Duplicate entries

[LPS]

I run a number of training courses each week (say, Course 01 to Course 09). Each course can have multiple trainers delivering the courses (say, TA to TG).

I have tried to set up a simple schedule using Windows 7, Excel 2010, with the dates across the top, and 1 row for each course down the side.

I enter the names of each trainer assigned into the single cell available for that day/course; therefore multiple trainer names in 1 cell.

How can I prevent trainer TC, for example, from being scheduled in two courses for the same day?

 

[Peter_SSs]

Welcome to the MrExcel board!

How, exactly, do you enter multiple names in one cell? That is, are they always separated by a space, a comma, a comma and a space, something else?

Do you always use exactly 2 initials for each trainer or are they actual names?

Give us 6-8 representative values so we can see what we are dealing with.

Is there a list of trainer initials/names somewhere on the sheet?

 

[LPS]

Thanks for the quick response, Peter SSs. The trainer's full names (first/last) are entered each time, followed by a comma and 1 space. I would like to use a drop down list to select each trainer (to eliminate spelling errors) but drop downs do not allow multiple entries in a single cell.

 

[Peter_SSs]

I don't see an easy way to do this and you are right in that you are likely to end up with problems due to spelling errors or not consistently adding ", " between names.

I'm not sure what the maximum number of trainers per course per day is but would it be feasible to have several rows per course and just enter a single name on each row?

Excel Workbook
	A	B	C
1		Date 1	Date 2
2	Course 01	Jon Doe	Ann Jones
3		Don Smith	Sue Jones
4
5	Course 02	Ann Jones	Don Smith
6			Ken Brown
7
8	Course 03
Trainers

That would have the advantages of allowing you to ..
a) Use a Data Validation drop-down list for the names
b) More easily check for duplicates