Newbie

[nerd19]

I just was assigned a project of developing a database for inventory tracking as a summer intern, and I have been researching information on databases like no other. Ive never developed one on my own before so everything I know so far i have just learned. The question i have is, i have decided to go with a split design and i am wondering what is the benifit of having the front end with access and the back with something like oracle rather than both front and back in access? and if i were to initially develop this database strictly in access how expensive can it get to migrate it to an existing oracle server? Any information about this or general advice about design would be appreciated.

Thanks for the help.

 

[fneily]

My opinion = you can't learn Access on your own. Take many courses and hunt out people that have ACTUALLY built a database for private industry. Tek-tips assumes you have some access experience. To make a "friendly" database, you'll also have to code. So some knowledge of SQL, VBA, DAO/ADO would help.
As far as your question:
If you open up Access, click on File, NEW and then click the database tab. You'll see an Inventory system already set up. You just pick the fields you need and input the data.
how many users? are they on an INTRAnet or INTERnet?
do you know Normalization?
just one summer? good luck.

 

[nerd19]

from what i have been researching i know enough about access to make a simple database that can be run off a local host or as i mentioned before split, and i understand normalization, but for the database i am working on will have few users (2-3), they are on intranet, i understand sql & dao/ado, and i also have programming experience just not with vb. But what i was looking for here i guess what whats the benefit of splitting the database into two different platforms?

 

[nerd19]

err i had a typo....im not too familiar with the dao/ado/odbc type structuring

 

[fneily]

Better info. Since you only have 2-3 users, you could just place the database on a shared drive and be done with it. If you need, you can than have a login or switchboard form to take them to their own data.

Splitting has some advantages: everyone shares one common set of data, many people can update at the same time, they can update their own forms, reports, macros without interrupting processing or do any data corruption.
Now, since you'll be dealing with the Jet engine, when a user does a query that references tables, Jet transfers ALL the data from ALL the tables across the network and does the processing locally. But, again with 2-3 users, this shouldn't be a problem.

With such few users, you may want to consider replicas and syncronization. See any basic Access book for that topic.

And, if you're daring, you could create data access pages (DAP's). The gurus of this forum are rolling their eyes right now. I'm the only one who recommends DAP's. But, for you, I wouldn't do this.

Again, my opinion, but now that you gave more info, maybe someone else will chime in.

Oh yeah, about platforms. Again, because of the way Jet works, even if you link to other types of tables, the data is transferred to do the processing locally. I think.

 

[nerd19]

Would if be very expensive then to migrate a database from access to something like oracle later on. Again this wouldn't be complex or very large it is just a simple inventory tracking, about 100 parts or so, system with a handful of reports.

 

[Remou]

Oracle is not cheap (

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/technology-price-list.pdf)

and unless you intend to have a great many more users doing a great deal more on the database, and to employ a DBA, Oracle is not a good idea. It is most unlikely that you would use an Oracle back end and Access front end. With the level of usage you mention, Access should suit quite well. There are also free databases available, such as MySQL.

 

[fneily]

Access supports dBASE, FoxPro, Paradox, SQL Server, Oracle or any ODBC aware database. You can link to their data individually or mixed together. So if later you have Oracle tables, you just can easily retreive the data. Then you can use the regular Access objects like forms and reports to present the data. The expense is in what you charge.

 

[nerd19]

so then if i were to keep the front end as access and then switch the back end to oracle it would be relatively easy then is the vibe i am getting? and the reason i would move to oracle is because we already have it and the access database would be more of a prototype to see if it would even be used more useful then how i current do it.

I appreciate the help everyone... thanks!!

 

[fneily]

You don't even have to "switch" the back end. Just link the tables. See:
thread181-1376550

 

[scorpio1769]

nerd19,

In my humble opinion, forget Oracle. If this is your first go round, just use the native tools. Your system will be stable and fast enough for your users. Oracle is not necessary plus it's expensive and can be difficult.

Fneily is right, just link the tables (put the tables on an .mdb on your server and link your development environment to those server tables).

Good luck

 

[nerd19]

will do.... i appreciate the help everyone