Searching for a better way to manage data records

[cmegaw]

Hello,

I'm searching for ideas on how to better manage our data records. I'm pretty new to this and would love to get some advice.

Currently my company uses an excel form via Sharepoint to keep track of cancellation and credit records. These records are stored in a table. When the even happens, a member of our team opens up the the Cancellation and Credit excel sheet from the Sharepoint, adds a new row to the bottom of the table, fills in various fields (customer name, account size, ect.) and then saves the excel file. Later, an account manager will repeat the process updating some additional fields that our team member does not have access to. In addition, our CEO and other higher ups will often open this file (in read only mode) to check on the latest updates.

One of the biggest problems with this method is that only one person can edit the excel file at a time. If someone opens the excel file in edit mode and forgets to close it then no one else in the company can make changes to the document. Currently, we use SharePoint to manage who has the ability to edit and view the forms, that being said, someone with access could (accidentally) delete all of the data and save. It would also be nice to impress the CEO's with a better way for them to view these entries.

Looking for:

• Multiple people can update or add entries at one time (or at least not have the issue we currently have)
• Simple method for adding and updating information
• Make it more difficult to make potentially devastating changes to the data (perhaps limit changes to one entry at a time)
• Ability to restrict access (currently we use Sharepoint which is fine)
• Restrict updates to one entry at a time.
• Easy way to view all the entries
• Easy way to generate various reports on the data (would be bonus)

Any ideas on ideas on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Macropod]

Just about any current database program that might be considered for business purposes would be better suited to your needs. Taking Access as an example, multiple users can read & update the database at the same time; the only restriction being that only one user at a time can edit a given record. Access also has extensive data validation and reporting tools and wide professional and user-community support.

 

[cmegaw]

I understand that there are multiple options, I am trying to find the best option. Basically I'm trying to figure out the general architecture that should be set up to implement this.

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the Board!

If you're using Sharepoint, you might want to consider building an InfoPath form and sending the data to a Sharepoint list.