Best Uses of Microsoft Access Lauren Lewis

What is Microsoft Access? o MS access is a database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools o Member of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the Professional and higher editions or sold separately o Stores information for reference, reporting, and analysis o Helps individuals and businesses analyze large amounts of information and manage related data more efficiently than Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet applications

The Problem with Spreadsheets

Real-World Applications o Personal applications o Small-business applications o Departmental applications o Corporation-wide applications o Front-end applications for enterprise-wide client/server databases o Web applications o Access as a development platform for personal applications

Small Business Applications o MS Access wizards let you quickly and easily build the application’s foundation o Ability to create macros and to build code modules allows power users and developers to create code libraries of reusable functions o Ability to add code behind forms and reports allows businesses to create powerful custom forms and reports o Main limitation of using Access for developing a custom small-business application is the time and money involved in the development process

Departmental Applications o Most departments in large corporations have the development budgets to produce well-designed applications o If complex form, report design, or coding is necessary, large corporations usually have on-site resources available that can provide the necessary assistance o Companies that do not have in-house resources with IT/database expertise may need to outsource or hire individuals with those skills internally

Corporate-Wide Applications o Can be used to produce applications that are distributed throughout an entire organization o Maintains consistency for end- user o Limit to the number of users who can concurrently share an Access application while maintaining acceptable performance  More than 10 to 15 concurrent users o Limit to the number of records that each table can contain without a significant performance drop  More than 100,000 records  Holds up to 2GB of data

Front-end Applications for Enterprise- wide Client/Server Databases o A client/server database processes queries on the server machine and returns results to the workstation o Acting as a front end, Access can display the data retrieved from the database server in reports, datasheets, or forms o If the user updates the data in an Access form, the workstation sends the update to the back-end database o Most expensive and complex option o Need resources with expertise on linking external databases or using techniques to access client/server data directly

Why use MS Access? o Price o Simplicity o Developers charge less o Ability to quickly produce prototypes o Can easily update to SQL Server o Quick fix while waiting for more robust system o Flexibility o Less code o New connectivity (web applications)

Examples microsoft-access-forms-reports-graphs.htm

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