TRINIDAT-WIKI
Access application redevelopment
Make Access applications available worldwide and on all platforms
Over decades, countless thousands of applications have been created in specialist departments that are indispensable for daily work in companies. These Access applications contain a lot of know-how that has been accumulated over years by diligent Access programmers and poured into queries, forms and reports. But what to do when the Access application reaches its limits and it needs to be replaced? Here’s how to take your Access application to the cloud.
Analysis of the existing Access application
In order to successfully replace an Access application, it must first be understood. In a comprehensive analysis, all components of the Access application must be examined. This includes tables, queries, forms and reports as well as macros and the VBA code. This work requires a service provider who is familiar with programming Access applications. The goal of the careful analysis is to find the sensitive passages in the source code and extract the required know-how from the Access application. Modernization of an Access application usually takes the form of reprogramming as a web application.
Although a web application is programmed quite differently from an Access application, many elements can still be used. Some examples are:
- The data model with tables and fields
- The arrangement of controls in forms
- The structure of reports and evaluations
- The interfaces to other IT systems involved
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Convert Access application to a web application
Redevelop Access application: When redeveloping an Access application, the first step is to recreate the database on an SQL server. Then a new web application is created, ideally with a modern multilayer architecture. The next step is to give the web application a menu structure, web pages (to replace the forms) and the necessary program functions.
Some things that were still a headache with the Access application are standard with the web application: user logon with management of user roles and access rights. Since the program and data are basically only stored on a central server, they are automatically protected against unauthorized access. In addition, the web application is always platform-independent. It can be used on any device. Only a web browser is required and no further installation is necessary.
The user interface is modernized during reprogramming. The look & feel can, for example, be based on an existing company website and thus support the corporate identity.
Advantages of a web application
There are numerous advantages to converting an Access application to a Web application:
- Due to the operation on a web server, there is no need for installation.
- Update processes for programs and data are also eliminated.
- The web application can be used on all available platforms on which web browsers are available. In particular, therefore, on desktop PCs, cell phones and tablets.
- Since all data is stored in a central location, the error-prone data reconciliation between sites can be omitted.
- The web application is multi-user and scalable.
- The licensing costs for Microsoft Access are eliminated. Only a web browser is required to use the web application.
- Future security: the share of web applications worldwide has a strongly increasing trend and there are fewer and fewer Access programmers. It will be easier for the web application owner to find suitable programmers in the future.
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Due to the architecture, these advantages can only be achieved with a web application and not with a desktop application such as Microsoft Access. After programming the web application, it can be run on servers within the company network or in the cloud. Hosting in the cloud has the advantage that the web application is immediately available worldwide. For more information on “Advantages of a web application”, click here: Advantages of custom programmed web applications.
Find a service provider for the redevelopment of an Access application as a web application
For the modernization of an Access application, you need a service provider who is experienced with Microsoft Access and at the same time well versed in programming web applications. With us, trinidat, both come together:
- 25 years of experience with programming Microsoft Access applications and
- Over 20 years of experience with programming web applications.
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The three founding partners of trinidat (hence the “tri” in the name) have written books about Microsoft Access and numerous database applications (hence the “Dat” in the name) even before the company was founded. In this respect, there is a lot of top-class Access know-how available at trinidat. We have been developing modern web applications for over 20 years. The combination of these skills makes trinidat the ideal partner for modernizing Access applications.