Somewhere in your organization, there's a Microsoft Access database running a critical business process. It was built 15 or 20 years ago by someone who's long gone. It works, so no one touches it. But everyone knows: if that database dies, so does that process.
We call these "time bomb" databases. They keep ticking until they don't. When they fail—corrupted file, incompatible Windows update, hardware death—there's no recovery plan. Here's how to assess your risk and migrate to a modern platform before disaster strikes.
Why Access Databases Become Time Bombs
Access was perfect for its time: anyone could build a database application without IT involvement. But that strength became a weakness. These databases grew organically, without documentation, without version control, without proper backup procedures. The file sits on someone's C: drive or a shared folder. Nobody planned for longevity because nobody expected it to matter 20 years later.
The Risk Assessment
Answer these questions: Is the database backed up? Do multiple users access it simultaneously? What happens to your business if it's unavailable for a day? A week? Forever? Does anyone understand the VBA code inside it? Can it run on your next Windows upgrade? If you're uncomfortable with any answer, you have a time bomb.
Common Failure Modes
File corruption is the classic: Access databases corrupt when multiple users write simultaneously or when network connections drop during writes. Hitting the 2GB file limit causes silent data loss. Windows and Office updates break VBA code without warning. Hardware failure destroys the only copy. We've seen all of these—usually after it's too late to prevent damage.
The Migration Approach
Migration doesn't mean starting over. The valuable asset is your data and business logic—the understanding of how your process works. A good migration preserves both while moving to a modern, maintainable platform. Web-based PostgreSQL applications are the natural successor: multi-user safe, properly backed up, accessible anywhere, and built on technology that will be supported for decades.
Preserving Business Logic
The hardest part of migration isn't moving data—it's understanding the business rules encoded in VBA, queries, and form logic. What calculations happen? What validations prevent bad data? What reports does the business rely on? This knowledge often exists only in the database itself. Documentation requires careful reverse-engineering before migration begins.
The Phased Approach
You don't have to migrate everything at once. Phase 1: Document and stabilize (add backup, fix immediate risks). Phase 2: Migrate data to modern database. Phase 3: Build new interface for high-priority functions. Phase 4: Complete the interface and retire Access. This approach reduces risk and spreads cost over time.
Timeline and Investment
A typical Access migration takes 2-4 months depending on complexity. Investment ranges from $15,000 for simple databases to $60,000+ for complex multi-user applications with extensive business logic. Compare that to the cost of losing the database and rebuilding from scratch—or worse, losing the historical data entirely.
Worried about your legacy Access database? Book a free database health check and we'll assess your risk level, document what we find, and provide a migration estimate—before the time bomb goes off.