Excel work book updated by multiple users on the web

**Napa** · 11-16-2013, 03:07 AM

Hello
First of all I would like to thank the administrators of and the contributors to the forum which is a great help for professionals and laymen like me alike.
I would like to know if the following is possible:
I have a group of people working in different locations. They need to update their daily customer visit reports and I need to consolidate the data in a work book in my office.
Can Excel be used for this purpose?
The users can use most of the details from a predefined list either stored in my work book or can have the lists in their own work books.
Could this be synchronized one way that the data once stored in my work book can not be altered by the users?
Hope the question is clear though it is in laymans language
Any help would be highly appreciated.
You may also suggest any tutorial links that is more specific to this point.
Regards
Napa

**newdoverman** · 11-16-2013, 11:20 AM

How are these updates being made? Is a common template being used so that all data is being collected and recorded in a common form? If they are on a network working with files stored on a network server, and not on their local machines, then when their machines log off the network with a time parameter, the files that they have been working on can be transferred to a folder on the network that the user doesn't have access to but you do. The network administrator can accomplish this with the tools available. You would need to consult your IT manager for this.

You should then be able to import this data so that you can work with it.

My experience with this kind of thing was with a distributed database where multiple users had simultaneous access. I don't think that Excel has that kind of capability and whatever data is on their local machines is under their control and there isn't much that you can do about it.

**Napa** · 11-16-2013, 11:52 AM

Thanks newdoverman
My affiliate company has a server. Could this be linked through that ?
I will be having a master list that can extract data from each user's work sheet through dynamic links.
Also I can ensure that the data entered with a time stamp will be locked in their spread sheets as the date changes.
Interesting ?
Can I use sharepoint or google docs for this purpose ?

**newdoverman** · 11-16-2013, 12:06 PM

Only your IT manager can answer those questions. Whether or not you want to use services like SharePoint or Google Docs is a matter of trust. Personally, I wouldn't trust any of those services with any data that I can't afford to lose or have fall into someone else's hands. (I'm a control freak)