Shared Web Based Spreadsheets
Contents
Introduction
See also | Shared Spreadsheets on the KS Toolkit Teams all over the world face again and again the challenged to collect together data in spreadsheets. That's why the following question below was sent to the KM4Dev community:
Keywords
collaborative solutions, Excel, spreadsheets, online
Detailed Description
Dear All,
I am looking for an online solution to collect data with an international team in Excel sheets. I know that text documents can be drafted by different people in various locations with Wikis, but I have no idea whether there are similar solutions for Excel sheets.
We will need this for an international research project, that tries to calculate the costs that are saved, when the informal sector collects waste in poor areas what is often the case in developing countries.
I'd be grateful for any ideas of possible solutions that should be at best simple and for free (as always...) ;)
Urs
KM4Dev Discussions
Members of the KM4Dev community provided a number of solutions. We are trying for the project now iRows, because it's for free and simple to use. We were hesiting to buy or install a software, because we were not sure about the implications, we had no IT cracks in our team, and we didn't have the time to test it. The following solutions were provided:
iRows
http://www.irows.com/ - an online, collaborative, spreadsheet.
IRows is for free, offers many possibilities, but has also disadvantages, e.g. Excel books cannot be uploaded
Numsum
As well available for free.
Conserveonline
http://www.conserveonline.org. A free online place to share documents called They have collaborative workspaces which can be accessed by assigned teams.
It might be somewhat of a nuissance but if no other suggestions come up, you could save your file there and then people can access it, input information and upload the newer file to the site.
Groove
Was suggested and recommended by various members. Disadavantage is you have to install a software and to buy it.
"Definitively try Groove, it has sharing documents capabilities ideal for the type of work you need, it is bandwidth friendly, extremely secure and includes forms that can be linked to a database to make reporting easy. Get your team a copy of Groove, create a workspace, create your Excel spreadsheet and Groove will synchronize its contents when somebody makes a change in the spreadsheet, Grooves updates only the recent changes so it doesn't require to send the whole file every time there is a change, plus the benefit that all your team members have a copy of the file when they are offline. I have been using it since October 2000 and never had a complaint."
"Free 60 day evaluation here and if you need it for longer the solution is very cheap for charities."
Google Spreadsheets
Google has announced Google Spreadsheets [spreadsheet.google.com] which is a web based spreadsheet based on XL2Web software from 2Web Technologies.
Google Spreadsheets is the fourth program of Google Office Suite, the previous ones being Word/Writely, OneNote/Notebook and Frontpage/PagesCreator.
Google Spreadsheet offers limited set of features with no support for Charts or Excel Macros. You can sort data or use the 200 functions and common spreadsheet formulas for doing basic calculations of numerical data.
Industry experts feel that Google Spreadsheets may pose a threat to Microsoft Excel. "Though Google says it's working on improving printing, charts, filtering and "drag and drop" features, in the current state Google Spreadsheet may offer competition to other web-based spreadsheet software like NumSum, ZohoSheet, JotSpot Tracker , iRows or wikiCalc but not to the rock-solid Microsoft Excel. They are still miles apart." says a community member.
The following members of the KM4Dev community contributed to the discussion thread on shared web based spreadsheets: Michelle Laurie, Mark Berthelemy, Steven Buckley, Rodolfo Siles, Jaap Pels
Examples in Application
Related FAQs
Web based survey tools http://wiki.km4dev.org/wiki/index.php/Web_Based_Survey_Tools
Further Information
[A set of resources to find out more, including key texts, websites and KM4Dev folk (not consultants!). No more than 3-7 sources…]
Original Author and Subsequent Contributors of this FAQ
Original author: Urs Karl Egger, Skat, urs.egger AT skat.ch
Dates of First Creation and Further Revisions
First creation: Nancy White, 31 May 2006 Revision: Urs Karl Egger, 2 June 2006
FAQ KM4Dev Source Materials
Dear All,
I am looking for an online solution to collect data with an international team in Excel sheets. I know that text documents can be drafted by different people in various locations with Wikis, but I have no idea whether there are similar solutions for Excel sheets.
We will need this for an international research project, that tries to calculate the costs that are saved, when the informal sector collects waste in poor areas what is often the case in developing countries.
I'd be grateful for any ideas of possible solutions that should be at best simple and for free (as always...) ;)
Urs
Hi Urs,
You could try iRows: http://www.irows.com/ - an online, collaborative, spreadsheet.
Yours,
Mark
Num Sum
Easy, Sharable Web Spreadsheets
Track your records, lists and data online Share with everybody or with just your close friends Connect with folks who have similar interests
Search for spreadsheets:
Already got an account? Please Login
Sign up for free
Get your own account in 10 seconds It's all online — nothing to install
Great for teams, clubs & your crew
Track all your group data together
Easy and super simple to use
Hi Urs,
There is a free online place to share documents called www.conserveonline.org. They have collaborative workspaces which can be accessed by assigned teams.
It might be somewhat of a nuissance but if no other suggestions come up, you could save your file there and then people can access it, input information and upload the newer file to the site.
Cheers, Michelle
Urs:
Definitively try Groove, it has sharing documents capabilities ideal for the type of work you need, it is bandwidth friendly, extremely secure and includes forms that can be linked to a database to make reporting easy. Get your team a copy of Groove, create a workspace, create your Excel spreadsheet and Groove will synchronize its contents when somebody makes a change in the spreadsheet, Grooves updates only the recent changes so it doesn't require to send the whole file every time there is a change, plus the benefit that all your team members have a copy of the file when they are offline. I have been using it since October 2000 and never had a complaint.
Rodolfo Siles IT Director CARE
Urs
Try Groove from Microsoft. Free 60 day evaluation here and if you need it for longer the solution is very cheap for charities.
http://www.groove.net/downloads/groove/download-preview.cfm
Best,
Steven Buckley Head of Common Knowledge Christian Aid, London
