Microsoft Access databases, along with the Backstreet Boys, Sony Discman and Beanie Babies were everywhere in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Convenient, powerful (for the day) and easy to use, Access became the data bedrock of many small businesses. Fast forward to 2021, and many small businesses and nonprofits have seen the need to leave those funky beats behind and embrace the modern era. Business data, of course, becomes more useful and easier to manage when it can be integrated to be aware of other data sets, whether external or internal. WordPress is versatile and powerful enough to do just that, and to automate business processes that used to be manual in Access.
Watermelon Web Works, having been formed in 2002, knows Beanie Babies. We have moved data and business processes from Microsoft Access to WordPress for many clients, and we have ongoing projects that are doing exactly that. We also work with lots of clients who still have an old, crucial Access database on someone’s computer, terrified that something will happen to it.
The process of moving data from Access to WordPress can be a matter of importing the data to WordPress in a few simple clicks, or it can be months of planning and rearranging the Access data so that it is best prepared for its new home in WordPress. Fortunately, WordPress is a highly compatible home for Access data. Both platforms speak the same language – SQL (Structured Query Language), that is. This means that we can write commands that both platforms understand to transfer data efficiently.
More complicated situations arise when Access contains a large number of database tables (similar to spreadsheets), queries or reports that are connected to one another. Sometimes they translate smoothly to WordPress despite their size. Sometimes they need to be manipulated in preparation for import to WordPress.
For example, if your Access database is one table of users with well-defined attributes, we can create those same attributes in WordPress, map them between the two platforms, and we’re off to the races. If Access contains order information that is linked to users and payments and other information, we will need to do a bit more work to prepare the data for WordPress.
If you have an ancient (or brand new) Microsoft Access database that you’re interested in getting on the internet (WordPress or otherwise), drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.
