Independent advice for important Microsoft Access systems
When a business relies on an Access application, the difficult question is often not how to change it, but what should be changed at all. Talyon provides independent technical advice on architecture, performance, SQL Server migration, modernisation and long-term support.
Sometimes you need advice before you need development
Organisations often approach Talyon knowing that an Access system has become important, old, slow, difficult to support or risky, without yet knowing what the correct technical response should be. Opinions inside the business usually differ, and each of them may be partly right.
Talyon is not only a development and support provider. You can engage Talyon as a Microsoft Access consultant purely for advice: an architecture review, a second opinion, a migration strategy or a modernisation plan. That allows the decision to be made before the organisation commits to a major project.
The answer might be to repair the existing application, move the data to SQL Server, modernise part of it, replace it entirely, or simply leave a sound system alone. The important thing is to make that decision from evidence rather than assumption.
Where the conversation usually starts
- IT believes the system should be replaced.
- Users want to keep it because it still works.
- A developer has recommended moving everything to SQL Server.
- Management is considering buying a replacement package.
- Nobody knows how much business logic is hidden inside the VBA.
- The original developer has left.
- Performance is deteriorating.
- There are concerns about security or resilience.
- A proposed rewrite appears expensive or risky.
- The business needs an independent second opinion.
Sometimes the most valuable thing Talyon can provide is an independent technical view before any development work begins.
Microsoft Access consultancy services
Talyon helps organisations make sound technical decisions about business-critical Microsoft Access systems before they commit to costly development, migration or replacement work. Each of the services below can be engaged on its own.
Architecture and design reviews
A Microsoft Access architecture review looks at how an existing application is built and how it is deployed, not only at its code. It explains what is sound, what is causing risk and what should be changed.
The findings are specific. An Access database review should say which tables, queries or design decisions are responsible for a problem, and what correcting them would involve.
What is reviewed
- Table design
- Relationships
- Queries
- Forms
- Reports
- VBA
- Frontend/backend architecture
- Network deployment
- Multi-user design
- External integrations
- Dependencies
- SQL Server connectivity
Repair, upsize or replace?
This is the question most organisations need answered first. Talyon does not start with a preferred technology outcome. The existing system is assessed, and the realistic options are set out with their costs, risks and consequences.
The recommendation should fit the system and the business, not the technology fashion of the moment.
The system might
- Remain as it is
- Be repaired or stabilised
- Be improved within Access
- Move its backend to SQL Server
- Be partially modernised
- Be completely replaced
SQL Server migration strategy
Specialist advice before an Access to SQL Server project begins. The first question is whether SQL Server is appropriate at all. If it is, the decisions taken at the start largely determine whether the migrated system performs well.
Simply moving Access tables to SQL Server is not necessarily a successful migration. An application designed around a local data file can run more slowly against a server until its queries and forms are adapted. An Access migration consultant identifies that work in advance, so it is planned and costed instead of being discovered afterwards.
Access to SQL Server migrationAdvice covers
- Whether SQL Server is appropriate
- Database architecture
- Data types
- Keys and indexes
- Linked tables
- ODBC
- Pass-through queries
- Views
- Stored procedures
- Authentication
- Performance implications
- Migration sequencing
- Testing
- Cutover and fallback
Modernisation roadmaps
Where a system does need to move on, Talyon helps you create a staged migration plan. Each stage should provide useful business value and leave the organisation with a functioning system, so the work can pause or stop without leaving the business stranded part-way.
- STAGE 01
Access
The existing application, understood and stabilised.
- STAGE 02
Access + SQL Server
The data moves to a server. The Access front end stays.
- STAGE 03
Mixed Access / .NET or web
New parts are built alongside the old, sharing the same data.
- STAGE 04
Modern application where justified
Access is retired only when nothing depends on it.
The organisation does not have to proceed to the final stage. Stopping earlier is often the right decision. See also application modernisation.
Legacy-system risk assessment
An older Access application carries two kinds of risk. Technical risks are faults waiting to happen: components that are no longer supported, code that will not survive the next Office upgrade, a data file close to its size limit.
Business risks are about dependence: one person who understands the system, processes that exist nowhere except inside the application, backups that nobody has tested. A legacy Access consultant looks at both and ranks them, so that effort goes to the risks that would do most damage.
Risks reviewed
- Dependence on one individual
- Lack of documentation
- Unsupported components
- Old API calls
- 32-bit / 64-bit compatibility
- Poor backup arrangements
- Database corruption risk
- Shared frontend deployments
- Large Access backend files
- Security weaknesses
- Difficult-to-maintain VBA
- Hidden dependencies
- Business processes existing only inside the application
Independent second opinions
You may already have a developer or IT supplier. Talyon can provide a specialist Access perspective before you commit to a major technical or commercial decision.
An Access database second opinion examines what has been proposed: whether it addresses the real problem, whether the estimate is realistic, what has been overlooked and whether there is a simpler route. Talyon does not need to take over the project. The review is given to you, and you decide what to do with it.
Get a second opinionTalyon can review
- A proposed rewrite
- A migration recommendation
- A development quotation
- A proposed architecture
- A SQL Server migration
- A replacement-system proposal
- A modernisation plan
Support for internal IT and development teams
Access is rarely the main platform for an IT department or software team, so even capable teams can have little day-to-day experience of large Access and VBA applications. Talyon can work alongside your existing staff as a Microsoft Access technical consultant, supplying that knowledge when it is needed.
The intention is to supplement internal expertise, not replace it. Your team keeps ownership of the system and of the decisions.
Typical requests
- Difficult Access/VBA issues
- SQL Server performance
- Architecture questions
- Migration planning
- Legacy code review
- Troubleshooting
- Technical mentoring
- Peer review
- Complex upgrade problems
- Access-specific expertise not available internally
Before you inherit the system, understand what you are inheriting.
Access applications often change hands without anyone examining them: in an acquisition, a reorganisation or a change of supplier. An independent assessment tells you what condition the system is in and what it is likely to take to support, before the responsibility becomes yours.
When it is useful
- Acquiring a business that relies on Access
- Taking ownership of a departmental application
- Replacing an external developer
- Bringing an outsourced system back in-house
- Auditing an important legacy application
- Assessing future support costs
What Talyon can assess
- Architecture
- Maintainability
- Dependencies
- Data quality
- Support risks
- Security considerations
- Technical debt
- Migration difficulty
Your system and your data are treated carefully
An Access database may contain years of customer records, operational history, financial information, engineering data, employee information or other important business data.
Talyon treats confidentiality and data integrity as part of the technical work, not as an afterthought.
The objective is to improve or advise on the system without putting the information inside it at unnecessary risk.
Where practical
- Reviews are carried out using a copy of the application rather than the only live database.
- Only information needed for the consultancy work should be shared.
- Secure file-transfer and remote-access arrangements can be agreed.
- A non-disclosure agreement can be put in place before files are supplied.
- Personal or sensitive data should be minimised or anonymised where practical.
- Important changes should be supported by appropriate backups and rollback arrangements.
How consultancy engagements work
An engagement is shaped around the decision you are trying to make, so the review goes as deep as that question requires and no further.
The consultancy stands on its own. There is no obligation to appoint Talyon to carry out the recommendations.
- Initial conversationUnderstand what the application does, who uses it, what has prompted the review and what decision the organisation is trying to make.
- Technical reviewExamine the relevant application, documentation, architecture, code, data structures and technical environment. The depth of the review depends on the question being answered.
- Findings and recommendationsClear findings and recommended options, with technical issues explained in language suitable for both technical staff and business decision-makers.
- Next stepsYou decide what happens next. Talyon may carry out the resulting work, work alongside another supplier or your internal IT team, or have no further involvement.
From a few hours to a full technical review
Consultancy does not have to mean a major project. The engagement is sized to the question, and many questions can be answered without a long piece of work.
An engagement can be
- A short call about a specific Access issue
- A review of a migration proposal
- A half-day or day of technical analysis
- A structured architecture review
- An Access Health Check
- An ongoing advisory role during a migration or modernisation project
Consultancy or an Access Health Check?
The two overlap, and one often leads to the other. The difference is where you start.
Consultancy
Flexible specialist advice around a specific technical or business question.
- Should we move to SQL Server?
- Is this proposed rewrite sensible?
- Why is the system slow?
- Should we replace Access?
- Is the architecture safe?
- What should our migration roadmap look like?
Access Health Check
A structured review of the existing application, resulting in a written report covering:
- Risks
- Problems
- Performance
- Maintainability
- Supportability
- Modernisation options
- Priorities
For the people who have to make the decision
Talyon works equally well with a business that has no IT department and alongside an established IT function. The explanation is pitched to whoever needs it: plain language for the people running the business, technical detail for the people who will maintain the system.
Talyon is a UK-based Access database consultant, working with organisations worldwide.
Specialist experience on both sides of the decision
Microsoft Access consultancy requires knowledge of both the legacy system and the technologies it might move to. Advice based on only one of them tends to lean one way: towards replacement where the adviser knows only modern platforms, towards staying put where they know only Access.
Modernising an Access system requires more than understanding the technology you want to move to. You also need to understand the application you already have.
Talyon understands
- Microsoft Access
- VBA
- SQL Server
- Relational database design
- Multi-user applications
- Legacy application architecture
- VB.NET
- C#
- .NET
- Modern application architecture
- Data migration
No predetermined destination
Talyon does not sell a particular replacement product and does not begin an engagement assuming that Access must be removed.
Good consultancy sometimes means recommending that the customer does less, not more.
Sometimes the right answer is
- Fix the current database
- Improve the VBA
- Change how the frontend is deployed
- Move the data to SQL Server
- Replace one problematic area
- Build a staged modernisation plan
- Leave a reliable system alone
Need a second opinion on your Access system?
Whether you are considering a SQL Server migration, planning a rewrite, reviewing an ageing database or simply trying to decide what to do next, Talyon can provide an independent technical view before you commit to a larger project.