Access Database Upgrade, Support & Migration
for businesses in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
Access is still shipped and still supported, so this is rarely about the product dying. It is about a database that outgrew one file, and the person who built it no longer being available.
- Independent No licence commission, no reseller agenda
- 18+ yrs Building business software
- Fixed Price scopes, no surprises
- AU NZ UK US Perth-based, working remotely
You do not always have to replace it
Most firms will tell you to replace Access. Sometimes that is right and sometimes it is an expensive answer to a smaller question. An Access database that is slow because it is shared over a network drive, or corrupting because ten people have it open, does not necessarily need replacing. It needs the data moved to SQL Server while the Access front end stays exactly as it is.
That is often a fraction of the cost of a rebuild, and it removes the corruption and the concurrency problems in one step. We will tell you when it is the right answer, and when you genuinely have outgrown Access.
Your Access project, end to end
Three stages. Scoped and fixed-price before anything starts, delivered by the founder, and your existing system stays running until cutover.
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Week 0
Read the system as it is
We go through the existing application and record what it actually does, including the parts nobody documented. You get a written inventory and a fixed price before any build starts.
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Weeks 1-N
Rebuild and run in parallel
The replacement runs beside the original until the numbers reconcile. The old system stays untouched and switched on the whole time.
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Cutover
Go live and hand over
Cutover on a date you choose, then thirty days of support. Source code, documentation and credentials are handed to you, in your name.
What the work actually is
Split the data from the front end before rebuilding anything
Moving the tables to SQL Server while Access keeps providing the forms and reports solves most Access complaints immediately. If a full rebuild is still the right answer afterwards, you are in a much better position to do it.
What you have now
- An .accdb or .mdb file on a shared drive
- VBA behind the forms and reports
- Linked tables and queries
- Ten people with it open at once
Split the data from the front end before rebuilding anything
Moving the tables to SQL Server while Access keeps providing the forms and reports solves most Access complaints immediately. If a full rebuild is still the right answer afterwards, you are in a much better position to do it.
See how a project runsWhat you end up with
- Data in SQL Server with the Access front end still working
- Corruption and locking problems gone
- A documented database, so the next person is not guessing
The 5 pieces of Access work we are asked for
Most engagements are some combination of these, and most start with the first.
Move the data to SQL Server
Tables migrated with the Access front end relinked, which removes corruption and concurrency problems without retraining anybody.
Fix and support what exists
Broken VBA, failing reports and queries that stopped working after an Office update. Keeping it running is a legitimate service, not a stopgap we are embarrassed by.
Document it
Tables, relationships, queries and VBA written down, usually for the first time since it was built.
Rebuild when you have outgrown it
Where you genuinely need web access, real permissions or an audit trail, we rebuild it properly rather than patching around the limits.
Connect it to your other systems
Once the data is in SQL Server, integrating with your accounting or job system becomes ordinary work.
Where you are now
It works, and nobody will touch it
- One .accdb file on a shared drive that keeps corrupting
- Slows to a crawl when several people are in it
- VBA written by somebody who left years ago
- No real permissions, no audit trail, and one accidental deletion away from trouble
After
Supported, documented and yours
- Data in SQL Server with proper backups and no corruption
- The same forms and reports your team already knows
- Documentation covering the tables, queries and VBA
- A clear view of whether you actually need to replace it
Scoped and quoted before you commit. You own the code, the documentation and the credentials at the end of it.
Get a fixed-price scopeAccess questions
Do we have to move off Access?
Often not, and we will say so. If the complaint is corruption or slowness with several users, moving the tables to SQL Server while keeping the Access front end fixes it for a fraction of a rebuild.
Can you fix our existing Access database rather than replace it?
Yes. Broken VBA, reports that stopped working after an Office update, and queries nobody can untangle are normal work for us. Supporting Access is a service, not a consolation prize.
Is anyone still doing Access development?
Fewer firms every year, which is why this page exists. Access is still shipped and supported by Microsoft, so there is nothing odd about maintaining a database built on it.
When should we actually replace it?
When you need genuine web access, real user permissions, an audit trail, or more data than a single file should hold. Those are limits you cannot fix inside Access, and we will tell you plainly when you have hit them.
Our database keeps corrupting. What causes that?
Usually multiple users over a network share. Access was never designed for that pattern. Splitting the data to SQL Server addresses the cause rather than the symptom, and it is the first thing we look at.
Sending your details…
You can stay on this page while we send it.
Tell us what you are running
What the system does, roughly how old it is, and what is forcing the question. We will come back with a straight answer and a fixed-price scope, even if the answer is to leave it alone.
Prefer a quick chat? Call 0425 531 127. We answer the phone in Perth.
