Migrating to APEX from Desktop Systems
Apress eBooks · 2008
Many organizations come to rely on systems that have been built using desktop applications such as Microsoft Excel, Access, and similar tools. For example, employees might store their own timekeeping data in an Excel spreadsheet, which is sent to the payroll department each month, or the sales department might keep all its customer details in an Access database. These applications often begin as simple data-entry systems, but evolve over time as more functionality is added or the business rules regarding the data change. Using desktop-based systems to manage data has a number of drawbacks, such as the following: Each person who wants to work with the data needs to install the client software (for example, Excel) on his machine. Data cannot be easily shared with other applications. In the case of Excel, only one person can be in control of the data at once. It is difficult to manage the changes made by people working with their own copy of the data. The data might not be backed up as part of any regular backup procedures. It can be difficult to establish and restrict exactly who has access to the data. There is no fine-grained control over what data a user is allowed to view and modify. Confidential data can be taken off-site by a user, via an e-mail attachment or by copying a spreadsheet onto a USB key, for example. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.