Install Lotus Approach 97 database software on your computer. There should be enough copies of Lotus SmartSuite to meet license requirements for the expected number of users.
Copy the database files to your computer. As of 18 Dec 2003, this meant the contents of directory S:/Denison/DenisonLab/LTRASdata on Agronomy server.
Run Approach by double-clicking on ViewData.APR in Windows Explorer or whatever they're calling File Manager these days.
Enter password Public
Now you have lots of choices:
Click tab Crosstab1 to get a table summarizing what's in the database, by year. You may need to change CurrentFind/Sort to AllRecords.
Click tab ViewAllDatasets to see the data displayed as one dataset per page. Triangle icons at top center of page let you step through the datasets. Or click Find, fill in conditions you want to match (using * as wildcard), and click OK to find only datasets meeting your conditions.
Click tab FindData to get more powerful search capability. Follow numbered instructions on screen. To see results, you will usually click tab Avg.bySystem or Avg.2Vars (if you asked for 2 variables matched by plot and date). If display is weird, click Preview mode (TV icon) at top left.
To export found data to Excel or another file format, click tab Export1col or Export2+day. Then click File/ExportData and fill in the blanks.
Tab Nharvest is an example of special-purpose forms you can create if you learn more about Approach. It assumes your two variables are Grain-Yield and Grain-N.