Could Access handle a project of this magnitude?

[Delta223]

Hi all,

I have a friend who has spent $180,000 in software costs and custom programming expenses for his order management system. The reason the bill is so high is because he chose a product that few programmers work with, so the custom programming costs were astronomical. And there's no end in sight for his bill.

At that rate I'm wondering if it would be better to just start with a custom Access database as an order, inventory, and customer management system. But the system must be beefy.



Do you guys think that an access database could sufficiently handle hundreds, or even thousands, of, daily orders & inventory updates, purchase orders, receipt scans, shipping label generation, customer emails etc

As well as integrate with a dozen marketplaces, be able to forecast inventory demand, etc

Or is this too much to ask of Access?


Thanks for any insight

[RuralGuy]

It is not too much to ask of Access, especially with an SQL backend. It may however be too much to ask of just any Access programmer.

[Delta223]

Interesting & unexpected response!

Do you see a solution for me? What if I hired a team of Access Programmers--perhaps 3-5 programmers together (part time) could do a good job on this?

[RuralGuy]

After $180K in an existing system I would have to ask what language was that system written in?

[RuralGuy]

Are you certain no one has developed this wheel before?

[Delta223]

I'm unsure of the language; he said it was a rare one that only a few companies dealt with. I believe Netsuite Commerce is the software platform he used. FYI that $180,000 bill was accumulated over several years. Sure, other companies have done similar things, but once you get above 1,000 orders a day you're destined for custom programming work. Stock solutions just don't have all the things you want or work quite how you want them after a certain point.

I guess my questions is really this--how can I make this project work? Or should I even try? I'd hate to start with an off the shelf solution and become locked into it like my friend has become, but you post shakes my confidence in being able to see an Access project through.

[RuralGuy]

Obviously we're just guessing here. Access is a very good Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool that really has very few limitations. If you are good at project management then I would venture to say this is certainly possible. Have you considered asking a professional Access developer what is involved even if some $$'s are involved to develop the plan? This is not rocket science but it will take some time. If the professional firm did it, you would own the source and could maintain it later. At least you could set some limits on the time and expense and see what is possible.

[Delta223]

Obviously we're just guessing here. Access is a very good Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool that really has very few limitations. If you are good at project management then I would venture to say this is certainly possible. Have you considered asking a professional Access developer what is involved even if some $$'s are involved to develop the plan? This is not rocket science but it will take some time. If the professional firm did it, you would own the source and could maintain it later. At least you could set some limits on the time and expense and see what is possible.

You're right, though I mostly deal with outsourcers which are much less professional. Maybe I need to hire a project manager to get this done right