I work for a fairly large hospital in their Decision Support Department. We have several tools at our disposal for querying data, but our way of distributing the information could use some work.
We typically run our query and then copy and paste the data into Excel. From there we create graphs and crunch some numbers before sending the Excel file out via email.
We've recently been given access to our own Sharepoint site and so far it looks promising for document distribution. What I'm wondering though is this; what kind of functionality is built into Sharepoint for building reports that run automatically.
It would be great to take a whack of our monthly query to Excel reports and set them up to run automatically via Sharepoint.
I did some reading about Sharepoint lists and that seems promising, but I thought I'd ask here for the best way to go about this - provided it's even possible.
I guess a good first step would be how to create a report in Sharepoint?
I'm going to assume you're using Sharepoint 2013 and Office 2013.
You have a couple options available to you with Excel and Access. Both methods I'll briefly describe can be automated. In either case, you will need Lists, as they can connect to Excel and Access as tables.
For the Excel route, simply choose the "Export to Excel" option in a SharePoint list. This will create an Excel version of your list, but it's more than a static workbook--that workbook retains a one-way link from SharePoint to Excel, so you can refresh the spreadsheet to reflect the most up-to-date version of your SharePoint list. Furthermore, you can link multiple Lists to a single workbook--you'll have to export each list to Excel individually, but each worksheet will still retain its link to its respective list after you consolidate the spreadsheets into a single workbook. You can save this workbook wherever you like, it'll still keep the link. I personally like to set my linked workbooks up with macros that automatically refresh the spreadsheet whenever file is opened, but that's just me. The reason you might consider this option would be to avoid having to recreate the work of creating graphs and whatever other analytics you're doing--you may well be able to set yourself up such that the graphs and analytics pull live from the table that's coming in from SharePoint.
*Do note that changes you make to list data in Excel isn't sent back to SharePoint--this is done to protect your list.
For the the Access route, you can import a list into Access as a table. This option creates a dynamic link to your SharePoint list the same way the Excel option does--the link is one-way and what you do in Access won't be sent back to SharePoint. You can create queries and reports as you normally would after the table is imported.
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I am trying to use metadata from an Excel file to use for filtering in our sharepoint libraby.
The excel file already contains dropdown menus to pick certain values from, which are then used to create a very lengthy filename. However for our new sharepoint libraby I would like to move those to metadata, so it can be made visible in sharepoint columns and users can filter.
The file is a template that should be filled by users and when ready saved after choosing certain values.
The creation of the filename is done in VBA and therefore all values I want to use are available there.
I've tried a number of approaches I found in forums using e.g. customdocumentproperties and made it work...sometimes... While it worked in the beginning, I cannot make it work now.
It seems changing the metadata is a problem. Creating the metadata fields for the first time worked, but then changing it, did not. I have the feeling I do not understand some basics on this action. Microsoft websites are not of any help here...
What is the best - flawless - way to use VBA to create, add, change metadata in the excel-file that can be made visiblle in the sharepoint library? And are there any typical problems?
I have an excel spreadsheet with multiple sheets. I'm trying to create a sharepoint list for each sheet and when the excel spreadsheet is updated, the sharepoint is updated.
It looks like you can link an access database with sharepoint but I'm struggling to find a guide to link a sharepoint with an excel.
it isn't possible to modify a spreadsheet and have it update SharePoint, you can only update the spreadsheet with changes from SharePoint.
From reading the MS documentation found at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Synchronize-a-SharePoint-list-with-a-spreadsheet-program-d4337a01-2be4-43b5-bb42-28aefe64eafd
There are three ways to synchronize data between a SharePoint list and
a spreadsheet program. Whichever way you choose, this synchronization
is one-way, or unidirectional. Changes made in the SharePoint list can
be updated in the spreadsheet program, but any changes that you make
in the spreadsheet program are not written to the SharePoint list.
It seems that the best you can do is to update SharePoint by creating a new list, but that probably isn't going to help you unless you can somehow use the new list to replace the old one.
As you state, you can do a bi-directional synch from Access, and this is confirmed by the MS documentation https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Synchronize-a-SharePoint-2010-list-with-Access-2010-975BFB97-C799-4FCE-B7CC-3DB3B397F116
There are three ways to synchronize data between a SharePoint list and
Access 2010. Whichever way you choose, this synchronization is
two-way, or bi-directional.
This is possible with MS Flow, though it requires a bit of effort. You can then trigger the flow based off any conditions you want (Excel doc saved, once a day, etc)
Instructions can be found here: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Update-Sharepoint-List-From-Excel-File/td-p/111477
On a daily basis we need to export Excel sheets (showing tables + charts) with then current SSAS data and copy the sheets into specific SharePoint document folders. I guess moving the sheets to SharePoint is the smaller task, since the folder can be used like a windows directory. I am uncertain about how to do the rest. I considered:
1) SSRS, schedule the export via Server Agent somehow (I guess this is possible since reports can be exported to Excel so the automated export is probably doable without jumping through too many loops).
2) Design the report in Excel instead (with pivot tables + charts), put this as a template into a Sharepoint library and somehow make the sheet update from the Data Source and export it into a static (not connected) sheet on a daily basis.
While I am quiet sure that 1) is doable I am totally unsure about 2), but 2) has the valuable benefit that the domain expert can make up the sheet without having to install and mess with the Report Designer.
I am thankful for any comment about approach 1 or 2 or any alternative.
If you go with your option 1, consider setting up an email enabled SharePoint list and setting up a subscription in SSRS to email the Excel reports to that list.
For the email enabled list see
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-sharepoint-services-help/add-content-to-sites-by-sending-e-mail-HA010086730.aspx
For the SSRS subscription see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159762.aspx
It does have the drawback that your subject matter experts might have to learn ReportBuilder, but if they can learn Excel then ReportBuilder shouldn't be too much of a stretch. If you do get option 2 working, though, post back, it sounds interesting.
I have an Excel table with data but here the rows and columns each have meaning, for example:
ColHead1 ColHead2 ColHead3
RowHead1 Data11 Data12 Data13
RowHead2 Data21 etc. etc.
RowHead3
I would like users to edit the data using SharePoint forms.
I've considered the following options
Flatten the data and manually add editors for each field onto the form (so that I can simulate some sort of grid layout). This may become unmanageable if I need to make a change though.
Insert the data into a list and let SharePoint create a default form, but this will also flatten the data.
Is it possible to somehow use the data in SharePoint directly in a List (or lists) without flattening?
Or should I just post the Excel sheets for direct editing in SharePoint?
You are right. 2-D data cannot be handled by SharePoint.
The best solution here would be to use Excel Services.
In 2007, Excel Services did not allow to write changes to backend file. I am not sure if the situation has changed with SharePoint 2010. You might have to check it out.
You can also put Excel file in document library itself.
However, what I am missing here are the business objectives for this requirement. What essentially do you want to achieve by putting this data in SharePoint forms ? May be there is some better way which others will be able to suggest if they know actual requirements.
I have office 2003, and i have develop a database from ms access 2003.
What i want is to link ms excel and ms access so as when am updating either of them both will be updated
I know that from within Access, you can add a "linked table" with an Excel worksheet as a data source. This will cause the data in the Excel sheet to show up as a table in Access. When you make changes to the data in Access, the data in the underlying Excel sheet will change. Also, if you open up the Excel sheet and change the values in one of the rows, the change will be reflected when the link in Access is refreshed.
However, there can be issues when trying to link Access and Excel together. You may not be able to edit the same document from Access and Excel at the same time. Also, if you add additional columns or rows to your source data in Excel, you may have to completely re-link the table in Access.
If you are the only user of both the Access application and Excel sheet, you can develop a fairly robust solution using this method. However, you have to be careful with trying to deploy a solution like this with multiple users because you may start to get issues with multiple people trying to edit the same document at one time. At this point, you may need to look at more robust solutions involving a database or SharePoint backend.
As Ben said in his answer it is possible but can easily lead to problems in a multi user environment. I would suggest keeping the data in access and pulling it from excel. Or revisiting if excel is needed at all to update the date (read only reports would be ok)