MS Access Upsizing to MS SQL Server

MS Access is a great small office database development system. It can make solid database developers out of the most novice of users. It is a complete database application development system with forms, tables, queries/views, and reports. It is often used to track contacts, mailing lists, customer lists, inventory lists, and other home and small office information data. Moreover, the entire database system complete with all of its supporting forms, data and reports resides in a single access database file. This database file can be stored on an home or office file server or shared computer so that multiple users can access the database at the same time.

However, as the number of active users grows beyond 10, the performance of MS Access begins to impact the performance of the Office LAN negatively. This is a product of the underlying design of MS Access where much of the actual data needs to be transferred continually to each user's PC for reading and updating. This remains true even if the MS Access database is split into 2 files (an advanced option).

At some point, you may need to consider upsizing this application to use a server database system. A server database system is one where the actual data and queries reside upon a single machine called the "database server." A windows or web application will query this server for the desired data and only that data is transferred across the LAN to the requesting PC, typically a much smaller amount of data. There is no better server database upgrade option for MS Access than MS SQL Server! In fact, Microsoft recognizes this and even provides a free upsizing tool called SSMA (SQL Server Migration Assistant) for Access that can be found here SSMA for Access Version 5.0. Also, Microsoft provides a free version of SQL Served called SQL Server 2008 R2 Express that can be found here. MS SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Download.

As you can imagine, while SQL Server is a much more efficient tool for storing information in a database for multiple users, it is clearly not as easy to use as MS Access is. It is a professional database server system designed for extremely efficient storage and retrieval of data, not ease of use in desiging small office database applications. This is where the knowledgeable engineers of Triangle Computer Associates can help. We have significant experience in migrating applications from Access to SQL Server and we can provide help and guidance to you or even do the entire job for you. Let us help you in upsizing your MS Access application to MS SQL Server today. Click on the Contact TCA link above and we will contact you to discuss your requirements, no obligation whatsoever!