[AccessD] New Approach

Darryl Collins darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au
Tue Mar 5 17:51:52 CST 2013


In our case we stopped using Access completely and moved all the data from Access directly into Sharepoint lists. 

This was very easy and was painless to do using Office 2010 and Office 365

Once in sharepoint you can set up views (which work pretty much the same as queries in Access or Views in SQL server).
This gives you the ability to filter the data in the 'master' database into useful chunks for different roles / functions / whatever. 
These are easy enough to set up the therapists can do it themselves now with less than 1 hours training.
So each person can have a view of their own clients, or active clients or whatever.  Views can be public (ie all users) or just for you (only you can see it).

So for me it is great - no more MS Access front ends to support and install on different devices.  Now they can access the data on any smart phone / tablet / laptop if they are mobile.
Any changes are updated instantly to all users - no issues with corruption or record locks.

Another big advantage is you can attach documents to the sharepoint table records.  Again this is super handy when dealing with clients (My wife runs a Paediatric Occupational Therapy Clinic) as they can attach supporting docs to the actual client record.

They also store all their working docs on Sharepoint now.  For example I can store Excel files on there and just open normally in Excel - they work great (including VBA code) and save them back. Just like saving locally - speed of saving is fast too.

You can download any sharepoint list into Access and Excel if you want - including a live link back to the site if desired.  Although most of the time it is faster / easier to just update it via the browser

The only caveat is IE works best as some of the functionality requires Active X controls.  Oh - you also need to use the 32 Bit IE browser, not the 64 Bit version, even if you 64 bit windows.
That said you can access and update the data in any browser if you loathe using IE.

Cheers
Darryl




-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jack drawbridge
Sent: Wednesday, 6 March 2013 10:11 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] New Approach

Darryl,

What exactly does all that mean in terms of Access?

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 6:01 PM, Darryl Collins < darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au> wrote:

> I have moved my Wife's small business IT ops to Office 365 and it has 
> been brilliant.  Their database requirements were fairly modest and 
> are now all handled by Sharepoint lists rather Access or a custom SQL Server set up.
>  Huge upside is all their IP is now on Sharepoint and can be access by 
> any authorised user via any web browser on any device.  They also get 
> a rock solid version of MS Exchange so they now have all their 
> calendars online with visibility on when they are available or not etc 
> - just like if you were working in a large corporate.
>
> All their client notes are now stored on Onenote and upload to the 
> sharepoint site.  Again, this way the client notes can be access 
> remotely and by any user which is great for them if the have to cover 
> another therapist when she is sick or not available.
>
> Of course this is great for me as the maintenance on their IT systems 
> is now minimal - MS update and support the software so that is way 
> less work for me.  She pays a small monthly fee (about $6 per user) and you can add
> and remove users as required.   The only issue was the single Mac user
> (there is always one ;)) I ended up putting Windows 7 on Bootcamp for 
> them as Office Mac doesn't support Onenote and Office 365 works a lot 
> better with native Office 2010 (as you would imagine).
>
> Anyway - I am a huge fan.  Loving it. Saved gobs of time and lots of 
> money using this approach.
>
> Your mileage may vary of course, but I think for many small businesses 
> it is just brilliant.
>
> Cheers
> Darryl.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:
> accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
> Sent: Tuesday, 5 March 2013 7:12 PM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] New Approach
>
> Hi Stuart
>
> That is a very interesting reference.
> Everyone here (that included me) not familiar with Sharepoint - which 
> is the "database" running in Office 365 - should watch the video 
> "Migrating Access tables to Office 365" it's only 12 minutes.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL27E956A1537FE1C5&feature=plcp
>
> What's not mentioned is performance. But for smaller databases I guess 
> it is OK.
>
> /gustav
>
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Stuart 
> McLachlan
> Sendt: 4. marts 2013 22:24
> Til: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Emne: Re: [AccessD] New Approach
>
> On 4 Mar 2013 at 10:56, Rusty Hammond wrote:
>
> > I've read a little about Access 2007/2010 being able to run with 
> > linked/cached tables to a Sharepoint site, and can run disconnected 
> > from the network/internet,  then when reconnected to the network, 
> > the tables will synch up with the Sharepoint database.
> >
> > Has anyone else heard of this and are you using it?  How well does 
> > it work?  I've heard it works really well but don't know what the 
> > limitations are (if any).
> >
> > Rusty
>
>
> A recent post on LinkedIn's PMADN by Albert Kaplan:
> <quote>
> A configuration that is working well for me is to use Access 2010 with 
> office 365.
>
> So you purchase one office 365 p1 (small business plan). Total cost = 
> $6 per month.
>
> You then take your application. Assuming split, you place the back end 
> tables on office 365.
>
> You then link your desktop front end to that application.
>
> You are done.
>
> The application will now automatic run off line. And when you get back 
> to any internet connection. You can sync. All data from all other 
> users will appear on your system, and any changes you made will appear 
> for everyone else.
>
> The beauty of this setup?
>
> You write and use Access - regular VBA etc.
> You don't have to write or setup a bunch of sync code - it is 
> automatic and built into Access.
>
> Even better?
>
> If you have Access 2010, the whole thing can be setup in less time 
> than it took me to make this post.
>
> No server has to be setup.
> No learning + setup or install of SQL server.
> No purchase of new software.
> No writing of a whole bunch of sync software.
>
> I explain in the following video how you upload related tables to 
> SharePoint or office 365:
> http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL27E956A1537FE1C5&feature=plcp
>
> </quote>
>
>
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