Publication Date: September 12, 2003
Author: General Manager: FSA Students Channel
Summary: Conversion of 2004-2005 EDExpress Database to Access 2002 Format
Posted on 09-12-2003
TO: All Destination Points
FROM: Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education
RE: Conversion of 2004-2005 EDExpress Database to Access 2002 Format
DATE: September 12, 2003
The Department wishes to alert all users to an upcoming change to the database structure for 2004-2005 EDExpress and future software releases.
In the past, software releases such as EDExpress, Direct Loan (DL) Tools, Return of Title IV Funds and SSCR have used databases built on a Microsoft Access 97 framework. Beginning with the 2004-2005 EDExpress (V10.0) software release, we will be using a Microsoft Access 2002 database framework.
Please note the following:
1) Access 2002 software databases will run on all currently supported Microsoft Windows operating systems, which include Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows Me, and Windows XP.
2) You do NOT need to have any version of Microsoft Access (97 OR 2002) installed on your PC to run current or future releases of EDExpress or other Department software.
3) You will not be able to open or view the 2004-2005 EDExpress database or other future software releases using Microsoft Access 97. Microsoft Access 2002 databases are incompatible with Microsoft Access 97.
The Department continues to strongly discourage users from viewing and/or manipulating any EDESuite software database using Microsoft Access. Making changes to the software database (using any version of Microsoft Access) can potentially cause damage to the database structure and proper software functionality, and limit our ability to support problems you may encounter as a result.
If you do choose to access any Department software database using Microsoft Access, you should ensure you are viewing a copy of the database file and not your live "production" database file. You should also ensure you have a safe, reliable back-up of your software database(s) created prior to using Microsoft Access to access live or back-up copies of your software database(s).
If you have any questions regarding this message, please contact CPS/WAN Technical Support at 800/330-5947 or via e-mail at cpswan@ncs.com.