Life After Access (1 Viewer)

iankerry

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Hi all,

Hope this is the right place to put this.

For 20 years I have developed a pretty good database system for looking after pretty much every aspect of the 1200 events we put on as a charity (arts alive and flicks in the sticks).

We have an SQL sever (online), and an Access front end, with all the forms i have created with all sorts of bells and buttons, for every function we need.

BUT...

last year we moved the SQL server online and since then despite some clever peoples attempts the data access is way too slow - probably due to my clumsy programming - it was fast when it was based in the office.

But really the database needs quite a lot of attention, and if I am not around anymore who would be able to pick up where i left off? I don't want to leave the charity in the lurch.

So, to my question, does anyone have any tips as to where i should start looking for a different software solution? so i can build a different front end, so that is can be accessed by remote workers (me on a tropical island one day).

Any thoughts random or not appreciated.

Thanks

Ian
 
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plog

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Looking for what? You listed 2 unrelated issues and finished with an unrelated thought proposed as a solution.

Yous started off with a speed issue. For that, start googling and learning your system configuration and how to fine tune it.

Then you went into a continuation of support issue. For this, you need to tell the organization and see what they have to say and what resources they are willing to allocate and what risks they want to assume.

You finished with thoughts about building forms to connect remotely. This wasn't phrased as an issue or even a solution to an issue. I don't know how this fits in.

I would open up a document and start listing issues, potential issues, concerns, etc. Organize your thoughts on each, write potential solutions, thoroughly review and revise it. Then take it to head of the organization to see what they think on all the matters.
 

Frothingslosh

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I think he's looking for suggestions for a web interface for this database to replace Access.
 
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iankerry

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Yes that is what I need.

Sorry if i wasn't clear Plog and if it was too garbled.

Ian
 

Uncle Gizmo

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I've been helping out a Charity setting up Office dynamics 365... Now it's a bit, shall we say not MS Access... It's sort of more along a flat file approach. Although it isn't, it just feels like that... I was surprised how much you can do with it, sort of straight out of the box. I haven't delved into the coding side of it at all yet, but I understand you can write JavaScript to replace what you would use VBA for in MS Access. I think it should be something you should put on your list to have a look at, that's what I'm saying!

Here's a YouTube of it:- https://youtu.be/_5XLhzJTg0I
 

Gasman

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iankerry

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Thanks Both, that will give me something to look at and explore. Much appreciated.

Ian
 

CJ_London

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not sure what your budget would be but also investigate terminal server. Both front and back end are on the same (online) server so your speed issue should be resolved. You can access remotely from anywhere with an internet connection. And other than reconfiguring your linked tables, no change to your front or backend.

You can install access runtime so there are no licensing issues (tho as a charity you should be getting special prices anyway).

Issues might be things like needing to print to a local printer , reference local files etc
 

Gasman

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Sorry it has taken so long. I forgot :(, penalties of old age.;)

I dug out the email from my works laptop. This is what the developer of witsifa stated.

HTH

There are many options for doing this. Please see below some we have come accross whilst testing in the past:
Solutions that rely on r.d.s. (terminal server, or a clone of it)
-Remote app (ms solution).
-Thinfinity
-citrix
Complete solutions no need for other software
-Terminal service plus.
-Go global.
-Thinstuff
The cost for the above will be the licence cost plus hosting. I would definitely recommend picking a decent host where you can pick the phone up and talk to someone who knows their stuff. We use tagadab and I can't recommend them enough. (Not the cheapest but not the most expensive either).
I would also recommend you get a VPS set up and try some of the above solutions as it is about finding what is best for your needs.
Obviously you will also need to consider the following:
-firewall
-backup
-ssl certs
-port monitoring
- Amongst other things.
Another option couple of ways you could do it would be:
- use log me in and use a couple of spare pcs.
- look at Citrix as at one point they were going to do a saas solution for small business with azure where you can host on their platform and they take care of all the hassle
 

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