Starting point
As in many mid-sized companies, the central business application had grown in MS Access over the years: order entry, reporting and master data maintenance ran through forms and VBA macros: reliable, but only at a single workstation. Home office, mobile use or several colleagues working in parallel were impossible, and every Office update carried the risk of bringing the application down.
Approach
A traditional redevelopment had already been evaluated and failed on time and budget. The requirements for us were therefore clearly defined: the complete feature set must be preserved, ongoing operations must not be interrupted and the effort must be planned reliably before the project starts.
Instead of reprogramming the application by hand, we set up the migration process to be consistently AI-assisted, an approach we call vibe coding. The Cursor IDE translates the data model, forms and VBA logic into a modern web codebase, while our developers direct, review and refine every result. Exactly this combination of software development and AI agents & workflows cut the effort from the more than 2,500 hours originally estimated down to under 270 hours.
Result
After less than 270 working hours, instead of the more than 2,500 hours originally estimated, the new web app was live in production. All functions of the Access application remain available: now multi-user, mobile and independent of local Office installations:
- Several employees work simultaneously without locking conflicts, in the office, at home and on the road.
- No more dependency on Office versions and local installations; updates are rolled out centrally.
- Role-based access and a central database create the foundation for clean reporting and further digitalisation steps.
We had budgeted for more than 2,500 hours: the project was delivered in under 270 hours. For the team, the switch was barely noticeable, just suddenly available everywhere.
Still running an Access database?
In a free initial consultation, we will assess how quickly your application can become a web app, with a reliable effort and cost estimate. Or start a chat with our team right below.