Slave workbook opens all externally connected workbook when drawing data

Hi all, 1st post so please excuse me if i explain anything incorrectly, i'm not the greatest with Excel but in dire need of assistance.

I need to create the following scenario.

there is a team of 10 people who all work on individual workbooks.
each workbook has a work in progress tab and a completed tab.
the column headers in these workbooks are identical, however the data will differ.
as each person completes work from their work in progress (WIP) tab, then move it to their completed tab.

there are two managers who have a read only 'slave' workbook that is drawing data from these workbooks into what we are calling a 'master tracker' using the external connections functionality in excel.
this 'master tracker' can see all the data collectively from the 10 workbooks on their two tabs to have an overview of the completed work and WIP for their reporting purposes.
the issue experienced is that when this 'master tracker' is open, it opens all the other workbooks, which locks people out if they are not in their workbook already

Can you advise if there is a better way to manage the data of these 10 people please?


Thanks in advance