G
Guest
Please bear with me for a bit of background info: We are a manufacturing
company. Our parent company is yanking our AS400. Most of our data is going
into an Oracle system that will hold ONLY data about finished
products/orders. Products/orders STILL UNDER PRODUCTION will not use Oracle.
But Oracle will provide an export (in a spreadsheet format) of data for a
"like item", in a single row, for us to use as a starting point for
development of a similar item.
ALL FIELDS are exported, whether they are empty or not, and ALL fields must
remain on the spreadsheet as it is routed to various development personnel.
The order/quantity of columns cannot be changed because the data will be
uploaded to the Oracle system later. The problem is...
....we have a huge number of customized products with very very different
attributes. One product under development may use less than 10 column cells.
Another may use over 300 column cells. A third may use column cells A1-G1,
cell FZ1 and then column cells HP1-HR1. Ya know, all over the place.
We are not allowed to create a database (not even Access), so Excel is it.
The big question (finally!): How can we make this horizontally enormous
spreadsheet more user friendly? Users will need to move through the database
in a way that is logical given the type of product it is, the division making
it, and what data entry/modification needs to be done.
Also, are there any limitations in Excel that might trip us up?
I am no Excel expert; I can stumble around with the basics. I have Lotus
experience from decades ago and know that spreadsheets usually have things
available like macros and tabs. (I also have Filemaker background, experience
with graphics programs, etc. so I'm not a computer neophyte. Just an Excel
neophyte...) I read briefly about data forms but that seems VERY limited. Do
we want each user to import the data into a template of some sort?
I am hoping someone can direct me as to which of Excel's capabilities I
should learn more about in order to create this...thing. I anticipate
reading/learning a lot in the near future. We have a horribly limited time
frame. Of course.
company. Our parent company is yanking our AS400. Most of our data is going
into an Oracle system that will hold ONLY data about finished
products/orders. Products/orders STILL UNDER PRODUCTION will not use Oracle.
But Oracle will provide an export (in a spreadsheet format) of data for a
"like item", in a single row, for us to use as a starting point for
development of a similar item.
ALL FIELDS are exported, whether they are empty or not, and ALL fields must
remain on the spreadsheet as it is routed to various development personnel.
The order/quantity of columns cannot be changed because the data will be
uploaded to the Oracle system later. The problem is...
....we have a huge number of customized products with very very different
attributes. One product under development may use less than 10 column cells.
Another may use over 300 column cells. A third may use column cells A1-G1,
cell FZ1 and then column cells HP1-HR1. Ya know, all over the place.
We are not allowed to create a database (not even Access), so Excel is it.
The big question (finally!): How can we make this horizontally enormous
spreadsheet more user friendly? Users will need to move through the database
in a way that is logical given the type of product it is, the division making
it, and what data entry/modification needs to be done.
Also, are there any limitations in Excel that might trip us up?
I am no Excel expert; I can stumble around with the basics. I have Lotus
experience from decades ago and know that spreadsheets usually have things
available like macros and tabs. (I also have Filemaker background, experience
with graphics programs, etc. so I'm not a computer neophyte. Just an Excel
neophyte...) I read briefly about data forms but that seems VERY limited. Do
we want each user to import the data into a template of some sort?
I am hoping someone can direct me as to which of Excel's capabilities I
should learn more about in order to create this...thing. I anticipate
reading/learning a lot in the near future. We have a horribly limited time
frame. Of course.