Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

Spreadsheet Forum software

Jan 12, 2012 3:14AM PST

I'm trying to find software that will allow me to create a
form using fields from a spreadsheet I have put together which will pull up a
record, provide the user with information from the first few fields (Company
name, Phone Number) and allow the user to complete the record by answering
questions to fill in the remaining fields (information about Company obtained
by calling Phone Number). The software should allow multiple users to work on
the same spreadsheet concurrently from different computers, but not allow users
to work on the same record (so that tasks are not completed twice).

I have tried SmartSheets, but unfortunately they only offer this function when
"SmartSourcing" (submitting tasks to Amazon's Mechanical Turk). This
task requires making phone calls to obtain information, so it is not well
suited for Turks (my colleagues and I will be the end users of this form).

I've also looked at Google Docs, but that won't work either. The forms in
Google docs don't allow editing records, only entering new records. I wouldn't
be able to use a form to provide the record phone number to allow the user to
call.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide on this subject.

Discussion is locked

JimKelley87 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
You'll have to re-think this.
Jan 12, 2012 3:33AM PST

First we have to re-think this. Let's go!

1. "create a form using fields from a spreadsheet I have put together which will pull up arecord,"

There is no such software today. Such things are written by programmers to meet specifications such as this. HOWEVER the "form" is what many call the Query Form. Such are usually crafted with either code or tools but I have yet to see one that met your "spec."

If you could use a Query Form then your programmer makes those according to your specs, even if the spec is in your spreadsheet.

2. "provide the user with information from the first few fields (Companyname, Phone Number) and allow the user to complete the record by answeringquestions to fill in the remaining fields (information about Company obtainedby calling Phone Number)."

That's a Data Entry Form. Again, the programmer generates the code needed to get that up on the screen and filed back to the database when done.

3. "The software should allow multiple users to work onthe same spreadsheet concurrently from different computers, but not allow usersto work on the same record (so that tasks are not completed twice)."

HERE'S THE HARDEST PART FOR NEW TO DATA SYSTEMS FOLK TO GET OVER. READY?

-> That's no spreadsheet. That's a database. You can have a spreadsheet come out of a report but this is no spreadsheet.

Once you change to a database, much of what you asked for becomes possible.

-> In closing. You have the beginnings of a software system but need to get your programmer on board and let them select some database (I'll nod to MySQL) and then decide if this is web based or just another App.
Bob

- Collapse -
thanks!
Jan 12, 2012 6:46AM PST

Hi Bob, thank you very much for your input. I'll discuss with the project with a programmer (my brother) and learn what I need to get this set up.

- Collapse -
Good to hear.
Jan 12, 2012 6:52AM PST

I know this stuff is tough but you asked a very good question and I thought I'd try to break it down a little and give some ideas what the things or features might be called.
Bob