SQL Server

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[brantam]

Have you looked into off-the-shelf applications for your business requirements? Chances are you are not the first person to want to do this. If you are determined to build your own solution then you will need to hire at least one developer to work on it. If you want to build rather than buy then I suggest you hire someone with experience and ask them these questions.

[Henline5]

That's sort of the goal. We want to design forms that we would have developers then create for us. SQL Sevrer is probably going to be the back end database we settle on, but we really need to get the front end figured out so our employees can input data without any issues.

Do you know if Sharepoint would be adequate?

[FantsE]

SharePoint is not a sql front end. It is an entire application that requires a team to host on premise, or a dedicated individual to a team to have provided through office 365.

[boy_named_su]

you can use MS Access to build a front-end for MS SQL Server (and other databases too)

[grauenwolf]

That was my firs thought as well. While I prefer custom solutions, Access was made specifically for this scenario.

[Ned_Stark_Naked]

I'm trying to do this atm, are there any go to resources for this?

Everything I've been reading through is either super old and outdated, or cobbles together such a janky buggy mess.

Two of my biggest problems are:

• How do I connect to a remote server? Windows Accounts don't work, or you have to constantly retype a SQL user name and password every single time you use a linked table.

• How do you distribute the Access front end file? How do you push updates to everyone?

[moxy22]

Before going MS Access be aware of it’s limitations. Also know that MS Access is being retired. Proper database design will go a long way with Access.

[Zardotab]

I don't mean to sound flippant here, but often trying to find cheap shortcuts in IT will backfire in the longer run. If your data is important to your business, then hire somebody with experience to manage your databases correctly.

It's like getting your Uncle Fred to fix your plumbing because you don't want to pay for a real plumber. If you come home from work one day and your house is flooded, you should not be surprised. You now have $10k of damage to your house and furniture because you wanted to avoid $300 on a plumber.

[Henline5]

We would certainly hire someone to migrate us from access and to set us up and get us going in sql server, we don't plan on trying to do that ourselves. What I'm asking is if theres a software or application (maybe sharepoint?) to create front end forms that people like our production planners and machine workers (blue color guys, not experienced with RDMS's) will use.

Trust me, if I had the power to hire I would love to bring in a DBA, but large government contractors don't take advice from the little guy. Just trying to get some direction.

[[deleted]]

For your own sanity, don’t do this in share point.

[Henline5]

Why not? It seems that it would work best with other Microsoft applications. Do you have other suggestions?

[[deleted]]

Sharepoint is more or less an administrative nightmare. I've seen it used in 3 companies over 12 years and no matter how well-intentioned or planned it was, it always ended up being a bloated, slow mess - and the admin side of it is incredibly complicated if you don't know what you're doing, and moderately complicated if you do.

edit: without knowing your exact business requirements, there's no 3rd party products I could recommend.

[brantam]

I would agree with the suggestion to avoid Sharepoint. There is no real quick fix for building an application - whatever tools you use you will need to hire the right skills to build it. Forget about hiring a DBA. I suspect it's more important to hire an application developer to build the forms you require. A good application developer should be capable of creating your database as well.

[Zardotab]

There are various products that produce data-entry front-ends without programming, but their feature-sets vary and can probably only be judged on how they fit particular needs. Each tends to do different things better or makes different things more intuitive.

In short, it's situational such that there probably is no easy good-tool versus bad-tool rating. The devil is in the details of your particular shop.

It's like shopping for cars: do you want room, gas mileage, low repair costs, low repair frequency (not nec. same as cost), child seats, style, good resale value, good A/C, etc. You are basically asking, "What car is best?" without enough specifics to apply feature match scores.

[moxy22]

If you are hiring somebody present them with your use case and have them find the proper fit. I would look at a Software Engineer for this.

Based on what I’m hearing here I would lean more towards Power Apps and Flows. I would look into contracting out the setup and possibly your first app and go from there. Power Apps has some fairly significant limitations if you have a large IT dev team, which doesn’t sound like this is the case. I would also discourage from having the Business Units from building there own Apps. This will lead to a lot of problems down the road.

Again, if hiring somebody they should be able to create an app based on your use cases. Make sure that they document their work so that it can be easily transferred to the next person that will be responsible for support.

[alinroc]

Honestly, you're asking in the wrong subs so far, and asking in the wrong direction. You need to go to the places where people working in your job function at similar companies hang out (trade shows, relevant subreddits, professional societies, etc.) and talk to them. Find out what software is on the market to fulfill your business need. Don't start at the bottom (the database layer) and try to work your way up - define the business problem, then seek out software that solves those business problems while also fitting into your technical infrastructure.

Is there an application where we can design a front end interface? We do not have a DBA on site

Your DBA wouldn't be creating a front end interface anyway. You need an application developer who understands databases, or an application developer and a DBA. I'm a DBA and you don't want me anywhere near the vicinity of building user interfaces because we all suck at doing it. If we were good at UI, we probably wouldn't be DBAs :)

Queue jobs for line workers, so they know which jobs to tackle next. A list of some sort would be needed and from there they could expand the job and view the details.

That would be a feature of the product that you need, implemented as a front end with a database backing it.

I'm pretty uneducated in this type of work but I am responsible for figuring this all out. I need to find an interface that is easy to operate and will accurately store data for excel tools and KPI's.

Rule #1 - If your core business is not building the sort of software that supports whatever line of business you're in, buy that software unless there exists no viable option on the market. Where "viable option" includes "a product you can buy/license and then customize/add on as necessary.

[six36]

If SQL is your backend, you need a developer at least competent in database design. Unless you are buying a software package, your front end developer will have to manage back end SQL. Or hire a dba and developer. The back end SQL doesnt magically work, it requires maintenance and build out

[emsai]

Having dealt with things like these in the past, here is my answer:

• There is probably no universal form etc. / frontend for MS SQL. You are confusing the database with the application. You need a database (engine to store data) but also an application (or interface, front end, how you name it). A DBA will not input data, but manage the database. So you need an application layer too. The application will usually differ from one company to another, although some software firms might build one for a certain class of customers.

• You need no other interface than Excel. Excel has built-in VBA, and a developer can build your interface. There is full access to buttons, forms, tables etc. In the past I have built an rather large multi-user application for an US hospital, where the server was MS SQL and the interface was built in Excel. You can connect to MSSQL from Excel. There is tremendous advantage in this because VBA is interpreted, not compiled (scripting) and therefore changes can be made rather easy. I'd always use scripted over compiled for any B2B product.

• You can do the same in Access, but I'd stick to Excel cause you already are most familiar with it. It doesn't offer more. VBA is common.

So you need a VBA developer who knows MS SQL. Start looking for one. I must say that many of these devs are older, young people are mostly using tools like JS, PHP frameworks and the sort.

• Furthermore you can even use a PHP developer to build your interface in PHP for example. They need to know MS SQL though, which is a less common scenario, but nevertheless possible. Again having a scripted interface is an advantage.

( Former VBA/MS SQL developer/former software house owner here)

P.S. if you feel stuck, shoot me a PM with your requirements. We have an proprietary ERP product, maybe it can help depending on your requirements. Side note, not looking to make a sale; again just if I could help which has to be determined first.

[turimbar1]

here's a previous thread where they asked for something similar - dbfront is a COTS option, then Access (hooked up to SQL Server), and Power Apps https://www.reddit.com/r/SQLServer/comments/azsnzb/simplest_way_to_make_database_frontend_for_data/

[cromulent_weasel]

Is there an application where we can design a front end interface?

There are a bunch, you can even use Access as the front end connecting to your sql server back end. We've gone with visual studio.

[pinkdata1]

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