Microsoft Access migration in Columbus, OH

Access Migration in Columbus

Too many people for one file

The Columbus version of this problem is usually about scale rather than age. A database that worked for four people is now being opened by eighteen, and Access on a shared drive does not enjoy that. People get locked out, records get overwritten, and the workaround becomes a rule: only Janet enters new accounts.

The second local factor is accountability. Firms here doing institutional or public-sector work get asked who changed a figure and when. Access files generally cannot answer that, because there is no audit trail, so the honest answer is that nobody knows.

The third thing we see in Columbus is a database quietly acting as the real system of record while an expensive package sits beside it unused. The migration has to decide which one wins before any data moves.

What we would look at first in Columbus

• How many people open the file at once, and how often someone is locked out or loses an entry
• Which workarounds exist purely because two people cannot save together
• Whether any change to a record is logged, and what you would say if asked who changed it
• Whether the Access file or the official system is the real system of record
• Which reports are the ones management actually reads, as opposed to the ones that exist

What Microsoft Access migration includes in Columbus

• A free audit of every object in the file, with the purpose of each written down
• A record of how many concurrent users the data really needs to support
• A blueprint you approve before migration, naming which system becomes the record
• A verified data move, with counts and totals reconciled on both sides
• An audit trail on the new system, so changes have a name and a time
• A parallel run until the numbers agree, then the data, documentation and logins handed to you

Interviews and report reviews in Columbus are grouped into full days. The migration and testing happen remotely.

How Access Migration works, step by step →