Expert guide
Case Study: Access to SQL Server Migration
Before → After: 20 hours/week recovered and corruption incidents eliminated while keeping the Access UI
Before: a 1.8 GB file holding the company hostage
A distributor ran a 1.8 GB Access database on a network share for 25 users. Daily corruption warnings, five-minute report loads, and locked tables meant ops staff waited instead of shipping.
Productivity leak
Roughly 20 hours/week lost to waits, retries, and repair cycles (~$1,000/week).
Risk
Corruption events threatened order and inventory integrity.
Retraining fear
Leadership would not accept ripping out forms users already knew.
After: SQL backend, familiar front-end
We migrated tables to SQL Server, re-linked the Access front-end, converted heavy queries to pass-through SQL, and rolled out by department with training - fixed scope, fixed outcome.
Measured outcomes
20 hours/week recovered (~$52,000/year)
Critical reports dropped from minutes to seconds (≈10× faster)
Corruption incidents stopped after SQL upsizing
Same Access forms - minimal retraining
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