Forum Discussion
File for work. please help!
First, you have only attached images, not the actual pages, the actual workbook. Contrary to the saying that "an image is worth a thousand words," in the situation where you're seeking help on an Excel workbook, the actual workbook is worth a thousand images.
Ideally i need something that keeps track of what goes out and what comes back and the dates.
But it's that sentence quote above--"I need something that keeps track of [all the activity.]"--that points to what probably is the biggest reason nobody has answered with a solution. The whole setting here is puzzling--who enters those status updates in the first place? Where/how/when do those entries get made? What is the business in the first place (i.e., what kinds of items are we talking about)?
It could well be--I strongly suspect is the case--that an altogether different approach is called for. Something like a transactional database that separates the activity from the reporting of current status.
But we need a description of the work itself. Are you tracking inventory, library books, tractors, .....?
And please attach an actual workbook. If the real one is all confidential info, then a mockup that accurately represents the real. And please include a more complete description of the business context.
Hi Mathetes,
Thank you for your reply. Sorry I'm not very good with it. I attached the file. I work in a hospital and i have a list of items that we use for dental reason that we have to sterilise after every use.
In the first page there is the list of items, I check every morning what is dirty and need to be send to the sterilisation. Since it's an external company that does that, I have to keep track of what i send and when. They often lost items, or didn't send them back on time. The turn around should be 24 hours but sometimes I have to send out new items even if the others are not back.
When i send the items i change their status (out/off), then i select the items that have that status and i copy them on the other page, next to the date.
When they come back i change their status back and highlights them on the page with the date.
I do this almost every morning, manually.
My problem is that since it's a long process, when i'm off no one does that. I would like to make it more automatic.
Hope you can help! thanks
Let me add a couple questions for you to answer that would help in the design.
- Is each item uniquely identified by a unique code? (it appears to be the case, but please confirm).
- Would it be possible (or feasible) to use a serial number, assuming they're unique? As it is, you appear to just be appending "-1" or "-2" (and so forth) when you have a set of the same design with more than one. For a good database and tracking system, you'd want truly unique codes.
- Is the stock of items a finite stock? Maybe multiples of any given mirror type or whatever, but basically a total of 108 items (I think that's the count).
- If/when a new "Mirror Small" were to be acquired and added to the database, I'm suggesting you'd give it a truly unique identifier, not just the same number that had been used for the lost one it's replacing. Is that possible?
- each item has it's own unique code.
- don't really understand what you mean. the code is on the package of the item and it's the only way for me and the company to know which item are we talking about.
- the stock item is a finite one. occasionally we had new items.
- every new item has it's own code. the company that sterilised them give us a new code for every new item.
Well, I can see why nobody else does this when you're out. The process really doesn't use Excel for any of Excel's capabilities; all it's doing is serving as an orderly place for you to keep manual track, as if you were just working with a large ledger sheet.
You know that, I realize, but what you need is an altogether different approach. And that could take a bit of time, going back and forth. Let me see what I can do quickly as a start. Unfortunately, I'm about to leave on a trip, so won't be able to do much. Perhaps some of the other helpers around these parts can jump in.
As noted, though, what you really will need to take advantage of Excel is a fundamental re-design.
I am open to anything that would make this file better, no rush
