Jennifer Gross
jengross at gte.net
Fri Jul 16 08:36:11 CDT 2010
Thanks Jim. You are confirming my thoughts. They already have a SharePoint site/licensing. That's not a problem. I've tried to port the Access database (through Access interface) as a document into the library, but don't have permission. Maybe I just need to put the file up there as a document like I would put a Word document up there. Do you have any good sources, books or online for learning SharePoint from a database developer perspective? Like the lists they have already created - if they are SQL tables, where the heck are they and can I get at them through the back end? I've been dropping them into Excel and then importing to Access to run queries. Thanks, Jennifer -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Hewson Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 6:02 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Access-->>SharePoint In my previous employ, I was a consultant on SharePoint. SharePoint uses SQL Server as its data store. With some tweaking you can tap into SQL Server and use all of its features. HOWEVER, SharePoint is meant to be web based and as such is labor intensive IF you choose to go against its intended purpose. I found that forms and reports can be difficult to create. We had one person spend 2 months on a form that could have been done in 2 hours in Access. Access and SharePoint do have some good features if used together. SQL Server report services could be used for the reports. In one project, I used SharePoint as the back end (tables only) for Access - worked great! The Access front end was placed in a document library and the users could download the latest copy and start accessing data immediately from their desktop. I didn't have to worry about recreating shortcuts or anything else. Security is another issue. The best method I found was to use Active Directory instead of SQL Server. If a user is logged into their work computer and network, then SharePoint would automatically authenticate them when opening sites. You mentioned the department you work for is small. Look at the costs involved deploying SharePoint vs Access. Analyze software and hardware costs, and estimate the amount of time to deploy. You said it's a small department supporting 12 people, I'd say if the database is to be used by less than 20 use access. Especially if everyone is on the LAN. Jim -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jennifer Gross Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 6:59 AM To: AccessD List Subject: [AccessD] Access-->>SharePoint Happy Friday everyone, I've read the archives on SharePoint and am wondering if anyone has any success stories and could offer guidance on relational databases and Access 07 forms and reports using SharePoint. I am supporting a small department now and it is the perfect Access app opportunity. They are pulling together data from multiple sources plus we need to capture some data points that are not being captured elsewhere. They are convinced that SharePoint is the way to go, but from all I can see SharePoint 'databases' are all flat files and I can't put a whole lot of logic and limitations around data validation. My real analysis work will definitely be done in Access or SQL. What's the point of using SharePoint if I am supporting 12 people, can drop the BE on our share drive and FEs on each user's desktop and we're off. Is it worth mounting this SharePoint learning curve if I can build them a whiz bang system in Access? I think not. Any arguments in favor of SharePoint? Thanks in advance, Jennifer Gross -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com