PCA specializes in building applications interfaces connected to SQL Server databases over the Internet, so employees, partners and customers can share and update 'privileged-based' information in real-time, anywhere with Internet access.

If you need to publish structured information to various web pages, where End Users are limited to read-only access, then ASP.NET pages is a great approach.  If however you need to enable a frequent, two-way "high-fidelity connection" among End Users — where everyone modifies certain areas of the data, adds new records, or if you need to support a more complex business work-flow, then a Microsoft Smart Client application connected to a SQL Server database is a better-suited, more cost-effective approach.

There are also circumstances (and needs) for pure browser-based ASP.NET applications.  The most common reason we encounter is some businesses simply cannot dictate that all End Users install an application on their PC.  In addition, sometimes a rich, highly-interactive End User experience is not needed.

While Smart Clients have clear advantages in terms of advanced capabilities, ease-of-use, and lower costs to design and develop, under these scenarios PCA frequently develops "hybrid applications" that deliver the capabilities and benefits of both Smart Client and browser-based (ASP.NET) approaches.  Typically, the Smart Client application is used by employees to create and maintain the database records, and to manage all the application administrative functions, and the resulting database records and reports are made available to customers via an ASP.NET browser interface.

PCA frequently builds "hybrid" solutions for Clients that include both Microsoft Smart Client application and ASP.NET webpage components. Typically, employees use the Smart Client application to manage the data, and customers access the data via ASP.NET pages inside a web browser. ASP.NET page capabilities can include access to reports that are canned and generated on-the-fly, and filters and queries directly from the SQL Server database.

In our experience, data replication and synchronization methods available within MS SQL Server can be a significant technical challenge.  The method you choose to replicate and synchronize SQL Server data can (and will!) directly impact application performance and business data integrity.  There are several proven approaches to distributing and updating database-driven content, and the ideal approach can depend upon several factors: end user access restrictions, workflow considerations, database schema complexity, update cycle, media types, size of the database, and more. The process of how you need to distribute information to remote users, and flow reliable data back and forth forces key early design decisions.

Any wrong turn with key design considerations can (and will!) produce results that are both painful and expensive, and likely fall short of meeting your business objectives. All too frequently, businesses call PCA because they took a wrong turn with the database configuration and design, and are now experiencing lost data, slow performance, or the database itself becomes corrupt.

PCA offers a number of time-tested distributed web database applications techniques that can address a broad range of functional and budget requirements.  We know how to create robust, web database applications directly from your MS SQL Server database that actually perform FASTER and are EASIER TO USE over the Internet, than most MS SQL Server applications running on a local area network (LAN)!