What do I do?

[whenthegeeseinvade]

Dear Experts

Whilst learning a little about Access over the last five years, I have developped the bare bones of an application to manage a small business in the construction industry.

I will soon be undertaking a ground-up re-write to eventually create a product that I can take to market. I will be enlisting the help of those who are vastly more experienced in programming than myself as my knowledge is currently very limited but I need to start thinking about the direction I will take. The application will handle all aspects of specification, quoting, purchasing, scheduling, resource management, invoicing, business analysis, HR, etc. within the constructin industry. I envisage the product being able to manage companies with up to 20 simultaneous users. My current solution which I use to manage a business with 5 people employed has about 100 tables, 90 queries, 90 forms & 100 reports.

Could anyone please advise on the best structure for the data to take? Should I use Access and Outlook 2007 (there will be lots of built-in interaction) or stick with 2003? (bearing in mind that it could be another year or two before we have a product)?

Is the split front-end / back-end set-up a good one or should I go SQL server?

As you can tell - I know very little about the way to go forward but I would appreciate any advice you can give.

Many thanks,

Laurence

 

[Len Boorman]

Outlook is not a database

My thoughts

Write down what you want to do. (The Domain of discussion)
Write down the Enterprise rules (A Customer may he=ave mny contracts type of thing.

Sounds a bore but fundamentally defines your goals

Define the functionality levels. What it must do.

Maybe also define interface requirements Direct and also web ?

Let experts define the structure against your requirements

Thats why they are experts, but you set out your requirements in a clear and precise manner

HTH

Len

 

[MSAccessRookie]

Dear Experts

Whilst learning a little about Access over the last five years, I have developped the bare bones of an application to manage a small business in the construction industry.

I will soon be undertaking a ground-up re-write to eventually create a product that I can take to market. I will be enlisting the help of those who are vastly more experienced in programming than myself as my knowledge is currently very limited but I need to start thinking about the direction I will take. The application will handle all aspects of specification, quoting, purchasing, scheduling, resource management, invoicing, business analysis, HR, etc. within the constructin industry. I envisage the product being able to manage companies with up to 20 simultaneous users. My current solution which I use to manage a business with 5 people employed has about 100 tables, 90 queries, 90 forms & 100 reports.

Could anyone please advise on the best structure for the data to take? Should I use Access and Outlook 2007 (there will be lots of built-in interaction) or stick with 2003? (bearing in mind that it could be another year or two before we have a product)?

Is the split front-end / back-end set-up a good one or should I go SQL server?

As you can tell - I know very little about the way to go forward but I would appreciate any advice you can give.

Many thanks,

Laurence

Congratulations on your dream. You have a lot of questions, and I will try to address at least some of them.

Should I use Access and Outlook 2007 or stick with 2003?

You know your industry better than I do. Does a potential customer use Office 2003, or Office 2007? Which are you most comfortable working with at the present time? Do you want to consider handling both environments?

Is the split front-end / back-end set-up a good one or should I go SQL server?

If most of your potential customers have user bases of 25 or less, then going to SQL Server might not be required, since Access can easily support 20 or more (depending on the application) with a split Front End/Back End setup. SQL Server, while an excellent Idea for a larger sized user base, also requires additional expense and deployment expertise for your customers. Each customer would have to determine the best approach for themselves. Supporting Both is always another option.

Best fortunes in whatever you are able to do.

 

[whenthegeeseinvade]

Many thanks for your replies.

I have been using 2003 and have started linking to outlook for scheduling purposes. I understand that Outlook 2007 reveals about twice as many objects as 2003, making it much easier to programatically interract with.

As the product will take quite a while to develop, I was thinking of stepping up to 2007 now rather than having to go through the process later when it is more widely adopted. I have been undertaking systems analysis within my own business over the last five years to define the data structure and I am very clear on my requirements for the end product. I hope my understanding of Access will make the development process collaborative rather than the usual client V developper relationship (hear the developpers groan!!!)

Are there any other solutions / suggestions that I should be considering? I am a great believer in doing the groundwork first to minimise problems later. I want the most stable, reliable, trouble-free and expandable grounding for the program.

Thanks again.