Sorry if I am in the wrong place, but I could not find a forum here for my question.

We are a non-profit that is in need of a new payroll program. Since social security numbers are involved and we are under HIPPA regulations, we are looking at SQL Server 2008 Express or maybe 2012 Express with Advanced Services.  

With the new system, there may be up to five users that have a need to access information, but only two users will have the ability to add/change/delete information.

We may be using our web browsers to access the system through our network.

There has been some talk about virtualization of our network.

I know nothing about the number of cores, sockets or other technical issues at this time.

We will be creating the payroll program in house and will not be selling or giving the software to any one else.

I have looked at the MS web site and it gives info on the Enterprise, BI and Standard editions licensing requirements.
 
Given the above scenario, can we download, create our own payroll program and use 2008 or 2012 free of charge?  

I am not an attorney or one that deals with legal issues for our organization, nor am I our IT person. I have been asked to do some groundwork investigating of software.

Any help or information regarding issues that we should be looking at would be appreciated.

Thanks.

P.S.  Will we need SharePoint to run SQL Server Express?
 

SQL Server 2008 Express is free.  The problem is maximum size of the database.  I do not recall what it is.

Make sure you can encrypt the data.  Start by looking at VARBINARY datatype.

Good luck.

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

10gig is the size for 2012 express.  

I looked at the size of our current system through Windows Explorer and it appears to be 396MB. I do not feel that the db size will be a major issue.

Thanks.