• Basic Migration
• Pragmatic Conversion
• Full Redesign

Although going through the upsize process can be a daunting task, the benefits from the efforts are definitely worth the while and will have a immediate ROI. We optimize the process, by concentrating especially on areas where you are having performance issues and on the screens that are used frequently. The top two types of benefits often include:

Speed Improvements

Overall speed improvements are very difficult to predict as it all depends upon how slow the system is to start with! On most Access systems we would expect at least a three fold increase in overall speed but for some areas it can be literally hundreds of times faster! Where the application has been fully upsized to SQL Server we would expect most forms to open within a second or so (i.e. performance is not usually an issue).

Reliability Improvements

It is very rare to experience crashes or corruption of SQL Server databases and reliability is at least several orders of magnitude better than Access/JET. With Access/JET a catastrophic failure usually means that you must fall back to the previous night's backup and hence lose the last day's data. With a correctly set-up SQL Server backup regime including custom log shipping we can usually restrict loss of data to a maximum of 10 minutes (and normally with no data loss at all). Failover support can also be implemented, but this is a more expensive solution only suitable for those with deep pockets.


There is no simple answer if you wish to know what will be involved in upsizing your database to SQL Server. It all depends..... upon why you are upsizing.... what your existing computing infrastructure is like.... what your future plans are.... how much money you have in the budget and of how much business advantage will be gained by converting.