Multiple Workbooks Feeding a Master Workbook in Real Time?

[cpercival]

I tried posting this in the Excel 2007 forum and haven't received any responses, so I thought I would open it up to a broader audience.

I've been trying to figure out how to make this work without much luck so I'm hoping someone here might be able to help.

I have designed an excel workbook that tracks the output from multiple machining areas and compiles them on a master sheet. The operators are given daily goals for the production of different parts and at the completion of each job, they must enter the part type and quantity they produced. This then feeds the master sheet which tracks overall production and how it relates to monthly goals. I should add that the workbook does contain some VBA coding and obviously I'm running 2007. So far, I have this working perfectly.

Here's the tricky part. I would like to have this workbook spread among a few different workcenters, all of which would be open at the same time. In each production area, there would be a data input computer, where the operator would enter production numbers. The master workbook would then be at another workcenter collecting all the data. Without having to save and close each workbook and without having manually refresh the data manually in any way, is there a way to have the master workbook update automatically, compiling the data from the other workcenters in real time? The data input computers do not need to feed each other information. They only need to feed the master workbook. I need to keep this as simple as possible for the operators so I would like to avoid saving and closing the file each time they enter data.

Hopefully, I have explained this well enough, but please ask away if you're not clear. As always, any help would be appreciated.

[MarvinP]

Hi
Was this the feature you were looking for?
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...010096833.aspx
Note - it is new to 2010 so you understand the implication about earlier versions.

For 2007 here is a link
http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2...in-excel-2007/

And finally for multiple versions
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269860

Do any of these fit your need?

[Domski]

Note that shared workbooks are in general evil and best avoided. For a stable multi-user environment you should really consider an Access database.

Dom