Multiple Backends

[Treason]

I created a database for a school. In order to reduce database bloat I backup the backend db's every term and wipe all the tables clean. Now the situation has arose that I need to give the users access to data over multiple years.

I could do this a couple of ways, and I am looking for your advice on how to proceed. I could create mulitple frontends with each one linking to a different term's backend. The only downside to this approach is there will be a bunch of different frontends to maintain...

I could relink all the tables at runtime through code. But I have 60+ tables and that can take some time to relink. Not to mention, the database schema might have changed from term to term.

Do you guys have any creative ideas to make this happen?

TIA

 

[pbaldy]

If you had asked me at the beginning, I would have recommended against that strategy, as it's inevitable that someone will want reporting that either combines or compares multiple years. Therefore, I'd vote for option 3, going through the work of appending the old data into the current database, so that you end up with what you would have had, one BE with all data in it. If you keep them separate, you'll have extra work every year to account for the new database.