MIS managers can choose to buy instead of build, while enabling application customization to meet specific business requirements. The backlog of end-user application demands can be reduced through code reuse, resulting in a faster response. Developers can be moved across development projects easily. Visual Basic for Applications can also play a large role in helping MIS managers and their companies lower training costs by reducing the number of development environments or languages in which their developers need to be trained. Top Benefits to End Users of Application-Based Solutions Solutions perform faster, thanks to tight integration between VBA and host applications.
Solutions look and work like the applications users already know, so less training is required.
Solutions can be user-customized, with respect to print options or query creation, for example. Overall, users will benefit the most from improved solution quality and customized functionality, as the applications they use today incorporate richer functionality and integration, and are tailored to meet their needs. With the release of VBA 6.3 in March 2001, Microsoft has built on the power of VBA 6.0, and has included new features that extend the power, flexibility, and security of the development environment. And with new integration technologies built by Microsoft, ISVs can integrate VBA into their applications more quickly and easily than ever. Through the VBA licensing program, Microsoft is making the same version of Visual Basic for Applications in Microsoft Office broadly available for use in non-Microsoft applications, providing the same ease of use and power of Visual Basic to a broad range of new applications.