sharepoint summit 2013 - vancouver - ms access 2013 - the new (old) thing
DESCRIPTION
Is the new Access Services in SharePoint 2013 a great new tool for creating forms based solutions in SharePoint? This talk takes you through the good, the bad and the ugly.TRANSCRIPT
AccessThe New (old) Thing for SharePoint
Ruven Gotz – Director, Avanade
A little history
Microsoft Certified Trainer for Access
Teaching development in Access Basic
Doing independent consulting with Access Solutions
It was capable of a lot
But it was a dangerous tool
IT Guys hated it
Ugly data entry forms (This is one of the better ones)
Backup often planned
But recovery: Not reliable
Mission Critical Data: Lost!
Microsoft went back to the lab…
Access 2010
What was the goal?
Industrialize it…
Tried to use SP as the database
A real breakthrough (hopefully)
Turned out weak
Who is the target audience?
My Assumptions
• We are looking at Access as a power-user tool• We are not looking at manipulating the underlying
code for Access• In today’s talk, I am examining the likelihood that
you will want to use Access to build solutions or to release to your power users to take the load off of IT
Microsoft went back to the lab…
AGAIN
Access 2013
A new architecture
Classic DesktopArchitecture
Access ServicesArchitecture
Jet Desktop DatabaseFile BasedRequires Access or Access Runtime
SQL Server DatabaseRuns in BrowserRedistributable as an App
The new architecture
View and Edit Data
Database Design
Access Service
s
Advanced Reporting & Integration
• Desktop Access Reports• Excel• Power View• Crystal Reports• Custom Websites (.NET, PHP,
etc.)
SQL Azure
The new layout structure
4. Add and edit items
3. Search and filter
2. Choose view
1. Choose table
Presents a polished, consistent interface. But flexible?
Access services on Office 365
Browser
O365
BrowserBrowser
SQL Azure
Web app 1
Web app 2
Web app 3
…
Access IDE
runtime
design
Access services on premises
Browser
SP On Prem
BrowserBrowser
SQL Server
Web app 1
Web app 2
Web app 3
…
Access IDE
runtime
design
Getting Access Services setup on-prem is REALLY, REALLY HARD
Getting Access Services to work in Office 365 is REALLY, REALLY EASY
Let’s do a walkthrough
• What’s it like to interact with Access Services• What are the pluses• What are the limitations
A brief glimpse at a custom app• Tracking the boats and races at the yacht club.
Customization example
What is good about Access?• Microsoft has created a really slick tool• They tried to protect the user from him or herself• Very structured page layouts• It uses SQL Server for back-end safety, management
and performance HUGE• Comes with a bunch of pre-built objects that can be
very quickly snapped together and slightly modified• It RUNS in most BROWSERS HUGE
What are the downsides
• Very difficult to change things from the Microsoft design template
• The pre-built items have capabilities that are very difficult to figure out: Creating your own custom entities has limitations
• You can’t read/write to SharePoint lists (read-only)• Can’t run SP workflows, can’t send an email from
an action
My hope: Squeeze some additional juice out of SP
• Access would be a great ‘form builder’ tool for power users, allowing them to create good looking forms with relational lookups, enhanced validation, parent-child relationships, etc.
Meeting the burden:• I said to you up-front:In today’s talk, I am examining the likelihood that you will want to use Access to build solutions or to release to your power users to take the load off of IT
Sorry
• No
Conclusions
• I contacted a few MVP’s and others and asked them: Do you see great use-cases for Access Services in SharePoint?
• It’s too disconnected from SharePoint• It’s too unintuitive for power users to figure out
without wasting a lot of time• As is, it’s just not ready to be a broad-based end-
user or even power-user tool for
But
• Don’t lose faith• Microsoft is hearing us• The ‘cadence’ of delivery
is changing• New SP capabilities &
features are rolled outall the time
• I am hopeful that Accesswill, in the not too distantfuture, be the tool wealways hoped
Ruven Gotz
@ruveng
spinsiders.com/ruveng
Thanks!
Special thanks to:Reza Alirezai, Laura Rogers and other unnamed experts for help and insight in the creation of this deck
Download this deck from:www.slideshare.net/ruveng
Thank you for your attention!This presentation will be available on the Vancouver
SharePoint Summit web site a few days after the event.