Although it may seem odd to start with reports, in many cases users are more interested in the printed output from a database than they are in any other aspect of the application. Reports often include virtually every bit of data managed by an application. Because reports tend to be comprehensive, reports are often the best way to gather important information about a database’s requirements.

In the case of the Access Auto Auctions database, the printed reports contain detailed and summarized versions of most all the data in the database. After you’ve defined the Access Auto Auctions’ overall systems in terms of what must be accomplished, you can begin report design.

When you see the reports that you will create in this section, you may wonder, “Which comes first—the chicken or the egg?” Does the report layout come first, or do you first determine the data items and text that make up the report? Actually, these items are considered at the same time.

It isn’t important how you lay out the fields in a report. The more time you take now, however, the easier it will be to construct the report. Some people go so far as to place gridlines on the report so that they will know the exact location they want each bit of data to occupy. In this example, you can just do it visually.

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