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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Access

    Score7.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Access is a database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools.

    $139.99

    per PC

    Microsoft Dynamics SL

    Score5.1 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Dynamics SL is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. This product was acquired from Solomon 2000. The product is typically used by SMBs, particularly in project-based businesses (e.g. construction). It has strong accounting and project management capabilities.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Editions & Modules
    Microsoft Access
    $139.99
    per PC
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    29 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    29 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    28 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Relational Databases
    Comparison of Relational Databases features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    7.7
    3 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    -
    Ratings
    ACID compliance7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Database monitoring8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Database locking8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Encryption7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Disaster recovery7.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Flexible deployment8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple datatypes8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    8.5
    2 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Pay calculation00 Ratings9.62 Ratings
    Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.0
    6 Ratings
    23% below category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings6.06 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings6.04 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    8.7
    10 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings7.49 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings10.09 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    8.0
    10 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings8.06 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    7.1
    11 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings6.011 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings6.08 Ratings
    Global Financial Support00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings6.63 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings3.04 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Standardized Processes00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    5.7
    6 Ratings
    33% below category average
    Inventory tracking00 Ratings5.06 Ratings
    Location management00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.2
    4 Ratings
    25% below category average
    Pricing00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings3.04 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
    Subledger and Financial Process
    Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    5.7
    4 Ratings
    28% below category average
    Billing Management00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Cash and Asset Management00 Ratings7.33 Ratings
    Travel & Expense Management00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting00 Ratings6.32 Ratings
    Period Close00 Ratings6.04 Ratings
    Project Financial Management
    Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    4.7
    3 Ratings
    47% below category average
    Budgeting and Forecasting00 Ratings7.33 Ratings
    Project Costing00 Ratings6.33 Ratings
    Cost Capture00 Ratings2.12 Ratings
    Capital Project Management00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Project Revenue Recognition00 Ratings2.01 Ratings
    Grants Management
    Comparison of Grants Management features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.3
    1 Ratings
    17% below category average
    Award Lifecycle Management00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Manufacturing
    Comparison of Manufacturing features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.0
    1 Ratings
    22% below category average
    Production Management00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Supply Chain
    Comparison of Supply Chain features of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Dynamics SL
    Feature
    Microsoft Access
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.0
    1 Ratings
    20% below category average
    Inventory Planning00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Small Businesses
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Zoho One
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Zoho One
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SAP IQ
    Score5.4 out of 10
    Microsoft Dynamics AX (discontinued)
    Score4.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.4
    (102 ratings)
    5.0
    (18 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (15 ratings)
    5.4
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    7.6
    (8 ratings)
    3.0
    (7 ratings)
    Availability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.9
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.4
    (5 ratings)
    9.5
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    1.4
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft AccessMicrosoft Dynamics SL
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    As a Material Purchasing/Planning/inventory tracking application, Microsoft Access serves its purpose well. It's presentation is clean, data entry is simple and the ability to customize search fields is welcome. It does, however, come with some caveats; namely, when setting search filters and the need arises to back up a step or two, with Microsoft Access you have to reset, or "clear all", adding extra steps/time to a query.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    For a small to mid-size business, MS Dynamics SL is effective. We are capable of managing our finances with a very low risk of error. We have worked with MS Dynamics for almost 15 years and have more than doubled the size of our business in that time with very few issues from the program. We have exponentially increased our revenue and reporting demands and have found SL to be very dependable and stable. The program does have the occasional glitch and those are sometimes outside of the realm of expertise of our IT department. SL support is excellent, but their timeliness is not as urgent as ours.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Microsoft
    • 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!
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Provides flexibility for complex project based cost accounting
    • Strong and flexible allocation processer for cost allocations, markups, and pricing
    • A "Flexible Billing" module under the project controller series that allows for multiple billing formats ranging from fixed price schedule of values, T&M or Cost Plus, and scheduled billing.
    • Flexible reporting with options using Crystal Reports, SSRS, a Quick Query tool, and ability to tie into MS Office tools such as MS Access and MS Excel
    • Tight integration with Financials, but also the ability to integrate with modules such as Sales Order, Inventory, and Field Service
    • Customization abilities ranging from a VBA (visual basic for application) foundation to allow customizing existing forms to the ability to use the SDK (Software Development Kit) to build more complex customizations that integrate with Dynamics SL.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Microsoft
    • 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.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Reporting in the Project module is lacking functionality. I understand that most companies have specific needs when it comes to tracking project information but the standard reports are not good.
    • I would recommend a product like Management Reporter that is for Projects only. Project Reporter should allow users to pull in all Project related data into reports.
    • Fixing suspended batches. Obviously all of us users have experienced this mess. SL knows what needs to be corrected and there could be some step by step fixes in a separate repair module to do the steps we do in Query Analyzer.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    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.
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    Microsoft
    Unfortunately, Dynamics' lack of ability to smoothly integrate with our CRM system is causing us to look at other solutions. The efficiencies that we gain by using Dynamics for our day to day accounting are lost in the constant headaches of getting sales quotes to import properly into the system for invoicing. Another major issue for us has been budgeting and reporting. We currently do all of our budgeting and board reporting in Excel, which is too time consuming and inefficient, especially when a system as robust as Dynamics should easily be able to handle this relatively simple task.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    I rate it a 10 because we have removed the fields we don't need so users can really crank the data into the system. The software was designed for the professional services firm in mind but does a tremendous job for construction firms and "blended" companies that are both distribution firms but project centric as well. Perhaps they drop ship inventory to a project where their employees or subs need to work on a project for example.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We have had only one unplanned outage for 2 hours in the last 30 months. We shut down for 30 min to 1 hour once a month, but that is for Microsoft OS updates to the servers. Being a 24/7 world wide operation, the reliability is really important. We do get an 8 hour window on the weekend that we can be down for a short period to install Microsoft Dynamics SL updates, but we do not have many of those. On our last version upgrade, we shut the users out at 9:30 am and were fully operational in less than 6 hours. The upgrade was New SQL server, New SL server and 2 new Citrix servers.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Support is only used when needed, so unfortunately ,they get all the odd issues. It's a difficult business, but Microsoft and our firm do a great job of meeting customer needs. We get routine feedback that our support services are very good.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    there is no key idea, since it is easy to implement Microsoft Access
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Just to let it take its course. The implementation for me once I became a part of my former organization was pretty seamless. Just get to know the basics and call the support team to ask questions if you need help on an issue, should they arise. They are ready, willing, and able to help!
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    Excel is a fantastic - robust application that can do so much so easily. Its easy to train and understand. However - excel does not provide a reporting function and that is typically where we will suggest a move to [Microsoft] Access. [Microsoft] Access requires a little more knowledge of data manipulation.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Of the comparable mid-range ERP systems, Dynamics SL competes at the lower end based on price, but also above the high-end based on flexibility, data, and reporting. Being able to stay with the same core accounting from a $100 million dollar company to a $3 billion dollar company shows the range of capabilities.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • 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.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • More time is spent on manipulating reports which can and should be automated.
    • Lack of electronic invoicing process and other green technology features creates more cost on printing and storage costs.
    • The lack of a user friendly interface requires more training and a bigger learning curve for staff.
    Incentivized
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