ERP vs. Microsoft Access

So you want to know more about why an ERP is better than a basic accounting package and some spreadsheets. I’ve mentioned that spreadsheets have a high error rate and are inherently single user. I have argued that reporting from a database is much easier to do than the same from Excel. What might be left is the impression that using a database is the way to go. That would make some sense, and all things being equal, I’d agree with you. But not me, all things are not equal.

The king of DIY databases is Microsoft Access. It’s actually a pretty decent product, with a good community of users who are, if not experts, then at least familiar. There are a couple of reasons why Access is a good option, if you decide to go down this DIY direction.

Access is relatively cheap. It is part of Microsoft Office, although the version with Access costs more money. It’s about $300 more to get the database tools. You get a few more things, but not many more useful tools besides Access.

“Programming” access through built-in wizards can allow you to create a few tables and forms, reports and queries at the end of a day or two of work. So call that $500 programming time and $1500 software and you can have your item list, order table, purchase order report, etc.

Now, what starts to happen is pretty serious, costing you A LOT of money over the ensuing time.

Shortly after creating your database and sending your purchase orders to suppliers, you realize that you need to receive things. Suppliers are annoying, sometimes they ship exactly what you wanted, in the exact quantity and at the price listed on the purchase order, but often they don’t. So, as time passes, the single access database begins an insidious march towards something deadly: COMPLEXITY!

As time passes it becomes more and more complicated.

If you were to go back in a time machine and re-evaluate everything you needed to do, you’d realize that your original concept lacked any kind of check and balance. Even if your people don’t make mistakes, your suppliers and customers do. Your database (and spreadsheets) need CROSS-REFERENCES to try to catch and prevent errors. Turns out this is complicated.

Any decent database set up to do these things has to have programming. That means you have to have some Visual Basic and that’s not something that just anyone can do. You can hire a cheap college student to do it, but be prepared to have him for a year or two. And they won’t finish all the programming.

I’ve seen some amazing Access databases in my day. I’ve seen databases interface with CAD and CAM tools, calculate nesting requirements for their software, generate MRP demand, etc. When I talk to those clients, conservative estimates are that they spent between $200,000 and $300,000 to write the app. It is almost always a well-paid engineer or network administrator who is on staff full time. The business gets to the point where (whether intentionally or not) they feel trapped. They are afraid of losing this person. Usually when I get there, it’s because the Access database technology has reached some limit (Access databases limit to about 500-800 megabytes for their usable size). Either it’s because the designer quit, retires, got hit by a bus, or won the lottery.

Checks and balances are necessary for this system to work, without them you’re half a step better than a spreadsheet, but you’re 100 meters from the finish line. They are incredibly difficult to program and create. Don’t be fooled. It is much better to spend 10-20k on a simple ERP than to go this route.