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  1. #1
    PeterS is offline Advanced Beginner
    Windows 10 Access 2016
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    Nov 2018
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    Merging two split databases

    Hi

    Please can you give me your opinion & maybe your council on this matter?

    I have developed two databases with tons of help from this forum and on that note A HUGE THANK YOU as they are working better than I ever expected. My questions are however as follows;

    1. Should I merge the two databases together?
    2. Is there a benefit of doing that?
    3. If it is your recomendation to do this, what is best practice in achieving the objective without having to re-build the two databases?

    I should also mention that the two databases are split and bothe back ends are residing on my server.



    Thanks again for all the interest and support this forum has given me....by far the best forum I have ever joined!

  2. #2
    orange's Avatar
    orange is offline Moderator
    Windows 10 Access 2010 32bit
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    Can you tell us briefly what is the subject matter of these 2 databases?
    Is there some business rationale for:
    a) keeping them separate, or
    b) bringing them together/merging them?

    Do they share any tables?

  3. #3
    PeterS is offline Advanced Beginner
    Windows 10 Access 2016
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    Hi Orange
    I suppose my main reason for merging would be to make less clutter on my server. They dont per say share tables but they do have a table that is identicle, such as tblCustomers. I ssuppose that another reason for merging would be to eliminate duplicate entries into this table

  4. #4
    orange's Avatar
    orange is offline Moderator
    Windows 10 Access 2010 32bit
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    The main argument for "merging" databases would be a business need. That is, if you have Customer data, Product/Inventory data or Order/Sales data (main business entities) that was used by different departments, and that data is being duplicated and processed separately by these groups, then any sense of data synchronization or "what is the current status of X" is/can be difficult to find/know. Two databases may be manageable, but go to 4,5 or 6 and it's like pulling teeth --specially if these independent databases were developed and are maintained as isolated units. Integrated databases that serve a variety of business lines tend to be successful where there are established standard operating procedures, shared reference tables and a need for accurate, quality information. These are usually associated with dedicated DBA and staff, strong data management discipline and driven from on high. I have seen areas of "local/personal database systems" and "corporate online database" and their success/acceptance is often related to management's commitment and involvement in the business and operational processes supporting that business. I don't think there is a simple, single rule that determines --merge or keep separate. Every situation has its own factors and needs to be analyzed holistically before decisions are made.

    Good luck with your project.

  5. #5
    June7's Avatar
    June7 is offline VIP
    Windows 10 Access 2010 32bit
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    Maintaining two tblCustomers is annoying. However, unless these two tables are in perfect synchrony (absolutely identical data), I expect merging could require reassigning CustomerID values in one of the backends.

    Keep in mind Access has a 2GB size limit, so with that constraint, multiple backends is perfectly acceptable. If you don't merge to a single db file, I suggest you have 1 frontend that links to both backends and use only one of the tblCustomer tables as the source for relating customers with data. Again, the CustomerID values may need to be reassigned in one backend.
    How to attach file: http://www.accessforums.net/showthread.php?t=70301 To provide db: copy, remove confidential data, run compact & repair, zip w/Windows Compression.

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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