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Chapter 5 Database Processing
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Figure 5-1
A List of Student Grades
Presented in a Spreadsheet
Source: © Access 2013, Microsoft
Corporation

In fact, many professionals do keep track of things using spreadsheets. If the structure of the
list is simple enough, there is no need to use database technology. The list of student grades in
Figure 5-1, for example, works perfectly well in a spreadsheet.
Suppose, however, that the professor wants to track more than just grades. Say that the
professor wants to record email messages as well. Or perhaps the professor wants to record both
email messages and office visits. There is no place in Figure 5-1 to record that additional data. Of
course, the professor could set up a separate spreadsheet for email messages and another one for
office visits, but that awkward solution would be difficult to use because it does not provide all of
the data in one place.
Instead, the professor wants a form like that in Figure 5-2. With it, the professor can record
student grades, emails, and office visits all in one place. A form like the one in Figure 5-2 is difficult,
if not impossible, to produce from a spreadsheet. Such a form is easily produced, however, from a
database.
The key distinction between Figures 5-1 and 5-2 is that the data in Figure 5-1 is about a single
theme or concept. It is about student grades only. The data in Figure 5-2 has multiple themes; it
shows student grades, student emails, and student office visits. We can make a general rule from
these examples: Lists of data involving a single theme can be stored in a spreadsheet; lists that
involve data with multiple themes require a database. We will say more about this general rule as
this chapter proceeds.

Figure 5-2
Student Data Shown in a Form
from a Database
Source: © Access 2013, Microsoft
Corporation