M
Michael Lambert
Here's what I want to do.
1. I developed a spreadsheet (call it SS 'A') that needs
input from about a half-dozen people around the world
(sales performance tracking).
2. SS 'A' gets its data from at least a half-dozen other
spreadsheets, all in different formats, and some in Lotus
123.
3. Normal process is for these people to send me their
spreadsheets, and I hunt through them to pick out the
right numbers and plug them into SS 'A'.
4. I want to standardize their input and automate the
data pulling process, but I have a few problems to
solve. First decision is whether to pull their
spreadsheets into one master spreadsheet or to allow them
to continue using separate files.
A. If I pull them all into one, I need to publish it to
the web with interactivity so people can work on it at
any time (different time zones here).
(1) There would also end up being over 50 worksheets in
this workbook. Not sure if size should be a
consideration, because everyone would have to download
all the data if they wanted a detached copy of the
spreadsheet.
(2) I don't know how it would work when more than one
person tried to edit the workbook at once: would it be
locked, or would it have save conflicts?
(3) I am also concerned about somebody deleting another
person's data when they're editing. I think that giving
permissions to people by worksheet may solve this
problem. Not sure.
B. If I keep the files separate, I could have people
simply upload new copies of their files into the web
folder I create.
(1) I would then need my spreadsheet to have relative
paths for its cell references, but I have run into a
roadblock because Excel doesn't seem to be able to call
relative paths when the destination file (the one with
the reference to another file) is on the web ... even
when the two files are in the same web folder.
I'm open to other ideas on how to solve this dilemma.
Suggestions?
Please help.
Michael Lambert
(e-mail address removed)
1. I developed a spreadsheet (call it SS 'A') that needs
input from about a half-dozen people around the world
(sales performance tracking).
2. SS 'A' gets its data from at least a half-dozen other
spreadsheets, all in different formats, and some in Lotus
123.
3. Normal process is for these people to send me their
spreadsheets, and I hunt through them to pick out the
right numbers and plug them into SS 'A'.
4. I want to standardize their input and automate the
data pulling process, but I have a few problems to
solve. First decision is whether to pull their
spreadsheets into one master spreadsheet or to allow them
to continue using separate files.
A. If I pull them all into one, I need to publish it to
the web with interactivity so people can work on it at
any time (different time zones here).
(1) There would also end up being over 50 worksheets in
this workbook. Not sure if size should be a
consideration, because everyone would have to download
all the data if they wanted a detached copy of the
spreadsheet.
(2) I don't know how it would work when more than one
person tried to edit the workbook at once: would it be
locked, or would it have save conflicts?
(3) I am also concerned about somebody deleting another
person's data when they're editing. I think that giving
permissions to people by worksheet may solve this
problem. Not sure.
B. If I keep the files separate, I could have people
simply upload new copies of their files into the web
folder I create.
(1) I would then need my spreadsheet to have relative
paths for its cell references, but I have run into a
roadblock because Excel doesn't seem to be able to call
relative paths when the destination file (the one with
the reference to another file) is on the web ... even
when the two files are in the same web folder.
I'm open to other ideas on how to solve this dilemma.
Suggestions?
Please help.
Michael Lambert
(e-mail address removed)