xml and complicated cell formulas

[almagg]

i am cleaning up a reporting workbook that has links to several files.
these files are downloaded from the companies on-line system.
i am going to automate what is now a complicated manual system.
i get the feeling that they think these data files can be manipulated on-line without having to actually download them.

e.g., here are some cell formulas currently in use:

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A3&"*",'F:\June11 - Copy\\[TFP nonservice Monthly Hours Matrix (FY11 June).xlsx]report'!$F$6:$AG$161,28,FALSE)),"NA",IF(VLOOKUP(A3&"*",'C:\AppData\[TFP nonservice Monthly Hours Matrix (FY11 June).xlsx]report'!$F$6:$AG$161,28,FALSE)=0,L3,VLOOKUP(A3&"*",'C:\F:\June11 - Copy\[TFP nonservice Monthly Hours Matrix (FY11 June).xlsx]report'!$F$6:$AG$161,28,FALSE)))

=IF(H$5>0,+'F:\June11 - Copy\[EHS Metric FY11 (Fire).xls]APAC'!H9+G9,0)

the two files 'TFP nonservice...' and 'EHS Metric...' are downloaded from the corporate site.
is it possible that the above formulas can be implemented without downloading the files to a folder?

if so i want to let these people know i can only do so much for them, then they would have to get an xml programmer.

thanks.