Microsoft® Access® Small Business Solutions: State-of-the-Art Database Models for Sales, Marketing, Customer Management, and More Key Business Activities

Chapter 15. SQL Server and Other External Data Sources

Although this book is intended to help you design databases in Access, the principles of good database design are not dependent on the software you use to build your database. The same rules, processes, and relationships apply across the board and if you design first on paper, as many professionals do, then the database software does not even need to be a consideration during your design phase.

However, when you build the database, the software platform you choose can subtly affect the design. That is because considerations beyond the normalization and design process have to be taken into account. For example, how is your database going to be used? Will the company that uses it be adding a hundred new records a month or a hundred thousand? Will it be accessed by five users at once or fifty? How secure will it need to be? Such considerations are a fundamental part of choosing what software you will use to implement your database, for there is a choice to be made. That choice can influence the design and, more importantly, how you work with your data.

Server databases, and in particular Microsoft SQL Server, are very common tools for the Access developer. So, although this book is about Microsoft Access, you still have database choices available to you and in this chapter you will see what they are, how you make them, and what benefits they can provide to your organization.

Before we get into the technical details, we want to share ...