Think of a database in the Windows environment for a small business user and almost certainly you are thinking Microsoft Access. No doubt there are still people using Lotus Approach or older products such as dBase or Foxpro, but Access is pretty much dominant in the market.

However Access is really much more than a database. Its capabilities in the area of forms and reports coupled with the use of Visual Basic for Applications means that it is a full-blown application development environment. Further to this point you can build applications in Access that don't even use its own underlying database mechamism, Jet. Often for a small business Microsoft SQL Server might be preferred in this regard, for reasons of reliability, security, recoverability and many other factors.

So, when a customer approaches us with a request for a database there is a lot of flexibility in what can be offered. At one end of the scale, some customers just want a system set up which they can use without needing to develop any specialist skills or knowledge. For these we would build a turnkey system with Save/Cancel logic for record updating which works in the same manner as third-party shrink-wrapped software. At the other end of the scale are customers who are quite well versed in using Access and who have already set up their own tables, queries and forms but perhaps just need some assistance with some of the more advanced features.

In summary Access is a great tool for developing small business data applications, but some thought and planning needs to be applied up front to ensure that the system is a good fit with the customer's requirements and technical abilities.

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