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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on Use an Excel spreadsheet to prototype your reports ]]></title>
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    <lastBuildDate>2013-06-19T15:32:57-07:00</lastBuildDate>
             

    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[RE:]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3466785]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[great example, thanks for posting.Janet Excel-Templates]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3466785]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Janet Williams]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:34:54 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Why prototype?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3445153]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[There is really no need to only prototype your reports.  I have been able to use Excel to actually produce professional reports.If you are unsatisfied with the amount of labor needed to produce individual statements in Excel, check out this tool here-http://www.oneclickcommissions.com/excel-reports.htmlHope this helps.-Conner]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3445153]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[JNirvaha]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:25:10 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[great.... you made this one less confusing....]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3436777]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[i like how you present it man.... good job. im still a beginner in using excel and im learning fast because site Excel Reports, the #2 Excel website, has a great Excel tutorial. Highly recommended for people creating reports in Excel like me. Excel Reportshttp://www.excelreports.info/Excel tutorialhttp://www.excelreports.info/2011/03/excel-reports-tutorial.htmlThe &quot;#2 Excel website&quot; is not a mistake. We want #2, not #1.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3436777]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[iraqi1]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:47:08 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[It's a natural ...]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3090987]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[using Excel this way.  The only potential problem I can see is that one brighter than average user who takes the next step and asks for the printed reports to be delivered in Excel format.  That way they can manipulate the numbers any way they want.  But it makes keeping an audit trail a little more difficult.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-3090987]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ron_007]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:15:10 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Did you backfill my old job?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2527704]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Three jobs ago, this is *exactly* what I was doing too! Was it fun? Nope. Did it feel like the &quot;right&quot; way of doing things? Nope. Did it work? Heck yes. In our case, we were getting weekly text files of data, sometimes I would use Perl to pre-pre-process them, then they would go into FoxPro to be turned into a standard format (the text file dumps would often vary from week-to-week, and different reports would need similar data from different souces, then run a bunch of queries to join the data up, massage it, etc. Finally, it would output a number of CSV files. Then, we would open an Excel template which had an &quot;interface&quot; sheet, where would would put the path to the data files, the report meta data (reporting time frame, etc.), and run a maco which would open the data files, and typically do something like:1. Start a new workbook2. Copy all of the sheets from myself to the new workbook, except the interface sheet and the data sheets3. Selectively copy the pertinent data for this particular report (say, only the data for the sales area I am reporting on) to the data sheet in the new workbook4. Run .Calculate() on each sheet in the new workbook5. Do .Range().Formula = .Range().Values on each sheet of the new book, to replace the formulars with hard values6. Delete the data sheets in the new workbook, save it to disk7. Repeat for each sales area to be reported onIt was enough work to keep me occupied for quite a number of hours each week, but over the year I worked there, by refining the process, we got it down from being something like 20 hours of my time each week to 5 or 6. Things like automatically opening the data files instead of needing a copy/paste. When I left there, my next step was to stop using VBA entirely, and manipulate the sheet from a .Net application; the idea was that if I did that, I could do everything in one place (queries, regex's, etc.) which would make it even easier.J.Ja]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2527704]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Justin James]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:13:17 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Excel is my meal ticket]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2526812]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[My whole day job is devining data out of the databases then feeding it through overly-complicated worksheets to template the final report summary which may go out as a PDF or XLS with cell formula removed (cut, past values.. whammoo). My most complicated at the moment feeds data tables through an XLS, then database for SQL filtering, then too an XLS for formatting; doing it all in one step kept crashing my humble dual core and gig of ram. Pivot tables don't offer the same freedom as coding my own sum(if())s though it is time to look at using more macros for the repetitive formatting steps.My worksheet templates rank in the Megs size categories though the final report may be a few hundred K.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2526812]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Neon Samurai]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:25:43 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Excel, all the way!]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2526687]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I have always used Excel to prototype reports. In fact, I've learned that users *overwhelmingly* prefer Excel to actually recieve their reports too. Why? Because they don't need to muck about with an unfamiliar application, it is easy to copy/paste to other documents and emails, and because it lets them experiment with the formulas and numbers (in &quot;what if&quot; scenarios) and easily customize the formatting to meet their needs.I've worked with things like Cognos, and beleive me, they might be the &quot;right took for the job&quot; from the programmer's view, but the users want Excel.J.Ja]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2526687]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Justin James]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:51:25 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[How do you document?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2526665]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[What is your preferred method for prototyping reports? Perhaps a better question, do you prototype reports?]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-266890-2526665]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mark W. Kaelin]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:38:53 -0700</pubDate>
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