Looking for a web link or two or three which might help a newbie understand
when using a spreadsheet for certain data is inadvisable, and using a DB
like Pdox, Access etc would be far more appropriate. A friend's about to get
himself into quicksand at his boss' request. He needs some evidence. Anyone
know of articles that might help him articulate these things?

Doug Kanter wrote:

Spreadsheets are for analysis only. Save the data in a database, and use
the Spreadsheet to look at data extracts.

If your friend is using the spreadsheet for a what-if scenario fine. If the
intention is to use the spreadsheet as a data table in an on-going fashion,
no.

You have no control over the data in a spreadsheet and the "data" rapidly
loses coherence. You can write macros to try and control this, but this is
way more complicated that storing the data in tables of a database, where
you can impose data type restrictions, RI, masks, etc with no coding.

--
Larry DiGiovanni
Digico, Inc.
IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions
www.digicoinc.com
Check out www.thedbcommunity.com for Paradox resources.

A spreadsheet of multiple sheets is a lot like a relational database. If you
look at a table open in Paradox or a sheet open in Excel, they are very
similar.

For example,

sheet 1 could be a master (say, customers)

sheet 2 could be a detail set (say, customer transactions).

A spreadsheet is SINGLE USER at any one time. It cannot be shared
simultaneously between people.

Most of the techniques available in databases for QA on data can be applied
in a spreadsheet - for example, making suring a value lies within a given
range, or is in a lookup table.

A spreadsheet allows for calculated fields across a row, and for calculated
values down a column. Databases allow for automatically calculated fields
across a row, but calculated values down a column (eg a total) have to be
specially programmed - not as easy as with a spreadsheet, and require some
sort of process to be run.

Spreadsheets allow for presenting data in a nicely formatted form. Generally
databases needs forms and reports to be created that require more time and
effort.

A spreadsheet can handle about 1,000 rows effectively.

A database can handle millions.

All the relationships and processing logic in a spreadsheet are immediately
obvious, and are held within the spreadsheet.

The relationships and processing logic in a database are never immediately
obvious, and are often held within the brain of a long-departed egomaniac.

But Excel STILL cannot handle leap years properly!

"Doug Kanter" <ancientangler (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 19:27:22 GMT, Doug Kanter wrote:

Wish I could help you, Doug. But it has struck me as so obvious, for so
long, that spreadsheets are lousy databases -- that I haven't bothered
bookmarking sites to this point.

However, I feel your pain. My wife once worked with a fellow who used Word
as his database. Evidently, the Excel learning curve was a bit steep.

Spreadsheets are calculators. Really great, really huge calculators. With
graphs. What I like about them is that they can be self-documenting. You do
a very complex series of logical steps, get an answer, and graph it. Five
years later, you come back to it and read the labels -- and it makes
perfect sense!!

But the thing that make them good calculators, makes them lousy databases.
You decide to put LAST NAME in B3. Bee what?? And how is this enforced?
Some klutz could put a zip code in there, just as easily. And how about
putting a zip code into a cell that's supposed to hold annual income --
it'll scan, and get included in the calculation. Ecch.

Bosses are stupid. Tell him I said so.


Jim Hargan

QA checks in a spreadsheet:

1. Make sure that you cross-check stuff - eg add totals down the page, and
across the page, and make sure they equal each other.

2. Range checks - just like in a database

3. Lookup checks - just like in a database

4. Do not fall asleep on the keyboard.

"Robert Molyneux" <ibibisnest.removethisantispambit (AT) bigpond (DOT) net.au> wrote in
message news:4407d8c8 (AT) pnews (DOT) thedbcommunity.com...

That, and nobody seems to read any more. Questions from other newsgroups
(not edited - just as you see them, in their entirety):

Excel group: "How to I make a spreadsheet?"
Cooking group: "Can u make lasagna at home? How?"

In my friend's case, the problem is timing. His boss wants him to do
something fast. I think that if he had the right reading material dropped in
his lap today, it would (and should) be at least a week before he could make
any kind of pitch to his boss for doing this project the right way.

"Jim Hargan" <contactATharganonlineDOTcom (AT) nospam (DOT) net> wrote

IIRC, I've got a few articles in 10 year old copies of Paradox Informant,
explaining how to think about organizing data. But, I work from home. No
flatbed copier. My friend's outta luck for another couple of days.

Robert Molyneux wrote:

Kind of like saying the main difference between apples and oranges is the
color.

I agree with that.

No different than a CS database.

--
Larry DiGiovanni
Digico, Inc.
IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions
www.digicoinc.com
Check out www.thedbcommunity.com for Paradox resources.

The other thing to keep in mind Doug, is Excel has a record limitation
of 65536.

Check out my paper Hammering Screws on our paradox resources page. Link in my
signature.

Denn Santoro
President
Resource Development Associates
http://www.RDAWorldWide.Com
Offices in the United States and Germany
Providing solutions to health care, business, governments and non-profits since
1982