Microsoft Access vs. Progress OpenEdge

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

I have had limited exposure to other development environments, but I have found Openedge to be well suited for the purposes that we are using it for. We have a windows client-server application that has been in use for over 20 years and has held it's age well. We also have a web based product using openedge appserver to access our backend code. The appserver functions well and we have been happy with it

Incentivized

• 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

• Openedge databases are practically bulletproof, even when shot down abnormally. The offer complete transaction scoping, before imagining, and also after imaging for roll foward capability.
• Openedge has a very powerful and easy to learn 4GL programming language that can be used in a traditional or object oriented manner.
• Openedge also has powerful web services components, fully integrating both SOAP and RESTful web services.
• Openedge is completely scaleable from 1 user to a fully distributed global enterprise solution.

Incentivized

• 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

• Needs to improve the documentation
• Licensing is costly

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.

This language used since 1980

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

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

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

there is no key idea, since it is easy to implement Microsoft Access

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

The decision to use openedge with our particular product was made such a long time ago that I certainly was not around to make the decision. And most of the other products that would have been compared at the time are likely no longer around. Which does speak to the longevity and benefits of this product. When you look back and see how long the same product has been going forward with constant improvements and remaining relevant without major disruptive changes, it is worthy of some credit.

Incentivized

• 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

• Openedge is a good business partner. They provide excellent support, education, and marketing assistance.
• Openedge programming resources are readily available, both in the US and inexpensively overseas when additional staff is needed to complete projects.
• Openedge is just as powerful, but much less expensive than its rivals, like Oracle.

Incentivized