Most businesses run their day-to-day business operations using Excel and MS Access.  Microsoft Office applications usually begin life with a simple form or two that is intended to serve a specific business purpose.  Over time, the application takes on a life of its own — new features are added, the data grows in size, and as more people begin to use the application, requests for more features, forms and reports to address a broader set of business needs accelerate.  Before you know it, your Excel and MS Access applications have become overly complex, stuffed with data, convoluted to use, and real problems begin to surface i.e. poor performance, corrupt data, usability issues, version control, unreliable reports (the list goes on).

If this scenario sounds familiar you are not alone.  The life-cycle of "office grown" Excel and MS Access systems is very typical — from a simple application to a beast on your network comprised of a quilt-work of disconnected functions and business processes that have accumulated over time, built from ad hoc requests with no unified data or usability design in mind...  an application that is increasingly burdensome for Users, and increasingly unwieldy and expensive to maintain.

Everyone in your organization undoubtedly has their own ideas on how to improve your customized Excel and/or MS Access application — the key capabilities that are missing, automating certain manual business functions, new reports, etc.   Going about the effort of collecting, organizing and prioritizing everyone's ideas can present many business and political obstacles.   Absent an experienced perspective on what works, what doesn't, and a realistic view on what things cost to build, you will invariably end up spending more time and money with marginal results.

PCA is expert with leading a well-scoped requirements gathering process.  We will work closely with your team to properly scope and prioritize your business needs in an organized and rational manner.  Our experts take a very disciplined approach to help you get the most value, and to properly align your needs within realistic budget and schedule constraints.  Challenging your requests — helping you separate "must-have" capabilities that are essential to meeting your business needs, from "nice-to-have" features that tend to impact the budget and schedule far more than operational value — is a critical component of this effort.

If you have exceeded the built-in limitations of Excel or MS Access, PCA can clean up your system and migrate your critical business functions to a true database application solution that can be used anywhere an Internet connection is available.   We will perform a thorough assessment of your application — and work closely with your team to determine which functions add value, which do not, determine the important capabilities that are missing, and design a unified database solution that is streamlined, simple to use, and cost-effective to extend and maintain.