Why Access?
MS Access provides two main functions. Firstly it is a database container, capable of storing your data. Secondly it is an application development tool which enables you to create forms and reports that make use of your data.
It's considered good form to keep the two separate using two Access Databases. One for the tables that hold the data and the other, a presentation application, that holds all the forms and reports that the user interacts with.
Application Development
In fact Access is considered a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool. Due to its visual capabilities (you can layout your forms and reports by dragging and dropping controls so What you See is What you Get) it is about the fastest development environment you can get.
It's easy for a beginner to get started yet enormously powerful in what it can deliver in the hands of an experienced developer.
Combined with SQL Server, Access is capable of running Very Big Organisations.
Data Storage
As a data storage facility, it is simple to setup and use. Any Windows machine is capable of hosting and Access Database even without Access Installed.
The size of the database is limited to 2Gb. But that's still a lot of data storage.
But once you start to get dozens of users and lots of data (millions of records) then you may want to upsize your data storage to SQL Server.
This is not as hard as it used to be and depending on the amount of data storage you need then the free version may be all that you need.
More Topics
- Normalisation - The Difference between a Database and a Spreadsheet
- Containers and Objects - a Quick Overview
- Naming Conventions and why they will make your Application Development easier
- Using ID Columns in Tables