Evaluating Visual FoxPro versus Microsoft Access and Excel for database management

FOXPRO

As a business manager, I was asked to do some comparison shopping in regard to our organization's database needs. The question was whether I believed it would be better for the company in the sense of associated training time and product cost for us to purchase Visual FoxPro to meet our database needs. Whenever a new product is introduced in the company, management must be fully cognizant of how much time and effort it would take to train our staff in the use of the software package.

Our organization already has in place the basic Microsoft Office training package which entails Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint. If the combination of Access and Excel are meeting our needs, why should we change? The basic Microsoft Office package has the advantage of having an all in one licensing structure and the cost of licensing FoxPro would be a separate item. This report therefore aims to answer the question: should we as an organization switch to Microsoft FoxPro or stay with the standard Microsoft database package combination of the Excel spreadsheet and the Access database to meet our company's database needs?

Database Technology

Over the past decade or so, relational database technology has improved dramatically as desktop computing has become stronger as well as new software technology breakthroughs. Before these advances, few business technology purchasing agents needed to stray from the standard packages offered from Microsoft. Previous packages gave any thought to the underlying database so they were all pretty much stuck with the database engine the company designed into the product.

Today, however, business vendors have created and engineered database applications that literally accommodate multiple database engines which entails a major advantage for the end business users. We as an organization can now pick and choose a database that will match our unique needs and expectations. All of this also is based on the fact that we can save a great deal of money because we no longer need our database managed by a professional programming staff. The database packages today like the combination of Access and Excel and Fox Pro-run faster and maintain data better and have the unique advantage of being scaleable to meet the needs of the organization in the future.

We are currently using a combination of Microsoft Excel and Access to meet our Database needs. The combination package came fully functional because it was included in the Windows package we purchased. The complete package includes the Microsoft Windows Operating System, Microsoft Office package which houses Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. The package we use in our day-to-day business operations is the most widely used software package in the world and it is highly compatible within the organization as well as with our outside vendors who have access to our internal networking system.

Currently, our line managers utilize the database functions from the Microsoft Office database combination of Excel and Access and they feel that the products are meeting our current needs. The line management feels that because they are now free of the Information Technology department whenever they need to retrieve or store database information, they have their needs met.

But, in this highly competitive and global economy, we as an organization should at least give some careful consideration into our database selection to ensure that the product we use meets the needs for the volume of transactions we process across our organization's local and wide area networks (LAN or WAN).

In general, we can reduce processing costs based on the more transactions we have if our database package is robust. If the existing process of Access and Excel are not meeting our database then the implied convenience is still representing a higher cost in terms of purchase price, implementation and maintenance. With the recent advances in FoxPro's basic package, we should consider the additional power available from Visual FoxPro.

FoxPro

One major advantage of FoxPro is that there is a significant advantage to an organization separating its business logic from its database package. The perk here would be that Microsoft could continue to upgrade the database technologies as they emerge but we would not be fully obligated to buy those upgrades. but, we do want the ability to upgrade our database when new advances are made such as better compression support for sound, image, video, voice, fingerprint and retina scans. We do not want to have to update our word processor each time an advance becomes available.

For example, when a database of the future is changed to offer additional SQL or Java support, the new functionality could be forwarded to us via the Internet or we could pass until a later upgrade is made. We would not have to upgrade the entire Microsoft Office products throughout the organization. In other words, separate may be better in this respect. In addition, by having our database packages as a separate entity, we could have increased data security. "Except for the Component Gallery and foundation classes, Visual FoxPro 6.0 is only a small upgrade from Visual FoxPro 5.0. If you need these features, then you should definitely upgrade to the new release; if you already have an organized set of classes written, the upgrade may not make as much sense." (Article, 200X)

Aside from price and performance, a product like FoxPro