RE: Looking for a database function

["Monique Semp" <monique -dot- semp -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

I think so, but I wouldn't vouch for it without trying!  But I know that
I've used them with these sort of two-dimensional (and really, they become
multi-dimensional when the grid intersections contain more complex data
than just yes/no values) spreadsheets, and then been able to
sort/arrange/report on any row or column entry for any given value.

So one could even be more complicated in the data entry and have not only
the presence/absence of the x to mark the intersection, but things such as
what version of training the person has had; when they took it, etc.

Here's an example of one I implemented (a long time ago, and although I'm
looking at it now it's still not obvious how I managed it, but clearly it
can be done :-):

Workbook sheet 1:
* One row for every document.  (This would mimic your needs: a row for
every quality procedure.)

* Columns for everything under the sun about that doc: id, title, filename,
component, author, version, etc.  (In your case, you'd have a column for
every employee.)

Then I created a new workbook sheet for the "Summary" tables.  In that
sheet, I created a bunch of Pivot Tables.  For example, I have an "Author
Summary" that shows the count of the docs assigned to every author.  And
the great thing about the pivot table is that if I don't want to see
*every* author listed, I can just select which authors to show.  So in your
case, you could show just the employee you're interested in.

Before anyone asks, I cannot share this particular Excel workbook because
it has too much proprietary data, and it would take forever to sanitize it.
But the point is, Excel does provide these functions in a way that you can
dynamically get very detailed analysis of the main sheet's information,
without changing/manually sorting that main sheet.

(I did this in Excel 2003, but from what I've seen of 2007, the functions
are pretty much the same, just accessed from the Ribbon instead of
menu/dialog boxes.)

-Monique

>
> With grid entry as I described?
>
> > 
> > I think pivot tables in Excel would provide what you need.
> > 
> > -Monique
> > 
> > >
> > > I need to be able to query in both directions
> > 
> > 


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