Forum Discussion
Moving Away from MS Access
Since people are still replying, almost three years latter, please allow me to share my view. To be fair, the interest in this is huge. How I know? By people who are contacting me every now and then.
There are automated tools to convert Access to Web. One was discussed on reddit, search "Moving MS Access to Web" - it did hit the nail with admins though, but comments are still there.
.NET and VB is a bugger. Impossible to move the business logic and even so, it would not run on all different Web servers.
What I would suggest is to modernize the App paradigm. Hence, moving to something which is supported widely. And something which is proven that runs light speed faster, and can scale, etc.
My organization is still using 20 years old technology. And it is not the only one I'm sure. They will never, ever, move from it, not because they can't, but because of politics and zillion hours spent on something which can't be modernized any more without completely changing the paradigm. Web changed from dial-up connection, and it's changing rapidly.
With the above reddit mentioned tool, one can demonstrate the POC in minutes. One can convert Access with >100 tables in a single day. And the App can be packaged into a single executable file if needed, so no fiddling with the Web servers. Just run the file, and point the office Web browsers to App network IP. So deployment is literally none. Security is also a top notch. It can even support SAML. Sounds too good to be true. Well, the App developed by this 7Mb large (!) tool or platform is supporting 2000 pharmacies, hence about 15000-20000 users 24/7/365.
Hope this reply will help you a bit to make a proper decision.
Dean
PS
The Access migrated to the Web is 100% safe from stealing the IP, or the data by application users. That does not include SysAdmins, as we know. Even if the data is on MSSQL server, the IP is not protected on many many applications. FE and BE does not solve this issue. Only the Web app does imo.
It is not about liking but managing. Try to manage 5000 Access apps scattered around the globe. Or better, try to find the VBA devs this days. It's getting like Cobol, they will be paid in gold. Which was proven during Covid.
Ben "The Hosk" Hosking calls this a technological debt. Just like Cobol.
Good discussion. Cheers
- The powers that be are working on how to change the technology from Access to something else, still. No progress has been made, but it's not on my plate any more. I am left to support the working Access databases until end of life, which may never happen. I'm okay with that.
I really appreciate all of the responses and discussion. If I find out what technology they end up going with before I retire, I will update you all.
Thanks for a good discussion.
Cheers!Frankly, that doesn't surprise me at all. I started with Access in the mid-90's, as what was then called an "information worker" and what is now called a "citizen developer", meaning I had no idea what I was doing, but I realized the power of Access and wanted to pursue it. Over the next couple of decades, I saw this scenario more than once. The Powers That Be want to rid themselves of Access. They spin their wheels in futile project after futile project to do so. They end up discretely looking the other way while the people getting their day-to-day work done with Access keep on doing what they've always done.
Sometimes, enough institutional muscle is thrown behind alternatives to make them succeed. When that happens, it takes years to accomplish and a lot of money. Smaller organizations with less discretionary budgets, though, don't often have that luxury.
