InterSystems IRIS vs. Microsoft Access

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
InterSystems IRIS is a complete cloud-first data platform that includes a multi-model transactional data management engine, an application development platform, and interoperability engine, and an open analytics platform. It is is the next generation of InterSystems' data management software. It includes…N/A
Microsoft Access
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Access is a database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools.
$139.99
per PC
Pricing
InterSystems IRISMicrosoft Access
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Microsoft Access
$139.99
per PC
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
InterSystems IRISMicrosoft Access
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
InterSystems IRISMicrosoft Access
Best Alternatives
InterSystems IRISMicrosoft Access
Small Businesses
Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL
Score 8.9 out of 10
InterSystems IRIS
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL
Score 8.9 out of 10
InterSystems IRIS
InterSystems IRIS
Score 7.7 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP IQ
SAP IQ
Score 10.0 out of 10
SAP IQ
SAP IQ
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
InterSystems IRISMicrosoft Access
Likelihood to Recommend
7.4
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.4
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
InterSystems IRISMicrosoft Access
Likelihood to Recommend
It is best suited in the scenario where a single interface is required for providing [a complete end-to-end] solution to the customers. You don't need [a] separate platform to write code or [perform] database operations. All you need is InterSystems IRIS software and you are done. You can also use analytics functionality which is one of the greatest [features] which many customers need for their solution[.]
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Having worked at startups, I can say Microsoft Access is most suited for their needs. Some of the reasons for that can be the ease and ability to create tables, design an entity-relationship diagram, define the relationship between different tables, feeding data into the tables, and retrieving data. All of this can be curated very easily into a process for small to medium-size enterprises. But a serious limitation can be observed where Access does not provide better features for large-scale companies. Another limitation is for companies where Mac is used as work computers.
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Pros
  • Connecting with mutliple vendor platforms and systems allowing us to consume and provide data as needed.
  • Allowed us to implement our own RESTful api engine to server data to our internal applications.
  • Setting up their recommendations for high availability allow us to perform server maintenance with minimal down time to our users.
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  • One good aspect of Microsoft Access is how the software can be customized for different applications. This is very useful because we are able to use this software for multiple applications, which makes it cost-friendly.
  • Another strong point of Microsoft Access is the skill required to customize, the amount of programming required is less than most other database programs. This is good for a beginner looking to get into database management.
  • Microsoft Access is one of the more cost-friendly database applications, and most of the time it comes with Microsoft Office. Other database programs can be expensive and not as easy to use.
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Cons
  • Enhanced documentation, more comprehensive and user-friendly documentation, including detailed tutorials and examples
  • Improving compatibility and integrations with others programming languages
  • Introducing tools and techniques to optimize the performance of ObjectScript applications, such as profiling tools, performance monitoring utilities, and code optimization guidelines
  • A better compatibility with Python libraries
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  • Generally high learning curve for new users. Especially if they are not comfortable with technology.
  • Desktop only program; not available in web-format like other O365 products
  • Fewer experienced users, means it's a lot of self-teaching and troubleshooting when you run into an issue
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
I and the rest of my team will renew our Microsoft Access in the future because we use and maintain many different applications and databases created using Microsoft Access so we will need to maintain them in the future. Additionally, it is a standard at our place of work so it is at $0 cost to us to use. Another reason for renewing Microsoft Access is that we just don' t have the resources needed to extend into a network of users so we need to remain a single-desktop application at this time.
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Usability
The interface is very intuitive, the documentation is very good so it is not complicated to operate.
The security is complex, but you can create a special role to access and the user ONLY can operate with the part that it allows.
Also, you can examine the data very quick with the SQL Browser integrated.
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Microsoft Access is easy to use. It is compatible with spreadsheets. It is a very good data management tool. There is scope to save a large amount of data in one place. For using this database, one does not need much training, can be shared among multiple users. This database has to sort and filtering features which seem to be very useful.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
I don't think the program has ever failed me. It is one of those programs where there is always a solution if you know where to look.
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Support Rating
The InterSystems WRC has always been helpful and responsive. The folks I have spoken with are always understanding of our needs and questions and regardless of if the question is simple or complex we are always met with the same professionalism and helpfulness every time. I have no hesitations contacting InterSystems for help!
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While I have never contacted Microsoft directly for product support, for some reason there's a real prejudice against MS Access among most IT support professionals. They are usually discouraging when it comes to using MS Access. Most of this is due to their lack of understanding of MS Access and how it can improve one's productivity. If Microsoft invested more resources towards enhancing and promoting the use of MS Access then maybe things would be different.
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Implementation Rating
Will done based on a proper planning, so this will makes execution more easier and better.
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there is no key idea, since it is easy to implement Microsoft Access
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Alternatives Considered
Tibco was not originally planned to be used for HL7 Integrations and as such we had to create some very complicated processes in order for the messages to parse and validate appropriately. It was simply not built for this type of interoperability. Comparatively, InterSystems IRIS for Health (HealthConnect) has out of the box HL7 features that would parse messages, offer a variety of validation options, simplified data lookups and transformation and reduced the amount of time it took to develop connections with out vendor systems. InterSystems IRIS also allows one to push just single files into production at a time so there is less of a chance of us pushing something that should not be in production yet as our previous system was set up to with TIBCO deployments
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Excel is a fantastic - robust application that can do so much so easily. Its easy to train and understand. However - excel does not provide a reporting function and that is typically where we will suggest a move to [Microsoft] Access. [Microsoft] Access requires a little more knowledge of data manipulation.
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Return on Investment
  • Very Fast and scalable software to deal with big data flow, safe and robust.
  • The studio IDE is quite old fashion and lacks a few facilities
  • amazing for complex data consumption, its milyi-model capability wich allows multiple different models for a single set of codes.
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  • Microsoft Access has had a mostly positive impact on our business objectives in that most of our work is funded by grants and those grants need reports with data about our projects. Microsoft Access makes getting and organizing that data very easy.
  • Another positive is that since it is built on an Excel backbone, Excel files can be easily imported into Microsoft Access and also it is easy to export Microsoft Access reports, data sheets, etc. into Excel and some other programs as well. That might help more people who already use Excel learn how to work in a database.
  • I can't really think of a negative impact other than not many people at my workplace have ever used or understand how to use a database. Most people tend to use Excel rather than a database, like Microsoft Access.
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