A paperwork issuing program

Hi everyone:

I'm interested in setting up a system for issuing paperwork.

It would be pretty complex (at least I axpect it to be), and I'm wondering first of all, if Excel is the right place to do it.

The basics are as follows.

There is a form that is filled in manually. this is a simple table where a product is chosen from a drop down menu. a batch code is assigned to the product, the date of production is set, and the quantity to be produced is set.

From this information all the necessary paperwork would be pulled into a print list, or copied into a file that could be printed in one go.

I don't need to know specific formulas or anything, (yet ) but just whether this is possible.

Does excel create print lists, is this possible, how does it work if it does? or is there a simpler/better way.

I'll give a quick example.

date: 12 march
batch code 01/10
product: shortbread
quantity: 30 mixes

from this i'd need to call up the shortbread recipe (and fill in all fields that realte to the above info). i'd need to call up a packing sheet (and fill it in).

I'd also need to call up and fill in a daily production plan, from all the products chosen on each day. (therse are usually done a few days in advance)

Also for all the products, there are two sets of labels that are printed, production labels and packinglabels, it'd be great if these could be automated aswell, although it is done through another program, so I'm not holding any hopes out for that - although a sheet that lists all the labels that need printing would be a reasonable alternative.

(Also one of the big things is that there are often changes made, so however the thing works, it would need to be able to re-issue any sheets that are changed because of any changes made to the initial form - is there a way fo recording what is printed?)

If anyone has any thoughts on how I should go about planning this, what sort of things I need to learn about to do it, etc, I'd appreciate it.