Application Conversion, Application Migration Services

Approximately half of PCAs projects involve helping Clients migrate a custom "office grown" application to fix problems or meet growing business needs.  We can help you evaluate your options, and recommend the most cost-effective approach to "upsize" an existing business application on the Microsoft Business Platform.  Whether you need to fix problems you are having, or you need to meet more demanding business needs, our experts will work with you to determine the best solution that is compatible with your business objectives, functional needs, and budget.

Application Migration is the process of replacing one or more application components -- the back-end data store and/or the front-end User Interface -- with more powerful, scalable components to fix problems you are having or to meet more demanding business needs.  Issues that our Clients commonly face include poor application performance, unreliable data, usability issues, and hassels associated with using a LAN-based application in a multi-user business environment.  More demanding business requirements include the need to support additional End Users, more data, better security, etc.   The decision of which component(s) to replace depends upon your specific issues and needs.  We have a lot of expertise in this area, and can help you flesh-out your options and make the best decision for your business.

The table below shows the various MS Access, MS SQL Server and MS .Net Front-end and Back-end components available on the Microsoft business platform.  Application capabilities increase from left to right in the chart -- from single-tier standalone and LAN workgroup systems, to n-Tier multi-user Internet systems.  Click on the Platform names or diagrams below to see a "Capability Scorecard" for each system.

Platform	Standalone MS Access	Split MS Access	MS Access Datastore	MS Access Data Project	MS Access Client-Server	Client-Server App	Web Browser App	Smart Client App
Architecture
Number of End Users	<5	<15	<15	<1,000	<1,000	<1,000	Any	Any
Data Server Location	1 Desktop or File Server	LAN File Server	LAN File Server	LAN SQL Server	LAN Database Server	Internet Database Server	Internet Database Server	Internet Database Server
Client App Location	1 Desktop or File Server	1 or more LAN Desktops	1 or more LAN Desktops	Multiple LAN Desktops	Multiple LAN Desktops	Multiple Internet Desktops	Web Server	Multiple Internet Desktops
Application Usability	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Excellent
Application Performance	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Excellent
Application Reliability	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Data Integrity	Poor	Poor	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Database Security	Poor	Poor	Poor	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Excellent
Maintenance Burden	High	High	High	High	High	High	Low	Low
Database Size Limit	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	Unlimted	Unlimted	Unlimted	Unlimted	Unlimted