Creating a Digital Archive

[dillonhh]

Here is a question I have been hammering away at for a while but have not come up with an answer yet.

I am trying to come up with a way to make a digital archive in addition to the access database that i have been working on. Right now I have records for customers and all of their reservations, as this is a travel agency. I would like to be able to save all emails, pdf receipts, and any other applicable files that may pertain to that customer and/or on one level lower, their reservation.

Yes, I have heard of the attachment option in Access 2007, but I am getting mixed feelings about using that to solve this problem. One reason is because I have heard that this can make a database absolutely huge very quickly. (One question I have about that is whether or not that large size ends up slowing down the database or not?) My other concern is that after creating everything I would really like to integrate the database into SQL Server and only use access as the front end for forms and reports. And SQL Server 2005 does not work with access's new handy attachment feature in 2007.

This must be a common need with various businesses, so maybe you all have a few ideas out there. I would love to hear them!!! I am open to anything that solves this problem. Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me out.

Dillon

 

[liddlem]

Hi Dillonhh
Personally, I would consider having one "Attachments" folder.
Within this folder, create a seperate sub-folders for EACH booking (Folder name inherits the booking number/name) via the system. (I.E. When a booking is made in the database, it creates a folder accordingly.)

Simply store the name of all each document (including its extension) in the database.
Whether you wish to make this a hyperlink or not is up to you. I would prefer to have a button which must be clicked in order to launch the selected document.

Some points that you may wish to consider.
1. What do you do with an EMPTY folder when a booking is cancelled? Or will a folder NEVER be empty?
2. You may also want to archive old/completed bookings.

 

[Simon_MT]

I know that of a large Travel Company that uses a Document Imaging System, which uses SQL server. The starting price I understand for this type of solution is about £10,000, I not suggesting that this is in your league but these type of systems maybe worth investigating just to find out their capabilities.

Simon