Microsoft 365

Benefits of Migrating Access Databases to Dataverse for Microsoft Teams

There are many organisations around the world who are using Microsoft Access to run important applications within their businesses. These are often created in house and have evolved over time, sometimes leading to large and complex solutions.

What is Microsoft Access? 

Microsoft Access is a database management system (DMS) which allows users to define a database structure, including tables, columns, and relationships, along with a user interface in the shape of forms which can be configured to layout data as required. 

The first version of Access was released in November 1992, making it 29 years old! The fact that it is still in such wide use is certainly a testament to the flexibility and usability of the tool. 

Access is supported by VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) which allows users to write custom code to extend the functionality of Access.

Microsoft Access | Infinity Group

What is Microsoft Teams? 

Microsoft Teams is a business communications platform made by Microsoft. Teams offers chat, videoconferencing, file storage and application integration and, partly thanks to the pandemic, is now in use by over 270 million monthly users. 

Microsoft Teams, due to its simple integration framework for other applications, has become a central hub in which people are used to working. 

Additionally, Microsoft Teams is built on top of a business applications platform which includes a data store, Dataverse, and set of tools for working with data such as Power Automate for automation and integration scenarios. 

Why Migrate from Access to Dataverse for Teams? 

There are many benefits of migrating legacy Access databases to Microsoft Teams, not only will your application be more accessible, and embedded in users’ natural workflow, it will also be more secure, because of its Azure Cloud security. In addition, you will have access to the Power Platform functionality to extend the application.

Microsoft Access 2 | Infinity Group

The migration process is currently in preview, but you can read the documentation here: Migrate Microsoft Access data to Microsoft Dataverse (contains video) – Power Apps | Microsoft Docs 

The migration process is handled within Access using the export feature. Once this is complete, users have the following capabilities available: 

  • The ability to create applications which run on desktops, laptops, phones, and tablets
  • Use Power Virtual Agents to create AI enabled chat bot virtual assistants
  • Use Power BI to run advanced analytics and visualisations on the data

There are some caveats that are presently in place for the migration. Currently not all Access data types are supported in Dataverse. 

Once your current data is in Dataverse there are a world of integrated capabilities available, so it’s a great first step in moving your current legacy system to a more modern, connected, and capable platform. 

If you are keen to discuss how to migrate your Microsoft Access with Teams please get in touch to speak with any of our Consultants.

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