[dba-Tech] Looking for a web based app that does these things

Gustav Brock gustav at cactus.dk
Thu Sep 1 03:07:52 CDT 2016


Hi John

It could be interesting to know if PowerApps would fit this bill:

    https://web.powerapps.com

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/powerapps/9nblggh5z8f3

It has some very powerful features hard to obtain otherwise but limitation seems to be the coding. But perhaps you can live with that.

/gustav

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-Tech [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af John R Bartow
Sendt: 1. september 2016 06:52
Til: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Emne: [dba-Tech] Looking for a web based app that does these things
Prioritet: Høj

Hi all,
Wondering if any of you know of a web based app that would fill the needs of what an old access app did that I wrote 15+ years ago. The old one is pretty simple in concept but it uses VBA to accomplish  much of the functionality and as A2016 doesn't support that anymore it is starting to break and they want a new one that is web based. It's basically 3 main tables with metadata, linking tables and lookups. 
Person <> Organization and a "Bulk Mail List" which essentially holds person IDs chosen via the first two. Using selected info from any of the three tables data or all, it then produces emails, a faxing list for people without email addresses, labels for people without either (hey, it was from last century) and content reports. There is also some pretty basic event tracking based on events they have people invited/attending which is pretty much based on person IDs being linked to a small event info table. The "Security" was based on metadata held in the main tables.

So rather than reinventing the wheel, if there is something that would fit the bill then we'll just check that out as a replacement.

Here is an outline of what they want now (other than a couple of modern items the access app did all of this):

The following list of functions was identified by staff as critical to the automation of contact lists in a web based Contact Manager (CM):

.Store name, address, phone (multiple), and emails (multiple) per person
o	Optional space for professional title and certifications (P.E. CST,
etc.)
.Store name of group/organization/event with space to type in description
o	Option to store group address
o	Option to store group web page, Twitter, Facebook 
.Ability to link a person to a group/organization/event (one to many) .Ability to assign a person's role in each group/organization/event (one to
one)
.Allow groups and people to be combined (many to one) to form a bulk mailing list .Link to Outlook to allow emailing to lists directly from CM app .Link to Dymo printers to allow printing of mailing labels/name tags from CM app .Export lists to:
o	Outlook folders
o	Excel
o	Constant Contact 
o	Word for mail merges
.Import lists from:
o	Outlook
o	SharePoint (recycling app)
o	Excel
.Produce reports:
o	By last name 
o	By email address
o	By group/organization/event
o	By bulk mailing list
.Allow links from another, existing, web app to allow people in the CM app to be connected to a permit and assigned a role in the permit process
.Security:
o	Records and displays who created all contacts and lists
o	Warn/verify when a list is deleted - double warning if you did not
create the list
.Must be mobile compatible (phone, tablet, etc.)
.Searches:
o	By last name
o	By email address
o	By phone number
o	By group/organization/event
.Ideas:
o	May replace Constant Contact if CM app allows for web subscribing to
mailing lists.
o	Needs to allow links from a SharePoint app, which stores details on
events such as attendance, presenters, location, start times, and other attributes.

Thanks for any suggestions,
John 



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