I’m building a Microsoft Access solution that lets both grant applicants and administrators reserve budget lines and later compare what they booked against what was actually spent. Everything must sit behind a friendly, menu-driven interface so no one can poke around in the raw tables. Core workflow • A user chooses a grant, picks one or more budget categories with a month and an amount, and “locks” each combination so it can’t be taken by another grant. • When the grant closes, the same user (or an administrator) records actual spending in a mirror table. The system then matches each reserved line with its real cost and flags any variance. • If someone tries to reserve a category/month/amount that is already locked, the form must refuse the entry and display a clear message. Forms I need • Data entry for reservations • Data entry for actuals • Search & query screens so users can filter by grant, category, or date • A main switchboard that launches every form or report with one click Reports I need • Summary report showing total reserved, total actual, and variance by category and by month • Detailed grant report listing every line for a single grant • Comparison report that places reserved and actual figures side by side, highlighting any mismatches Acceptance criteria 1. No duplicate reservations: category + month + amount must remain unique across all grants. 2. Front-end only access: users never open tables directly. 3. All forms and reports open from a single switchboard. 4. Delivered as a single .accdb file with any required VBA clearly commented. If you’re confident working with relational design, Access queries, and a bit of VBA for the locking logic, I’ll share a sample budget layout so you can start right away.