Access vs Comercially available databases

[Pat Hartman]

The problem with the subscription model when you are running on their servers is you have lost control over your data and you cannot connect any other application to the data so you are only able to create exports. At least when you run the software in house, you can get to your data directly (assuming it is using a standard RDBMS and not a proprietary one).

 

[The_Doc_Man]

It is exactly Pat's comment about "losing control of your data" that caused the U.S. Navy to set up the standby (alternate site) systems that ran the U.S. Navy Reserve personnel management database in 2005-2006 after Hurricane Katrina trashed New Orleans.

Oh, there were half-a-dozen commercial backup sites we could have used, but the problem was that with our security requirements, commercial backup sites were expensive. AND if it wasn't a true emergency, just a test run, their contract said they had the right to control the test dates to conform to their schedule.

("How expensive was it?" says the voice from the audience...) Expensive enough that to actually do a one week full-on test run once per year for the configuration we had, it was cheaper for us to buy another pair of servers for remote production and development. We bought two more Itanium server-class systems with 8 GB RAM and 4xdual CPU cores ("Longhorn" series, 8 threads each box) plus system disks, fiber-channel NAS network cards, and Gigabit Ethernet cards for less money than one test of our full configuration. AND... Congress, in their infinite wisdom, had mandated that ALL U.S. military servers would undergo remote-operation testing once per year.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

Normally any purchase decision is to choose between buying a commercially available system, with attendant purchase and licensing costs, compared with building your own, probably more expensive to build, but less expensive to run. The commercial version ought to be fancier. As already mentioned, I prefer my own General Ledger to that of Sage, and it took me very little time to build - but I haven't got lots of other systems integrated to my GL.

One important consideration is how you have to compromise with the commercial system. If you build your own, it will (should!) do exactly what you need. If you buy a packaged system you may lose some functionality, and you may have to work differently to use the new system.

Given you already have a system, presumably working well, then the equation rather changes. Maybe the powers that be are concerned with the ongoing viability of Access, and the threat of being reliant on just yourself.

If the "bosses" have made the decision there is little you can do, other than mention your concerns. Maybe someone new wants to solve a non-existing problem.

FWIW, I have been listening to various revenge stories on youtube, and I do enjoy "revengewithkaren" best, generally dealing with IT issues. Worth a listen. In several of these the old guard has managed to "own" the source that is being used, and things of that nature. In all of them he new guy gets his comeuppance.

I am in danger of seeing everything in my life as worthy of revenge though. Mind you, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't trying to get me.

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[Isaac]

One important consideration is how you have to compromise with the commercial system. If you build your own, it will (should!) do exactly what you need. If you buy a packaged system you may lose some functionality, and you may have to work differently to use the new system

Right. And the heavy burden of adjusting entire business processes in order to satisfy one little thing in the software workflow should not be underestimated. Something as minor as when a dropdown can be adjusted could require the order of operations of the business process to be entirely reversed. Custom software is priceless!