>I have a potential client that I need to convince to move from Clipper to VFP (or I don't get the job!). The programmers are predisposed to moving to Delphi/Oracle.

Interesting proposition. Delphi/Oracle is an approach I would seriously consider if I were trying to build an enterprise system with a highly customized front end. But they might spend more time just installing and administering an Oracle system than you would spend completing the entire project in VFP.

If they are doing batches from different clients (batches that don't need to be, or won't ever be consolidated), then I would consider a modularized approach to the data. Store it on removeable media or noremovable (cold-swap) fixed disks that they can use to load and go. This would be a great setting for VFP. If the data is not mission-critical, but instead is a replicated extract for analysis, Oracle represents unnecessary overhead and costs, and VFP is a great fit.