Database systems provide organisations with a central repository of information that can be easily searched or used to generate reports. There are a huge number of technologies used to implement database systems – from Access to server-based systems such as SQL Server and Oracle.

MS Access is often the starting point for many database systems in smaller companies or workgroups within larger organisations – and it can work well for smaller systems. But Access isn’t really suited for situations where the data is very important, or where it needs to be shared over the internet.

Server based database systems such as MS SQL Server, MySQL and Oracle use a dedicated computer to hold the database. This makes the whole system faster and provides strong protection against data corruption.

Although the database server software is at the heart of the system, the process of designing a new database system has more to do with understanding the requirements and then creating the forms and reports required to enter the data and retrieve it.

Microinformatix has all the skills required to deliver a new database system for your organisation:

• We can create a custom Windows Application to deliver the forms and reports you need directly on your PCs
• We can also create a Web-based Application, so that the forms and reports are delivered via your Internet Browser, and are accessible to other users.

Why use a Database Server?

Many smaller organisations are used to the way Access works – the database file (an MDB) is placed on a shared drive, and all users can access it via Access forms and reports. By comparison, the server-based approach seems complex and generally needs support from the IT department. As a result, we’re often asked exactly what benefits using a server brings?

There are three main reasons why server-based database systems are better than the shared file approach:

1. Data Integrity: Systems such as Access provide relatively little protection for the data. If one of the programs writing into the Access database crashes – or is powered off at the wrong time, the Access file can be corrupted. By comparison, server-based database systems have built-in protection against such corruption – it’s built into the design of the database.
2. Performance: Shared-file databases are much slower than server-based systems, because each user is directly reading the whole data file over the LAN. With a server-based system, the user’s program sends a question to the server, which answers it locally.
3. Ease of Maintenance: Systems such as Access are simply not designed for larger projects – and maintenance of Access DBs can be very time-consuming.

Embedded Databases

For some applications, there can be a requirement to deploy a small database within a program that is installed on the user’s computer. This most often happens when designing a software product because most purchasers of software products want it to be self-contained. This type of database is known as an embedded database.

There are two main embedded database technologies available – SQLite and MS SQL Compact. Blueberry has used both of these on live systems. SQLite has the benefit of being cross-platform, so it can be used on cross-platform projects. MS SQL Compact is more powerful, and is compatible with the bigger editions, so applications can be designed with an upgrade path if required.