Help me rough out steps for a DIF project, please.

[WF]

I think the following idea can be accomplished using Excel's Data
Interchange Format.

A. I have three retail stores with standalone POS systems. I can pull
reports from each system. I want to consolidate these reports at the
headquarters level.
B. Each store can export the report in a DIF format.
C. Each report contains sales for departments. Each department has a unique
department number. Each store has a unique store number, though not on the
report.

Question:
What would be the broad steps involved in combining the data into one report
at headquarters level? I think I recall from old reading (mostly PC Mag)
that the DIF will allow me to move data from one document to an Excel
spreadsheet without formatting and manipulating the data each time I want to
bring new data into the spreadsheet.

Also, where would one look to get a brief primer on DIF? Excel's Help file
in NO HELP.

Many thanks in advance for your time and sharing your knowledge.

WF

 

[WF]

I think I have moved a step closer in determining what I need to do. I
don't think the DIF format is what I need to be using. But neither can I
get the results that I want using data linking with another Excel
spreadsheet as the data in the first spreadsheet does not remain in constant
cells from report to report. One time Department 340 may be in cell B12 and
the next week it may have moved to B13. Each department does have a unique
department number on the same line as the data.

What to do now?

WF