Using Icon Sets in Conditional Formatting to indicate development since the last entry

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I was hoping I could get some help with the following problem:

I have an Excel workbook with multiple spreadsheets, each for a separate week of operations. I would like to create a rule with which I can indicate how results have progressed for a given item since the report for the previous week. I would like to do this using arrows: green if performance has gone up, yellow if the results are the same, red if they have gone down.

For example, if manufacturing output for week 2 has been at 2500 pieces and for week 3 at 2600 pieces, I would like to have that indicated by a green up arrow. Week 4 and 5 have remained consistent at 2600, so this should be displayed by a yellow sideways arrow and week 6 dropped slightly to 2550, so this should show a red down arrow.
This whole thing is supposed to reference the previous week only, so comparing week 3 with week 2, week 4 with week 3, etc.

I have tried to get this done myself for a while now and it usually works fine for rising numbers, but if the comparison stays consistent or drops, I just can't get it to work.
Is there anyone here who knows how to make this work? Or if this is at all possible?

I appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks.

Thanks for the quick reply.

To answer your questions/suggestions:
1. Unfortunately I don't have the option to reduce the amount of spreadsheets, as this is not actually a data input sheet but a data evaluation sheet. I use it to evaluate employee performance, and while it does contain several units of numerical value, it also includes performance feedback. For this we have to create a new sheet every week. Not my choice exactly either, that's how the boss wants it.
2. I'll see if I can create a similar system when I get out of the office that I can use as an example. For obvious reasons I can't upload anything from work or use even just excerpts from the workbook for illustration purposes.

Thank you again for the help and suggestions.

So, does anybody have any suggestions on how to solve this issue without having to restructure the file?

Any help is greatly appreciated.