It's hard to make any specific suggestions given the general description
in our post.

You can certainly keep track of the items you list in a single XL
workbook, though 3.5 MB seems a bit steep for 5 reps x 365 days.

Using Pivot Tables to summarize your data instead of fixed summary cells
may make your sheets more manageable - you can group date-related fields
in Months, Quarters, etc.

Mac vs PC should be little or no problem - the file formats of
MacXL98/01/v.X/04 and WinXL97/00/02/03 are identical.

Whether XL would be better than a database app largely depends on what
you're trying to do with the data - for simple reporting, a DBMS would
probably be preferable if you have the funding and training. FileMaker
Pro and 4D are both excellent cross-platform database managers (and both
are generally more robust than Win-only Access).


In article ,
"Pat J Maine" <Pat J wrote:

This past summer you all were wonderfully helpful with a calculation problem
I was having. Now I am seeking help again. I need to know if I am using the
best vehicle to track these stats for a client.

The client needs to track stats on five sales reps (potential of more reps
in the future). Data needs to be recorded on a number of items on a daily
basis for the entire school year with week end results, month end results,
quarter end results and year end results for each rep and also for all the
reps combined. Hope I am clear here. What I have done since Excel will not
give me enough room for an entire calendar year is I have created a workbook
with a worksheet for each quarter and a year end for each individual rep plus
another set for the combined totals...for a whopping total of 25 sheets. I
am currently looking at almost 3.5 meg on this workbook. As the school year
turns over the dates need to be readjusted along with checking to make sure
week end, month end, etc. all changes accordingly. Fine for someone that
knows how to work with Excel not for someone who doesn't. The other wrinkle,
which I just found out about a month or so back, is that the person who does
all of the data entry at the school uses a Mac whereas I use an IBM so we
have had some interesting translation issues...and I thought I was creating
the problems!!

Anyway, is Excel the best tool to use? Should we be looking at something
else like a data base or statistical software? Any thoughts, recommendations
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much in advance!

Pat