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Stingray240cs
Starting Member
2 Posts |
 Posted - 2014-02-04 : 11:37:20
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| I'm wondering if we should be moving towards a sql database and hoping you all can help guide me. My team currently uses 10 Excel spreadsheets and one word document to create a report for a client. I would say 98% of the work is done on the excel spreadsheets and once they are filled out, we open the word doc and Update links to those excel spreadsheets. The excel spreadsheets and word doc are basically boiler plates/templates for each project. We do have slightly different boiler plates based on the project as well. My vision is to get away from these excel spreadsheets and to use something more like a sql database in order to always have real time data and to eventually be able to create an intranet that users can use to work on these templates while away from the office. Currently they have to remote into a server and work on them that way. What do you all think? Is this a good fit for my scenario? Is it possible at the end of the project to "hit a button" and spit out a PDF of the report? I don't want to give too much info because I don't want to bore you with a long post, but let me know if you have any questions. I appreciate the feedback. |
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Bustaz Kool
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1834 Posts |
Posted - 2014-02-04 : 17:55:59
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| It all sounds doable. How do you envision the data entry being done? As a set of web pages? Also, you mention that the Excel sheets do 98% of the work. Are they actually operating on the data (Analysis) or are they a simple front end for data entry?===============================================================================There are two kinds of light -- the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. -James Thurber (1894-1961) |
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Stingray240cs
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 2014-02-05 : 11:01:27
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| Hey, I really appreciate the response. I know I left a lot of details out but I didn't want to scare anyone off with a long first message. When I said the excel spreadsheets handle most of the work I meant to say that our users enter 98-99% of there data into these individual spreadsheets. Some of it is paragraphs that get linked into the word doc and some of it is numbers pertaining to for example that city's unemployment rate. There are a lot of calculations that are done based on numbers entered and then at the end. The users opens all of the excel spreadsheets and the word doc (the actual report) and the user will update all links within the word doc. That word doc is pulling data from all the excel spreadsheets (about 400 links) which turns that template word doc into a project specific report. I would envision the associates being able to enter data via a web page on our intranet, a smart phone, and/or a tablet. One problem I think would be that users would be required to have some type of internet access when working in the field. You can't work offline on this type of setup right? Users would need to be able to choose what type of report they wanted from a list of about 10 or so and then the required and optional fields would be brought up on the users front end (webpage). In the end they would need an option to convert there data to a report in PDF and possibly word format.Hope this helps. I appreciate your feedback. |
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jackv
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2179 Posts |
Posted - 2014-02-08 : 02:06:46
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| 1) Some dynamic web pages would be required :e.g ADD | EDIT | DELETE | SEARCH| CONTENT PAGE – 2) One potential feature which may be useful is to create a bunch of prepared reports – 3) A Web server is required 4) Database Table – database design – consider creating some extra tables for lookups . This would also make it easier for the ADD | EDIT pages5) What Method to use to do a one-off import ? Could do a filestream and parse relevant sections creating dynamic syatements. Push into a staging table – and from there create statements to populate main tables.Alternative is to copy and paste6) Database platform - consider which database platform - re: support and licensingJack Vamvas--------------------http://www.sqlserver-dba.com |
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Looking for advice