Sharing with other users

[CamiWami]

I have been trying to figure this out for so long and still have not found any answers. I want to share a workbook and allow each user to filter to their needs. There has to be a way to create something that allows users to the freedom to edit and change information that is fed into a main database.

So I have a workbook for Customer Management that has several macros and VBA's that I would like to share and allow about 4 users make changes to the information. Each user should be allowed sort/filter the sheet to suit their needs. If a user changes information for a customer such as phone # or address it can communicate that change to the other users worksheets. I have found ways to do this without the ability to filter that data, but that is an import feature that I do need.

Please help me understand what I need to do to make this work. Do I need to use excel in conjunction with another program like Access, or should I be using Access instead, or is there just something else all together I should be using? Or is there a way to identify the Customer ID# or Name instead of column, row or cell for changes?

Any help is so greatly appreciated!

[alansidman]

Access will allow multiple users to share the same DataBase at the same time without conflicts. The key is to build the back end (tables) and store it in a separate location (server), and then build the front end and bind the input forms and queries to the back end tables.

[CamiWami]

Thank you for an answer. I have not used Access so I will have to figure out how to do all of this lol. I built the whole thing in Excel and then was told it needed to be shared...

[alansidman]

This is a good place to start. http://www.accessmvp.com/strive4peace/

If you have built your tables and they are normalized, you can probably import them directly into Access which will help to get you started. Then build your forms that will populate your tables. Finally, you build your queries which can easily be exported to Excel for the non Access users.

Attached is a really good white paper on Data Base Design. Adhere to these principles and it will make life easier in the future.

[CamiWami]

Awesome! Thank you SO much!