I work with people who have historically used Excel and e-mail to ‘gather’ data from their external contacts. The cells these contacts populate are linked to complicated equations (occasionally macros), or are part of a large cascading cell relationship.
All the data we gather produces multiple outcomes, but all of it requires additional interrogation – intermediary workbooks to interrogate the multiple workbooks we receive from our numerous clients, lot of referencing cells (index/match, dynamic ranges), etc, etc. A large potential for error.
Therefore, I have my doubts about how good/reliable/secure Excel is when it comes to collecting data in this way. I’ve created small Access databases before so can see the advantages of a database, but I’ve never done complex calculations within them (only simple expressions).
If I was to research into the systems/technologies needed to move to better data gathering/management/usefulness environment, what would I be looking for? And could a database like Access or SQL manage complex equations, cascading field links, etc?
Many thanks for any thoughts or links.
You might consider creating a web application that connects to a database to do this. One nice thing about this is that you can separate you business and data layers, which is usually a good practice. You will also have one central location where information comes in through which should simplify your life.
Once you have a clear separation between business rules and data storage you can do most of the equations you are talking about in C# (or your language of choice) and then store the end result in your SQL Server database (or your DB of choice).