Cleanup and Migration of Access Database to Microsoft SQL Server - Part 2

The second step of this process is to take a hard look at the each business process that involves the application. We need to determine which program functions logically follow the business processes and which ones actually slow down the business processes by being incorrectly designed. Throughout this entire process I need to remember that these people are the customers and its in my best interest to give them a robust and stable product. That will minimize the amount of rework that I need to do in the future.

Where To Start

I approach this in a top down fashion. I start by interviewing the managment that oversees the people using the application. I need to determine at a high level how each business process should work (in an ideal world) and which users are involved.

Follow the Chain

Now that I have a high level understanding of each of the processes I can now interview the users involved in the day to day execution of the processes. I need to take detailed notes on how they perform that portion of the process and also find out if the current application lacks any features, or has any flaws, that impact their jobs.

Put it All Together

Now that we have interviewed all the necessary people we need to get a roadmap of the process. Personally I use visio, but you can use pen and paper or whatever other method you desire. The end goal is to generate a flow-chart detailing the steps of each business process and the pieces of the existing application that is used. I also note on the map which pieces of the application will need to be redesigned. In the end it gives you a clear understanding of the scope of the project and you will know what pieces can be ported directly to SQL server and which ones need to be redesigned before being ported over. Remember, our end goal is to get all of the data off of Access and possibly move the front end interface to a platform that meets the business needs better.