TDSI ExGarde Database manipulation

[Tinribs]

OK

So we have an old ExGarde installation running on Windows 7.

The school has never really had a leavers/starters policy so we now have a massive ExGarde database full with users who no longer work at the school. This is going back at least 7 years.

There is currently no link between the ExGarde software and AD, SIMS or any other of the school's systems. When someone new starts we print out their ID card using CardExchange Professional which gets its data from SIMS overnight. Then we have to manually create the new starter in ExGarde and add the card number to that account so the card works. All fine and dandy until the time comes to rationalise 7 years' worth of leavers and their associated cards. At the moment I'm looking at exporting a list of accounts that are valid then comparing that list with the accounts in ExGarde and manually reconciling the lists then deleting the inactive accounts from ExGarde. Scarily dull and wrought with potential for errors.

TDSI ExGarde uses a SQL Express database. It has occurred to me that if I can generate a list of valid card holders from SIMS or ID Manager etc then it should be possible to use this as a source of data for a SQL script to remove the defunct accounts from ExGarde without all the manual faff.

Only problem is - i have never used SQL for anything.

This is an incredibly long shot but is anyone out there able to provide at least a basic outline of how to do what I need to? The first hurdle that I have come across is that we do not have a record of the SQL Admin account or password so we would probably need to get that sorted first.....

We don't have direct TDSI support as that goes through the suppliers rather than the users so that is a tricky avenue to approach.