Many Microsoft Access Database applications have a working life of over 5 years. As a result, it may need to be upgraded into a newer version of the Microsoft Office. For example, we have had one application that started life in Microsoft Access 97. This application was upgraded to Office 2003, then to Office 2007 and just recently to Office 2013. The application is still doing its job.
On the other hand Access applications can fail of their own success. Applications can start out small and slowly grow in functionality and get used by more and more people. And, because it works so well, the application eventually becomes critical to the day to day business of the organisation. At some point you may want to protect that investment in the application by up scaling the data to Microsoft SQL Server.
Sometimes the data just grows and grows in size until you start getting performance issues with the Microsoft Database Engine. How big is big? We have found that data files over 300 MB start to have performance issues over a LAN. Assuming the database is well designed, your best option may be to move the data to Microsoft SQL Server. This will not only resolve the data capacity issues but also improve your data reliability.
So how easy is it to update your current application? Each application needs to examined on a case by case basis. If your application has a low MAD Index it may be a simple process (low cost). If your MAD Index is higher then the conversion may be more complex.
Also, may need to address some quality issues before the conversion can take place. This could be simple or could be more involved.
We can make an assessment of each of your Microsoft Access Databases and report back to you with some options on what needs to be done with the database, including cost estimates.
This assessment is $600 per database.
If we are engaged in any of the recommended actions this fee is completely refunded.
Here are some conversion options, starting with the simplest.
A Microsoft Access solution is great for tactical needs, these are for areas where ongoing requirements change on a frequent basis. These changes are often driven by external bodies. In such an environment it is important to be able to react quickly and be able to implement the changes. Access is perfect for this. And it seems that these days the rate of changes is increasing all the time. In such an environment a .NET solution has too long a development cycle and costs too much to implement these changes.
A .net solution is better suited for strategic and longer term solutions where the requirements are more stable.