Re: Why is no one USING the product for small business?

From: John Nurick (j.mapSoN.nurick_at_dial.pipex.com)
Date: 09/14/04 

Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 07:35:33 +0100

Hi Jaycee,

If you need to ask those questions, it's possible you don't need to know
the answers yet. My feeling is that the time to think about SQL Server
is when (a) one is familiar with what comes in the Access package and
knows its limitations, and (b) has a project that won't fit those
limitations.

Don't forget that recent versions of Access include MSDE, which is
effectively SQL Server Lite, so you can create a client-server database
using the software you already have. Having done this it's easy to
transfer the back end to full SQL Server if or when it outgrows the
limitations of MSDE.

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 19:41:14 -0700, jayceejay
<jayceejay@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Okay, cool! So what is SQL Server?
>How do I use Access as a "front end?" ie: How do I set it up?
>Do I have to go out and buy SQL Server?
>I wouldn't have the first clue how to set it up.
>
>Jerry
>
>"Larry Linson" wrote:
>
>> "jayceejay" wrote
>>
>> > What gives with Access? I spent a ton
>> > of time studying how to use it, and
>> > now I find that few people (even SMALL
>> > businesses) are using it. Why is that?
>>
>> As several have told you, Access is very widely used by business ranging
>> from an single individual to giant corporate entities. The question is "what
>> is it used to do in those businesses?".
>>
>> There are small businesses where most of the business functions are done
>> with Access applications and Access databases. At MVP Tony Toews' site,
>> http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm, you'll find information on general
>> business accounting software done in and compatible with Access. One that
>> I've heard good reports on was "Yes, I Can Run My Business with Access" from
>> http://www.databasecreations.com -- they have changed the name of that
>> database application along with an update of the product, but still -- if it
>> fits your needs, it will be far less costly to license what they have done.
>> You can still modify it to fit your own needs.
>>
>> On the other hand, if your needs are not particularly unusual, a business
>> accounting package, Access-based or not, is likely to be far more
>> cost-effective. The people who have to develop all their own business
>> software typically have unusual requirements and just can't "fit themselves
>> into a standard mold" to use "canned software".
>>
>> And, at the other extreme, there are some "modest" applications in many huge
>> enterprises that need not be merged into the huge corporate human resource,
>> enterprise requirements planning, and customer relationship management
>> applications. One of this kind that I have worked on in the past was
>> corporate real estate management -- it was the repository for information
>> about the properties they owned, leased, rented, and leased or rented to
>> others, and was also used to track progress of purchases or sales. It was
>> the primary means of communication between the corporate real estate
>> personnel and the real estate firms to whom they had outsourced property
>> managment.
>>
>> You can't use Access "right out of the box" to run your business because
>> that's not the kind of software it is. You can use it to develop
>> applications to run your business, or do much with just Access own built-in
>> features as an end-user... but you will have to create the necessary tables
>> and other objects you'll use. Believe me, the time and energy required for
>> even a long-experienced database developer to create an application package
>> to "run a business" will be extensive.
>>
>> Larry Linson
>> Microsoft Access MVP
>>
>>
>> 

--
John Nurick [Microsoft Access MVP]
Please respond in the newgroup and not by email.

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