Microsoft Access Consulting ServicesMicrosoft Access Consulting, Programming and Developer Services from FMS

The Best Microsoft Access Development Services

Microsoft Access Consulting ServicesAs the world's leading developer of Microsoft Access products, we have extensive experience creating Microsoft Access applications. Our products address a variety of customer needs and environments, often in places we've never visited. That requires skilled Microsoft Access developers, database and programming knowledge, and a rigorous process for software excellence.

Our consulting team provides this expertise when creating custom Microsoft Access databases for your mission. Whether it's single or multi-user, a simple desktop solution or integration with your enterprise SQL Server databases, let our firm and Microsoft Access programmers assist you. Our Access database developers are full time FMS employees, located at our headquarters, and experienced with all types of Access applications. Leverage our expertise to create great Access solutions that are cost effective, timely, fast, secure, and maintainable as your needs evolve.

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Our Microsoft Access Consulting Services

We provide a variety of Microsoft Access development services:

In business since 1986, FMS has a proven track record of supporting customers and creating solutions that are supportable over time. With our strong ties to the Microsoft Access team, we can anticipate future trends to maximize your technology investments.

Microsoft Access to SQL Server Migration Services

Selected by Microsoft to lead a national campaign for SQL Server Upsizing, we have extensive experience evaluating the tradeoffs for keeping data in Access databases versus migrating it to SQL Server.

If you've outgrown Access and are ready to upsize for increased security, extensibility, and a huge number of simultaneous users, we can prepare your Access database application and migrate the data to SQL Server.

Visit our Microsoft Access to SQL Server Upsizing Center to learn more about the issues and how we can help you.

Running Microsoft Access via Remote Desktop and Remote App including Hosting on the Microsoft Azure Cloud

Run multi-user Access applications without installing anything on your user's machines. We can help you implement this on-premise inside your network, or on the Microsoft Azure cloud. Support the PC and Mac users across your network and securely over the Internet.

Legacy Microsoft Access Databases

There are many ways to immediately add value to an existing Access database application.

With decades of Microsoft Access development experience, we can apply Best Practices to add powerful new features, improve performance, and make your databases more robust.

Whether it's emergency triage, simple enhancements, advanced features, or "hospice" care, we can help you maximize your Access investments.

For more information, read our industry leading paper on how we can help you Take Over Existing (Legacy) Microsoft Access Database Applications.

If you've lost your original database, we also offer a service to recover the original database from ACCDE and MDE files.

Microsoft Access ACCDE and MDE Recovery

Do you only have the ACCDE or MDE database files but can't find the original ACCDB and MDB files that created them?

Without them, you can't update or enhance your databases.

We provide a database recovery service to convert ACCDE and MDE databases to ACCDB and MDB files.

Not every file can be recovered (e.g. no module comments), but we can usually get you back the core Access database, forms, reports, and VBA module code.

We need to perform an assessment of a few hours to see if a recovery is possible, and if so provide the cost for doing it.

This service is only provided if you have ownership of the solution and intellectual property.

Microsoft Access Strategies

How, where, and when should Microsoft Access be used in your organization?

How to best support existing Access databases, and how to maximize your investment in Access over time.

For more information, read our very popular paper on database evolution: Microsoft Access within an Organization's Database Strategy

Multiuser Support

The Microsoft Jet Engine has built-in multiuser support for up to 255 simultaneous connections.

Designed and deployed properly, Microsoft Access applications can comfortably be run by 100 users at a time, to easily support departments much larger than that.

We can help you create robust Access solutions that support each user's temporary data, are maintainable for the developer, and easy to deploy new versions to each user's PC.

Microsoft Windows Terminal Services and RemoteApp

Terminal Services and RemoteApp let your users run Microsoft Access and other Windows applications without installing anything on their PC.

Your Access application and backend database remain on your server while users run your applications from another PC, web browser, or Mac.

We can help you update your Access application to support these environments, and even provide terminal hosting services from a robust data center partner.

Learn more about this in our paper Using Terminal Services and RemoteApp to Extend Your Microsoft Access and other Windows Applications Over the Internet

System Administration

Don't forget system administrative tasks such as regularly scheduled database compacts and backups as part of your disaster recovery plans.

We can also help you create user documentation, help files, and context sensitive help throughout your solution.

With our assessments and technical documentation from our Total Access Analyzer program, we can significantly improve developer control and efficiency while reducing bugs and risk.

Microsoft Access and SQL Azure

Microsoft SQL Server Consulting Services

If you're migrating your Access data into the cloud, we can help you upsize to platforms like Microsoft Azure and SharePoint.

We also have considerable experience creating web solutions hosted on Azure through their App Service plans, storage accounts, and manage it to scale with demand.

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET

Once your data is migrated to SQL Server in the cloud, we can extend your data with web and mobile solutions using Visual Studio .NET.

You can keep your Microsoft Access solution for internal needs, or replace it completely with an alternative web based .NET solution.


Microsoft Jet Database Engine Programmer's Guide written by FMSWe literally wrote the book on Microsoft Access software development.

Microsoft Recognizes Our Expertise with Microsoft Access and SQL Server

  • Microsoft's Access development team in Redmond, WA uses our Microsoft Access programming services
  • We wrote portions of the Microsoft Access user manuals
  • Our papers and content are used on MSDN and online help
  • Microsoft Press selected us to write the Microsoft Jet Database Engine Programmer's Guide
  • We headed a national Microsoft Access to SQL Server Upsizing campaign
  • Microsoft profiled us as one of three consulting firms at their Tech*Ed Conference discussing Let's Talk about Software Consulting as a Business and several other videos
  • FMS is a Microsoft Certified Partner since 2003We are a Microsoft Certified partner (since 2003)
  • We were among the first adopters of MSAccess and witnessed its rise as featured by Microsoft (Microsoft Access history)

Global Industry Recognition

  • We are industry thought leaders and popular presenters at conferences and user groups around the world
  • Microsoft MVPWe have Microsoft MVPs on staff. Our founder and President, Luke Chung, is a Microsoft MVP for Access
  • We create the most popular Microsoft Access products used by tens of thousands of customers in over 100 countries
  • Our products have won over 40 industry awards.
  • Our web site and email newsletter are among the most popular resources of information, tips, and techniques for the Access community
  • We offer custom Access database applications for a wide range of clients from small to large, across the private and public sectors
  • We have established processes for creating and implementing Best Practices, and a Quality Assurance process to ensure compliance

Our Microsoft Access programmers have created a wide range of Microsoft Access solutions that improve the way people work and give their organizations a competitive advantage. Here are some examples:

  • Case Study of Microsoft Access Database CommercializationApplying our experience to convert an internal survey analysis solution into a commercial application (case study)
  • Improving insight and communications with reporting systems containing statistical analysis and automated, personalized email broadcasts to contacts
  • Compliance and personnel management for training and tracking international medical providers
  • Efficacy and cost modeling of medical treatments
  • Microsoft Access Application for the National Archives in Washington DCConverting paper-based forms into an electronic system with management reports (National Archives)
  • Customer retention and referral solution for improving customer service and loyalty
  • Workflow automation and tracking to improve accuracy, reduce costs, and increase efficiency
  • Financial management system for commercial real estate properties
  • Cost modeling of staffing and training personnel for protecting physical locations
  • Fleet management system to support municipal trash pick up services, staffing and equipment
  • Pricing models for construction, equipment manufacturers and international logistics
  • Web searching system to assist law enforcement trying to find Internet predators
  • Customer resource management (CRM) and asset tracking
  • Human resources systems to manage payroll and adjustments
  • Upgrading legacy databases to the latest version of Microsoft Access and adding new functionality

FMS is located in Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC and close to Maryland. Our clients include:

Our Microsoft Access consultants serve many local clients in the Mid-Atlantic, Washington DC metropolitan area. We also have clients across the country from New York to California, and Florida to Alaska, plus international clients. Some of solutions are deployed around the world with language localization support.

Let FMS be your Microsoft Access partner. With our experience, extensive code library, and tested processes, FMS can leverage your existing investments in Access at very competitive prices.

Consulting Rates and Quotes

FMS can work in a fixed price or time and material basis depending on your situation. Hourly consulting rates vary depending on the work requested, the people assigned, and the size of the project. Consulting fees range from $125 to $195 per hour, and are generally around $150/hour. Lower rates are available for clients who commit to an ongoing monthly service level agreement.

World Class Microsoft Access Help

The hourly rates are for the work we provide. We often add features we've previously built for no additional cost. Take advantage of our experience and best practices techniques from developing countless solutions in a wide variety of environments including different versions of Microsoft Access, operating systems, and language localization.

Discover how our staff of full-time Microsoft Access consultants can help you create great custom Microsoft Access database solutions and when necessary, migrate them to other platforms such as SQL Server, ASP.NET, and the Internet. We can also provide staff with security clearances.

We understand that trust takes time. We can start small to establish our relationship and prove we can generate a high return on your investment. We are confident our experienced developers will show you that high quality and innovation does not require higher cost.

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