General Functions > Performing Local Backup > Ad-hoc Reporting / Queries

For data stored in Access

Local backup data is stored in a standard Microsoft Access 2000 database. Many third party tools can read an Access database, such as Crystal Reports. Therefore, you may use such tools to set up your own ad-hoc query and reporting.

NOTE: The Secure File Transfer client will periodically update the structure of your local Access database (as fields are added/changed on the MIE). Therefore, it is not advisable to modify that database by adding reports, forms, or queries. Such additions will be lost each time a structure upgrade is performed. Instead, use third party tools that simply read the existing database. If you plan to use Access, then create your own Access database that simply links in the tables from the database being managed by the SFT client.

For data stored in SQL Server

There are many tools available for performing ad-hoc reporting from SQL Server (Crystal Reports is one).

NOTE: The Secure File Transfer client will periodically modify the structure of tables in SQL server. It does so using SQL Server's built-in ALTER TABLE and/or CREATE TABLE commands. Since it uses these commands, anything you add to the database (such as indexes, stored procedures, views, or other tables) will not be impacted by these structure updates.