Look-Up Table Tutorial -or- Better Idea to Solve Problem

[Bob]

Hoping someone can provide a link or other good reference on how to
use/build look-up tables. Have a big project coming up which will have
about 450 equipment locations. There will only be about 12 variations of
equipment configurations but I want to build a spreadsheet that allows an
individual to pick a particular location (450 of those) and assign a
configuration to it. The tables would include the equipment and cost info
so when they place a checkmark (or whatever in the corresponding row/col, it
will select the predetermined equipment configuration and plug in the cost.

That may not be the best description but gives you an idea of what I'm
trying to do. Sort of an auto configuration tool. I think what I need to
use is a look-up table but if I'm wrong - please set me straight.

I won't be able to answer any questions back for several days - I'm on a
plane in the morning and won't have internet access. But if you could just
post a link for a tutorial or sample - that would be great. Just learned
that I need to do this so I haven't had a chance to do much research myself
so I apologize for asking the group to do my work for me - but it sure would
give me a leg up on getting over the learning curve. I need more than what
is in the XP Office (2003) Help files.

Thank you,

Bob S.

 

[Debra Dalgleish]

If you have a list of equipment and costs, you can use VLookup formulas
to return values from the table. There's a sample here, with instructions:

http://www.contextures.com/xlOrderForm01.html