Likelihood to Recommend Without a doubt, we have loved this software because of how easy it is to use and how useful it has been for us. We have been able to supervise communications between employees, customers, and suppliers, monitoring that our rules and policies are met at all scales, improving performance and productivity at work.
Read full review Microsoft Access can be easily implemented with training. It doesn't require expert level skill for basic reporting functions - but can be scaled to a complex database with sophisticated users. Its appropriate to consider if excel needs to be used to create reports, or if there are data entry needs - with corresponding reports.
Read full review Pros Management of multiple formats - Calibre does an excellent job handling multiple copies of digital media in different formats, making it available to users in their choice of format. Robust plug-in system - Calibre has a robust plugin system that support extensibility from it's wide user base. Anything from managing metadata to integration with other applications. Built in reader - Calibre has a built in reader for digital media files, enabling users to view the content before deciding to download the content to their device. Read full review Very easy to create entity-relationship diagrams for various tables and designing mock layouts. Really easy to navigate as it hold[s] the classic Microsoft UI. Another good thing is that it comes with the complete MS Office Suite. It is really fast when joining multiple tables no matter what type of join. Works on pretty much same SQL scripts so no need to learn a new language! Read full review Cons I'd like to see more customization. More plugins and plugin notifications. Read full review Microsoft Access has not really changed at all for several years. It might be nice to see some upgrades and changes. The help info is often not helpful. Need more tutorials for Microsoft Access to show how to do specific things. Be careful naming objects such as tables, forms, etc. Names that are too long can get cut off in dialog boxes to choose a table, form, report, etc. So, I wish they would have resizable dialog boxes to allow you to see objects with long names. I wish it could show me objects that are not in use in the database for current queries, tables, reports, forms, and macros. That way unused objects can be deleted without worrying about losing a report or query because you deleted the underlying object. Read full review Likelihood to Renew I and the rest of my team will renew our Microsoft Access in the future because we use and maintain many different applications and databases created using Microsoft Access so we will need to maintain them in the future. Additionally, it is a standard at our place of work so it is at $0 cost to us to use. Another reason for renewing Microsoft Access is that we just don' t have the resources needed to extend into a network of users so we need to remain a single-desktop application at this time.
Read full review Usability Microsoft Access is easy to use. It is compatible with spreadsheets. It is a very good data management tool. There is scope to save a large amount of data in one place. For using this database, one does not need much training, can be shared among multiple users. This database has to sort and filtering features which seem to be very useful.
Read full review Reliability and Availability I don't think the program has ever failed me. It is one of those programs where there is always a solution if you know where to look.
Read full review Support Rating Not only has the customer support for Calibre been great, but the community surrounding it is great too. Users are ready and willing to jump in to help you solve a particular issue you're encountering with Calibre. As a result, I've expanded what we do with Calibre quite a bit through community support of its plugin infrastructure.
Read full review While I have never contacted Microsoft directly for product support, for some reason there's a real prejudice against MS Access among most IT support professionals. They are usually discouraging when it comes to using MS Access. Most of this is due to their lack of understanding of MS Access and how it can improve one's productivity. If Microsoft invested more resources towards enhancing and promoting the use of MS Access then maybe things would be different.
Read full review Implementation Rating there is no key idea, since it is easy to implement Microsoft Access
Read full review Alternatives Considered Calibre, like
Acrobat , offers the user the ability to be able to view a digital ebook whether from online or off-line. But
Acrobat can only open PDF files. Calibre can open & convert multiple digital file formats.
Read full review Crystal is easier for report writing, but isn't a database solution.
Salesforce is lovely, but much more expensive than an old copy of Microsoft Office. For a small budget, [Microsoft] Access was really the only viable option. I only wish it was easier to write complex reports.
Read full review Return on Investment Increased the learning time of my team. Allowed for easy exchange of lengthy documents. Provided more up to date general knowledge for the departments. Read full review Not having to recreate queries or reports every time you want to use them. Once an item is created and saved as part of the database, you save manpower by not having to recreate them. ROI from a usability standpoint is great. Solid product with great functionality that requires low maintenance usually. Read full review ScreenShots