Building large cross-referenced lists in Excel: Pivot Table, or simpler solution?

[cazzzac]

Hi All,

I'm back in an office job after a couple year's absence and am pretty new to the advanced features of MS Excel. I'm using Excel 2010 and want to do the following:

1. Build a contact list of construction companies and all the projects they are working on; then,
2. Be able to take that data (probably on a new sheet) and click on a project (e.g. a new mine site) and see all the companies that are working on that project. (i.e. one big cross-referenced spreadsheet)

I currently have the data arranged like this:
Column 1: Company BG&E


Column 2: Projects Fional Stanley Hospital; Kewdale Freight Terminal; etc; etc;

Obviously I will have to put each project in its own cell, but i'm not sure how I would arrange this data. I have been looking into Pivot Tables and this seems to be the way forward, but I'm not experienced in using them so I would like some confirmation first if anyone knows Pivot Tables are THE best way (before I jump down that rabbit-hole). Otherwise if there is a simple solution to building a giant cross-referenced spreadsheet I'd appreciate anyone's input.

Cheers,

Zac

 

[cazzzac]

On another note - is what I'm describing a relational database? Can I achieve this with Excel or must I use Access?

 

[Bradium]

I have created an example file for you to try. It contains Advanced filters controlled by macros to provide a seamless solution to your problem. The macro first creates a unique list of Companies then the list box loads that list. Selecting an item creates an index number for the item. The index function is then used to supply that item to the Criteria range for the advanced filter.

There is also a link below to help you understand the Advanced filter.

Regards

Brad

http://www.4shared.com/office/_6k-sHl8/Advanced_filter_for_Company_Pr.html

http://www.tushar-mehta.com/publish_train/data_analysis/06.shtml

 

[cazzzac]

Brad: Thank you so much for your spending the time on my problem. I'll check this out now!