I am working on a poject to update a database for a long running international photo competition. Records go back over 10 years so there is a moderate amount of data. This is currently in a poorly structured Access database so I have done considerable normalisation and ported the data over. Now for the challenge. There are three phases to the wokflow we want:
1. Web site regitration and online completion of entry forms etc. We're only talking 400-500 entrants each year, generally over a period of a few months, so the connection limit on Access shouldn't be too big a deal.
2. Local client based use during the competition judging (needs to be independant of an internet connection). This is what has driven MS Access so far.
3. Return the database with the competition results captured so users can see how the did, what awards they might have got etc.
A client side database like access means we can dwnload a copy of the mdb shortly prior to competition day; use that offline for the competion; then upload the file again complete with results when it's done. This would get results published in a day rather than the current system which involves lots of postcards and snail mail.
I see three options:
1 MS Access on client and server side. Copying the mdb file is all we really need. Bearing in mind that those using this are not sophisticated IT users...they are photographers running a competition. So ease of use is important.
2 MS Access on client, MySQL or SQL Server on the server with some sort of two way data replication to deal with getting info into Access and back from Access.
3 MS Access on client, cut down data set (and functionality) on server in MySQL or SQL server using emails sent from server and parsed into the offline database. And some sort of scripted import for the server to get results information.
Oh yes...at the moment thesite is hosted on a Unix box with PHP via an ISP...I don't have direct access to the server...with the Access connectivity issues that presents.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks in advance
Alistair
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