Finding ways to make Excel more user-friendly is important for those who work in settings where a mix of individuals with different technical experience levels will be collaborating. Especially when using assistants or others whose job is data entry, crafting ways for Excel to respond more directly to their input is important. When working with scientific data, for example, the rigidity of the information requires it to be typed in exactly. In order to deal with some of the more troublesome parts of information management in Excel, it can be important to work with some forms that allow even those who are not technically versed to enter data in such a way that it meets those stringent requirements.
According to Susan Harkins of TechRepublic, an easy way to create an Excel file that is more manageable is to create a UserForm. These allow the creator to restrict choices in terms of data entry. You can make the UserForm object and then link to a sheet in order to automatically have the information filled out in a UserForm Object.
Crafting an easy to use form
The process is fairly simple. You first create a sample sheet that is enabled for macros and save it. Then, in the visual basic editor, you will create a UserForm, click the textbox in the toolbox and drop it into the form. Then by adding controls as necessary, the form can be filled out.
The article on TechRepublic includes sample data and code to help get an worker started on this process. A little bit of upfront work can make it much easier for Excel worksheets to be used in order to create strong decisions in the context of data analysis, whether that is for science or business.
For those that are interested in this process and want to utilize it without using Visual Basic code, Susan Harkins has a second article up that details the process by which these sheets can be made without VBA. These kinds of processes can be very useful for companies that want to collect information from a large group of people and do something useful with the data, like an employee survey. Excel can be a major part of any company's workflow, and using data in this way to make strong decisions is one of its strong suits.
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