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Aaron Tomosky
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Tools to Output documents from DB based on selections

Any advice or tool suggestion is helpful and will get points!

I'm currently in an IT services role where I'm creating client facing statements of work that are composed of various blocks of steps. For example, installing a firewall, configuring content filtering, installing a switch.

My existing process is a word doc template and a one note full of steps that I paste in as needed. The problem with this is that it's too manual, has no time formulas, and I also need to corollate work instructions with each step. For example installing the switch is on the SOW but the work instructions are more detailed: update current firmware, configure client snmp string, etc...

To solve these problems, I shoved it all into excel and also got some nice math time estimating features. It's still alpha but looks like it could work, abit clunky, hard to manage and version, hard to share with a team, etc...

I've got a sql background and I know I could use something like access to make the forms and output report docs but I know that adp is dead and I'd prefer something web based.

I do not want to pay for a giant document management or proposal generation application which probably doesn't event have the key feature of tying the sow lines to the work instruction steps. I also don't really want to do the DB work and then have a custom program written just for the forms and document generation.

Ideally this would be a webapp (saas or hosted) where I can check some boxes, select the steps I want, enter some numbers and have the two documents generated.

Does anyone know of anything like this for any industry? I'd imagine there are other uses for a tool like this besides IT services. I'm also very open to a saas something like access/adp/sql where I could create the logic myself drag and drop, I just don't want to make custom web forms from scratch in .net or similar.
SoftwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft SQL ServerDatabasesDB Reporting Tools

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Aaron Tomosky

8/22/2022 - Mon
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Vadim Rapp

I would create a database in sql server express, then created a webpage in Visual Studio.
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PatHartman

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Aaron Tomosky

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Alright so access is a viable route, good to know. If I go that way, what's the best method of keeping data in sql, linked tables?

What about lightswitch or these alternatives, worth a look?
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-free-alternatives-to-Microsoft-Visual-Studio-LightSwitch
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Aaron Tomosky

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I'm very comfortable with sql and express is free. 4 users to start and may grow to 10 or so, nothing large. Data set is tiny.
Your help has saved me hundreds of hours of internet surfing.
fblack61
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Aaron Tomosky

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Thanks Pat and others. If there are any other RAD tools I should check out, please let me know.