I have a continuing battle with our database managers. They do not want me to
use MS Access. They're pushing everyone into using Cognos. In my department
we like the flexibility to create ad hoc reports and develop rapid
applications to crunch our data. We also like the ease of integration with
Excel, which is our primary analysis tool. I would appreciate some good
arguments to convince the dB administrators and managers to get off our backs.
It is true that many IT 'professionals' have 'issues' with MS Access -
not the least of which are: potential security holes via MACROS;
linked tables giving sloppy power users unfettered access to back-end
data; and naturally, feeling threatened by a more decentralized
approach to application development by knocking 'experts' out of their
ivory towers by quickly deploying stable and functional applications
not written BY 'experts'.
I would suggest a few main points to stress as counter-arguments:
1) MS ACCESS is a full-featured, RAD tool that, like VB 6.0, .NET,
COGNOS, et al, is only as good as the hands and minds using it. I
don't think it's much of a stretch to note the abject mess that is
legacy COBOL, RPG, or 'C' applications; or, for that matter some web
applications that appear to function as though designed and written by
sexually repressed industrial engineers!
2) MS ACCESS can be locked down, secured, and efficiently coded with a
small client footprint by any professional developer worth their
weight in silicon.
3) MS ACCESS is tightly integrated with other office products (EXCEL,
PROJECT, WORD, ViSio, etc.), AND will literally connect to just about
any data source, including older, odd data sources (DBF, FoxPro, text
files, etc.). This makes interoperability between disparate data-
sources considerably easier than other alternatives, including SQL
Server DTS / SSIS. And this functionality comes out-of-the box with MS
ACCESS.
4) Update queries are extremely easy to write and modify, and can be
easily automated via VBA or MACROS.
5) Timer functionality makes it easy to develop never-ending-programs
that 'wake-up' every so often and perform functions that would be more
difficult using SQL Server or the Windows Scheduler.
7) I think we've already touched upon the ease of prototyping, design,
and development of some pretty impressive-looking reports.
8) Even though there is widely varying levels of skill amongst ACCESS
programmers, one can procur an ACCESS programmer for less money than
a .NET or C++ developer. This argument should make the bean counters
salivate
10) One can employ unbound and 'connect-as-needed' techniques and
methods to create ACCESS applications that are lean, mean, and do not
maintain costly constant connections to a back-end data-base.
11) Most other techniques associated with client-server and web-based
development may be applied to ACCESS applications, e.g, pass-thru
queries, stored procedures, database triggers, UDF's, etc. The only
limits are the skill and imagination of the programmer.
12) Using royalty-free run-time support of the office developers
tools / edition (ODE) of ACCESS, a company need only purchase one to a
few licensed copies of ACCESS and ONE copy of ODE. The application can
be packaged and deployed to an unlimited number of clients (like any
other dev tool), and they do not have to have the ACCESS product
installed on the target client.
I hope this helps!
~Michael
