cebicsupport
New Member
I may have happened upon a really good idea, I need some help to see if it will work.
My client uses Excel to managed their restaurants. The are e-mailing reports from each store to management, who in turn enters the numbers into their management summary Excel Report. Through testing I have confirmed Dropbox will support Excel Links between workbooks in a folder system stored on a computer and updated by Dropbox. This opens up the possibility of allowing each restaurant to update their Excel workbook on a fixed schedule and having the data transfer through the cloud to Senior Management's Summary Workbook.
I can make make it work great for one week, but I need a good idea to support having it updated weekly given the limitations of how dropbox works. Anyone interested in figuring this out with me?
Hi! I am new to Dropbox, so pardon my naiveté on its capabilities. I need to develop a low cost Management System for a restaurant with 25 locations. One thought is to create a Dropbox based solution using Excel Workbooks. Each location fills out is workbook and that information is linked to a master Dashboard Workbook. The question is can I get Dropbox to support the necessary links between the workbooks.
If not, I am open to suggestions to other solutions.
Thanks!
Peter
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
M C.
Member
Posts: 2038
You can. The details on how this would work depends on how you wanted it set up.
Posted 4 weeks ago #
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
Well that is good news. what do you suggest as far as setup? Ideally I would purchase a subscription, set up a folder for each store, link the workbook for each store to a master Dashboard that only management can access. Can that be done?
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
Richard P.
Pro User
Posts: 1959
Please consider doing it properly - a centralised database and web app front end. It will be much less of an issue in the long run and won't cost any more to implement...
Posted 4 weeks ago #
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
Richard and anyone else who would like to provide input,
I agree that creating a database solution is a viable solution. However, I don't see the logic in stating it will be less of an issue and won't cost more to implement. Getting a developer to create the database and the web app front end takes time, money, expertise, etc. If we can simply link a few WorkBooks, all of which are already existing, why not persue that?
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
So, back to the core question. Can a Dropbox environment support links between Excel Workbooks with in its own Folder Structure?
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
Mark Mc
Moderator
Posts: 5298
Peter Z. scribbled:
So, back to the core question. Can a Dropbox environment support links between Excel Workbooks with in its own Folder Structure?
If you can make sure that the links are identical on each machine, yes. However, if the folder structure on each machine is different then it isnt going to work.
Posted 3 weeks ago #
Richard P.
Pro User
Posts: 1959
Peter Z. scribbled:
However, I don't see the logic in stating it will be less of an issue and won't cost more to implement. Getting a developer to create the database and the web app front end takes time, money, expertise, etc. If we can simply link a few WorkBooks, all of which are already existing, why not persue that?p>
Yes, you can "simply link a few workbooks", but the problem is so much more than that - you are trying to use Dropbox as a network transport layer, when its anything but - the first time Dropbox incorrectly syncs in the direction you do not want, and removes a days data from one of the locations, will be the proof of that. And that will happen.
As Mark also says, the folder and file structure you create will be fixed and rigid, because Excel has a habit of translating relative file links to absolute file links, so the first time you move a file around, or even install Dropbox in a different location, you are going to have a huge issue because all of your file locations will now be invalid.
Aside from that, the first time someone holds open a workbook and causes a conflicted copy will also prove how cost ineffective your solution is.
And yes, I stand by my statement - as you are using Excel I can't imagine your system is going to be all that complicated, the largest amount of work is going to be defining the database structure, and everything else can be built relatively easily. Define a decent database structure, and you can build the ORM code automatically, and then scaffold the rest of the data entry and reporting systems using one of many systems.
The crux of the matter is, you either pay now to have it done properly (and it shouldn't take a developer longer than you building it in Excel would take), or you pay later on.
Also, don't imagine that whatever Excel based system you put in today will be "it", the client will ask for more and more features and you will end up with a bloated mess - Excel simply isn't designed to do what you want it to do, which is another reason you should seriously consider doing it properly.
You described in the first post a business with 25 locations - thats not a small business by any stretch of the imagination, and your solution really is a "tiny business" solution.
I've had to have involvement in these sort of solutions many times before - they save you time and money up front, but rather quickly they become something that is a time and money sink. Don't do it, please....
Posted 3 weeks ago #
Phillip L.
Member
Posts: 4
If excel will fit your needs, then I believe you're best solution is to deploy Office 365 or Google Docs.
Posted 3 weeks ago #
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
Thanks to everyone for their input. I also spoke with the Sales Folks at DropBox and got their input. I am going to try setting up the Excel Workbooks in DropBox and see where that takes me. I will provide input here again shortly.
Posted 3 weeks ago #Edit
Toets R.
Member
Posts: 8
The Google Docs spreadsheets aren't as powerful as the Excel workbooks, but the online collaboration is way better, which might be what you need for 25 sites.
I use Syncdocs to sync Dropbox to Google Docs. It syncs well with Google spreadsheets and Excel files.
My client uses Excel to managed their restaurants. The are e-mailing reports from each store to management, who in turn enters the numbers into their management summary Excel Report. Through testing I have confirmed Dropbox will support Excel Links between workbooks in a folder system stored on a computer and updated by Dropbox. This opens up the possibility of allowing each restaurant to update their Excel workbook on a fixed schedule and having the data transfer through the cloud to Senior Management's Summary Workbook.
I can make make it work great for one week, but I need a good idea to support having it updated weekly given the limitations of how dropbox works. Anyone interested in figuring this out with me?
Hi! I am new to Dropbox, so pardon my naiveté on its capabilities. I need to develop a low cost Management System for a restaurant with 25 locations. One thought is to create a Dropbox based solution using Excel Workbooks. Each location fills out is workbook and that information is linked to a master Dashboard Workbook. The question is can I get Dropbox to support the necessary links between the workbooks.
If not, I am open to suggestions to other solutions.
Thanks!
Peter
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
M C.
Member
Posts: 2038
You can. The details on how this would work depends on how you wanted it set up.
Posted 4 weeks ago #
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
Well that is good news. what do you suggest as far as setup? Ideally I would purchase a subscription, set up a folder for each store, link the workbook for each store to a master Dashboard that only management can access. Can that be done?
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
Richard P.
Pro User
Posts: 1959
Please consider doing it properly - a centralised database and web app front end. It will be much less of an issue in the long run and won't cost any more to implement...
Posted 4 weeks ago #
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
Richard and anyone else who would like to provide input,
I agree that creating a database solution is a viable solution. However, I don't see the logic in stating it will be less of an issue and won't cost more to implement. Getting a developer to create the database and the web app front end takes time, money, expertise, etc. If we can simply link a few WorkBooks, all of which are already existing, why not persue that?
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
So, back to the core question. Can a Dropbox environment support links between Excel Workbooks with in its own Folder Structure?
Posted 4 weeks ago #Edit
Mark Mc
Moderator
Posts: 5298
Peter Z. scribbled:
So, back to the core question. Can a Dropbox environment support links between Excel Workbooks with in its own Folder Structure?
If you can make sure that the links are identical on each machine, yes. However, if the folder structure on each machine is different then it isnt going to work.
Posted 3 weeks ago #
Richard P.
Pro User
Posts: 1959
Peter Z. scribbled:
However, I don't see the logic in stating it will be less of an issue and won't cost more to implement. Getting a developer to create the database and the web app front end takes time, money, expertise, etc. If we can simply link a few WorkBooks, all of which are already existing, why not persue that?p>
Yes, you can "simply link a few workbooks", but the problem is so much more than that - you are trying to use Dropbox as a network transport layer, when its anything but - the first time Dropbox incorrectly syncs in the direction you do not want, and removes a days data from one of the locations, will be the proof of that. And that will happen.
As Mark also says, the folder and file structure you create will be fixed and rigid, because Excel has a habit of translating relative file links to absolute file links, so the first time you move a file around, or even install Dropbox in a different location, you are going to have a huge issue because all of your file locations will now be invalid.
Aside from that, the first time someone holds open a workbook and causes a conflicted copy will also prove how cost ineffective your solution is.
And yes, I stand by my statement - as you are using Excel I can't imagine your system is going to be all that complicated, the largest amount of work is going to be defining the database structure, and everything else can be built relatively easily. Define a decent database structure, and you can build the ORM code automatically, and then scaffold the rest of the data entry and reporting systems using one of many systems.
The crux of the matter is, you either pay now to have it done properly (and it shouldn't take a developer longer than you building it in Excel would take), or you pay later on.
Also, don't imagine that whatever Excel based system you put in today will be "it", the client will ask for more and more features and you will end up with a bloated mess - Excel simply isn't designed to do what you want it to do, which is another reason you should seriously consider doing it properly.
You described in the first post a business with 25 locations - thats not a small business by any stretch of the imagination, and your solution really is a "tiny business" solution.
I've had to have involvement in these sort of solutions many times before - they save you time and money up front, but rather quickly they become something that is a time and money sink. Don't do it, please....
Posted 3 weeks ago #
Phillip L.
Member
Posts: 4
If excel will fit your needs, then I believe you're best solution is to deploy Office 365 or Google Docs.
Posted 3 weeks ago #
Peter Z.
Member
Posts: 1
Thanks to everyone for their input. I also spoke with the Sales Folks at DropBox and got their input. I am going to try setting up the Excel Workbooks in DropBox and see where that takes me. I will provide input here again shortly.
Posted 3 weeks ago #Edit
Toets R.
Member
Posts: 8
The Google Docs spreadsheets aren't as powerful as the Excel workbooks, but the online collaboration is way better, which might be what you need for 25 sites.
I use Syncdocs to sync Dropbox to Google Docs. It syncs well with Google spreadsheets and Excel files.