Hi,

I have a workbook (book 3) which consists of 8 columns of data. There
are 3 columns of data which are very important. There is another
workbook linked to book 3 which reads this entire data structure and
performs decision making process. Basically what I want is to check
the 3 columns for 3 different variables. if they match, then retun the
number (in another column) of that row that matches all the variables

Now i am looking for a function which can check the entries of the 3
columns and return the right corresponding number to that entry.

For example, the three columns i have a Date, Customer, Defect Code

First, it should read the date (month) , then the customer and then
the defect code and then return the number of defects (which is in
another column in book 3)

I have inserted my version of code but obviously it doesn't recognize
anything properly and work.

=SUM(IF('[Book3.xls]Customer Returns (External)'!$A$3:$A$1200=$C$2,
IF('[Book3.xls]Customer Returns (External)'!$C$3:$C$1200=C$3,
IF('[Book3.xls]Customer Returns (External)'!$D$3:$D$1200=$A6,
'[Book3.xls]Customer Returns (External)'!$J$3:$J$1200))))

A3:A1200 - List of all dates from Oct 2006 to Sept 2007 in Book 3
(column)

C2 - Month cell from another workbook

C3: C1200 - List of all customers in Book 3 (Column)

C3 - Company cell from another workbook

D3: D1200 - Defect Code column in Book 3 (Column)

A6 - Defect Code Cell from another workbook

J3: J1200 - Confirmed Defects (value that should be returned after
satisfying these 3 conditions in book 3).

I would appreciate if anyone can propose a better solution to this
problem. Thanks in advance

Swamy