Would Project work for this, or is excel the answer?

[ChrisNeedsHelp]

2 Part Question

I have a large multi tab (30+) spreadsheet with many formulas and drop down
menu items in the input cells. As a result, the file is nearly 30 MB. It is
currently posted on a large shared server for users in various off site
locations.

1) Is there a way to make the spreadsheet webbased or make it smaller so
that it can be easily viewed and manipulated by several users?

2) The data for this spreadsheet comes from many users. Currently I have
them fill in a survey created in excel, they email this document to me, and
then I copy and paste the information into the main spreadsheet (to prevent
some one messing up the main spreadsheet). Is there a way to have the servey
online populate directly into the main excel spreadsheet, or failing that,
into a different main document where I can cut and paste large pices of data
into the main spreadsheet?

I have tried to do this using only excel and I'm wondering if Microsoft
Project would be able to streamline this. The purpose of teh spreadsheet is
to track the effectiveness of various advertising campaigns in many different
markets over various time spans. This would be a "living" document that will
continue to be updated. I would also like to have the ability to run reports
for various data. I don't own Project, but would buy it if it solves this
issue.

 

[Jim Aksel]

Project is a scheduling/planning application -- for example all the tasks
needed to build a house and their relationships.

From the information provided, I do not see where Project would provide a
great solution.

Repost to the Excel Users Group. Yes, it is possible to run a browser based
input to Excel.... perhaps even a database. Even better, there are online
survey companies that are dirt cheap... you can give them all your criteria
and they can provide you more reports than imagineable.

--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[JulieS]

Hi ChrisNeedsHelp,

I would encourage you to look at a relational database product such
as Access. Access does have a learning curve steeper than Excel but
from your description (multiple users, survey questions, need to
maintain large amounts of data) I think Access is the best option.

Visit the Access newsgroups (particularly the Access New Users
group) and search for "tutorials". There is a wealth of information
available. I believe Duane Hookom (Access MVP) has a sample of a
survey database. See:

http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project