How to prevent closure of a spreadsheet until a form is filled in

[Mike1983]

Hello

I'm deploying some new software at work on a single machine trial and it would be helpful to gain some very basic real life metrics on it's usage to allow statistics to be presented etc.

I'd like all users of this software to fill in a very basic spreadsheet with just a few fields such as

"name", "date", "approx time spent using software" & "approx time saved using this software"

I've proposed to the department head that I could just set this spreadsheet to automatically open on logon and users should just be trusted / educated on the importance of filling in the form, the key being we keep the entries brief and targeted. Unfortunately he's enquired as to whether or not data entry could be forced i.e. the spreadsheet / form cannot be closed until all fields completed.

Is there a simple way to achieve this using basic software or should I place effort in convincing him to just rely on staff professionalism. Especially as even if it were to be persistent, it's still open to abuse.

Thank you

 

[AHarvey]

You could use VBA to check whether all fields are filled in? the problem would be that once they've filled the form in, saved it, it'll be checking the text fields again and because they are now empty it wouldn't close. You could use VBA to take note of the last line completed ROW, then check that the next row is filled in before it can close, but what's to stop them leaving it open and empty, or just not loading it up at all?

Does the machine only have a single login for everyone or do they each have their own?

You either needs to trust them to fill it in or I personally would look at an alternative. It can't be too hard to find a piece of software or write one that simply monitors when the software is started, how long it's active for. if everyone has their own logins it could capture that as well. This takes the user out of the equation completely which to me, is the only safe way of doing it.

EDIT: A quick google brings up this: http://www.manictime.com/

Doesn't track users though.

 

[Grrrrr]

Is the input data being saved somewhere centrally? You can send email through Excel using VBA. You could check the input data and send an email every hour until it's filled in?

EDIT - We do something similarish at work. There is an action list which is stored on the server. Every morning some code is scheduled to check for action dates that are in the past (i.e. overdue) and an email is sent to the person responsible for that action.