Time and Attendance Plus Backend Databases

What is the Time and Attendance Plus Backend Database?

The main Time and Attendance Plus program and Time and Attendance Plus Client programs use a backend database to store all global Time and Attendance Plus information (data). The default backend database for Time and Attendance Plus is Microsoft Access 2000 (you do not NEED MS Access to run it). You can also use an SQL server or MSDE database as a backend.

Microsoft Access Backend Database

The default backend database for Time and Attendance Plus is MS Access. The MS Access database is easily setup, is cheap and if you are running MS Access you can easily generate reports using Access report builder. There can be problems using MS Access database as a backend datastore.

1. File permissions - You will need to give full read, write and delete permissions on the folder the database is in to anyone who needs to use Time and Attendance Plus.
2. Number of connections - MS Access can really only support 25-30 database connections reliably.
3. Data corruption - Although perfectly capable of running efficiently, MS Access is not specifically designed for multi user access. Occasionally (much less than 1% of users) we have seen data corruption occur. Rest assured, if this does happen we can recover your 100% of your data in just a few minutes.

If you support only a few users and are happy to do a bit of network configuration then the standard MS Access backend database is a good option. For better reliability, speed or you want to support more than 20 client connections then you should consider the SQL Server backend database.

Time and Attendance Plus System Options Screen

SQL Server MSDE Backend Database

SQL Server is a relational database management system released by Microsoft. This means it is a database that runs as an active process on a server somewhere. This is different to MS Access which is a simple file based database. The practical benefits of using MS SQL Server is that you get a product that can hold a lot more data, has built in integrity and backup routines, can support many concurrent connections to the database, and is a lot faster. If you are looking for strength, speed, and greater connectivity then the SQL Server database backend is a far superior solution to the MS Access system.

What's the Best Solution?

If you have SQL Server then using it as the backend database for Time and Attendance Plus is ultimately the best option. It requires more configuration and setup initially but in the long term will prove a much better solution. If you don't already own or wish to get SQL Server then MS Access is the only way to go. It is still a good, reliable, and proven solution but it is not the 'industrial strength' solution that SQL Server can be. If you require more than 20 Time and Attendance Plus Clients in your system, then the SQL Server backend is the only option. You should consider purchasing SQL server if this is the case.