Web-enabling Microsoft Access:

A cost/benefit analysis for developers
considering Access 2010

Although Microsoft Access can be used to create desktop applications, its Web development features are lacking. If an organization wants to port an existing Access application to the Web, it has two routes it can take:

1. The organization can create a brand new Web-based application in Visual Studio. The server-side code would then use the .NET framework to read and write to and from the Access database. Note, however, that the Access software itself is not even being used in such a scenario.
2. The organization can install Access Services on a SharePoint server, and then use the Web-development tools that exist in Access.

For Access developers, the latter is the most natural approach, as the organization can continue developing within Access. However, the introduction of SharePoint into the system substantially increases the costs involved. In this white paper, we consider the costs of both possibilities, and then provide an alternative.