[mjrpes]

Access's database is fairly limited and prone to corruption, especially using in a (local) network setup. The better solution would be to have real backend database and use ODBC to sync in data to Excel and Access. Maybe back in 1995 it made more sense but that's before my time.

Access was pretty amazing on its own back in its day, ignoring its multi-user limitations. It glued together a relational database, visual query builder, GUI/Form Builder, and reporting. You could create forms with sub forms that linked tables together. Also had a datasheet view. All of this without touching VBA code, but VBA was there when you needed it.

[osullivj]

dbase II offered similar capabilities on 8 bit CPM workstation in the early 80s.