access works well enough for us; I'm not sure if there's a way to improve on that but am welcome to suggestions. The frontend the users work in (in-house designed pages) is horrible and starting to show its age. The pages are ugly and you have to know HTML and Javascript to edit them (I know some but this is not my primary job). They are starting to show their age, don't always work properly, and some users are experiencing errors where all their data is deleted from the system when they try to submit it (I assume due to browser/system updates?)

My question is, is there any sort of online system or product that other people use that works well for them, that's something that could be contracted for so they provide the tech support, but maybe has some customization for us?

Thanks in advance, please let me know if I can clarify anything?

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Posts

  • wmelonwmelon Registered User regular
    There are many products out there that you could customize to do what you need, but you're likely to need a developer to get what you want out of them.

  • Jimmy KingJimmy King Registered User regular
    It's hard to say without really understanding your needs, but it sounds like you basically need a business intelligence suite? Those tend to be very complex, but I would maybe google for "BI SaaS" (which comes up with some relevant results, although I can't vouch for any of them) or something along those lines. You'll probably need to actually talk to them to determine if their product does what you need or if they can customize it to do so (which will depend on how large of a company they are and how much money you have to throw at them).

  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    Yeah I don't think we're looking for something with that kind of reporting capability; from their website you can't see the user interface.

    I guess I don't know enough of the technical stuff to be able to describe what I'm looking for, more I was looking to people who do this kind of work (data collection from outsiders) to see what systems they use or if they use in-house.

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  • Liquid HellzLiquid Hellz Registered User regular
    Heard good things about SQL, but I guess the learning curve is pretty high... http://www.mysql.com/.

    What I do for a living:
    Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
    http://www.FairWindInspections.com/
  • SkyGheNeSkyGheNe Registered User regular
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