>>You should not be putting your business rules into SQL Server if you are designing an n-tier solution. That essentially makes it two-tier.
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>Hmmmm, the boss has said we will be going 3-tier and using sql-server for the back and middle tiers!!!
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>Can't that sill be classed as a 3-tier system then?
At least as much as a VFP system whose business and data services layers are written in VFP...
If at some point you can cleanly factor out the business rules from the data services tier, without having to rewrite the data services and UI tiers, then from my POV, they can be treated as separate tiers.