Managing Across Multiple Application Copies

[Sharkbyte]

I am working on a work managment application that will have the primary db
located in the main office. However, each technician will have a copy of the
same db on the laptops in their trucks.

I am trying to determine the best way to send updated data, between the dbs,
with data moving in either direction.

For example:

Main db: Parts department adds 3 new parts. Part records need to transfer
to technician's copy.

Tech db: All work order information, such as time, parts, notes, need to be
fed back to the main db.

Any suggestions on ways to accomplish this with the least amount of user
interaction.

Currently, I am not 100% sure of what data transfer methods are available.
I would assume dial-up to hosted PC Anywhere. Perhaps sercure web. And in
some instances direct network connection, while in the office. Though some
technicians may only get to the office once a week...

TIA.

Sharkbyte

 

[John W. Vinson]

I am working on a work managment application that will have the primary db
located in the main office. However, each technician will have a copy of the
same db on the laptops in their trucks.

I am trying to determine the best way to send updated data, between the dbs,
with data moving in either direction.

For example:

Main db: Parts department adds 3 new parts. Part records need to transfer
to technician's copy.

Tech db: All work order information, such as time, parts, notes, need to be
fed back to the main db.

Any suggestions on ways to accomplish this with the least amount of user
interaction.

Currently, I am not 100% sure of what data transfer methods are available.
I would assume dial-up to hosted PC Anywhere. Perhaps sercure web. And in
some instances direct network connection, while in the office. Though some
technicians may only get to the office once a week...

TIA.

Sharkbyte

If you have Access 97 through 2003, look into "Replication". It's complicated
and not for the faint of heart, but this is exactly the scenario for which it
was designed.

If you have 2007, you can't use replication, it's been removed. But 2007 has
an improved interface to Sharepoint; if your main office has the (rather big)
bucks for it, that might be worth investigating.

A terminal server approach (Citrix or Windows Terminal Server) can be useful
if the laptops have intenet connectivity at the jobsite. For a discussion see

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/terminalserver.htm

 

[John W. Vinson]

I am working on a work managment application that will have the primary db
located in the main office. However, each technician will have a copy of the
same db on the laptops in their trucks.

I am trying to determine the best way to send updated data, between the dbs,
with data moving in either direction.

For example:

Main db: Parts department adds 3 new parts. Part records need to transfer
to technician's copy.

Tech db: All work order information, such as time, parts, notes, need to be
fed back to the main db.

Any suggestions on ways to accomplish this with the least amount of user
interaction.

Currently, I am not 100% sure of what data transfer methods are available.
I would assume dial-up to hosted PC Anywhere. Perhaps sercure web. And in
some instances direct network connection, while in the office. Though some
technicians may only get to the office once a week...

TIA.

Sharkbyte

If you have Access 97 through 2003, look into "Replication". It's complicated
and not for the faint of heart, but this is exactly the scenario for which it
was designed.

If you have 2007, you can't use replication, it's been removed. But 2007 has
an improved interface to Sharepoint; if your main office has the (rather big)
bucks for it, that might be worth investigating.

A terminal server approach (Citrix or Windows Terminal Server) can be useful
if the laptops have intenet connectivity at the jobsite. For a discussion see

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/terminalserver.htm

 

[David W. Fenton]

If you have Access 97 through 2003, look into "Replication". It's
complicated and not for the faint of heart, but this is exactly
the scenario for which it was designed.

With laptops that get carried into the home office and connect to
the LAN, it's really quite easy to set up. It's when you need to
synch across the Internet that it gets complicated.

If you have 2007, you can't use replication, it's been removed.
But 2007 has an improved interface to Sharepoint; if your main
office has the (rather big) bucks for it, that might be worth
investigating.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

If you use the ACCDB format (new in A2K7), replication is not
available (nor is user-level security), but if you use MDB format (a
native format for A2K7, no requirement of using A2K3 or earlier to
create/maintain it), replication (as well as ULS) is fully
supported.

A terminal server approach (Citrix or Windows Terminal Server) can
be useful if the laptops have intenet connectivity at the jobsite.

And if they need to check something for a moment, they have to
connect. I certainly think it's much better to provide local data,
and Jet replication is the way to go.

 

[John W. Vinson]

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

If you use the ACCDB format (new in A2K7), replication is not
available (nor is user-level security), but if you use MDB format (a
native format for A2K7, no requirement of using A2K3 or earlier to
create/maintain it), replication (as well as ULS) is fully
supported.

THanks, David; I wasn't aware of that.