What does an Access® Developer do?

Among the duties for which an Access® developer is generally responsible are building and maintaining Access® databases, writing queries, generating reports and backing up and troubleshooting technical problems. Some Access® developer jobs are classified as "junior" or "senior" because some senior developers oversee the work of junior developers and act as database specialists who are responsible for the logical design of databases even before they are actually created within the management system. Proper design ensures integrity, which prevents problems with the management of data, especially as the database grows, and with the generation of accurate reports.

An Access® developer, in order to build a database, sets up tables and creates any necessary indexes. He or she also creates data entry forms via which information is actually entered into the targeted tables, thus populating them. These forms are what data entry operators work with in order to quickly and safely enter what are sometimes massive amounts of information. Maintenance work for which an Access® developer might be responsible includes things such as modifying tables by the modification of the tables' columns. As a business grows, columns might need to be added, data types might need to be changed, and the creation of entirely new tables might be necessary to meet the demands of a growing operation.

The generation of reports that an Access® developer might have to do is almost always related to providing valuable and accurate information to the business' managers who make decisions. Managers might need to know how well a particular product or service is selling and to what type of customer it sells or does not sell so that they, as managers, can base corporate decisions on actual results. If they collect product or service review information or ratings of any sort from their customers, they might want to study that feedback to see the complaints and compliments they are receiving in order to make necessary changes for customer satisfaction and retention. An Access® developer writes queries that are usually advanced in order to "extract" the information needed to build these important reports.

Troubleshooting technical problems directly related to the building, modification and maintenance of the databases also tends to be the responsibility of an Access® developer, especially if he or she is a senior developer. If there are problems with the actual software, the developer is typically the one to contact the software company that developed the program--Microsoft in the case of Access®. The average Access® developer job description will also specify the need for knowledge and familiarity with Structured Query Language (SQL) reporting services, the writing of macros, SQL servers, the concepts of relational databases and Visual Basic for applications (VBA).