I’m wondering if you can help me select the right product or determine if your product is the right fit for my needs.
I have two excel spreadsheets I’ve been using to track some incoming revenue, disbursing to five territories and in general tracking for process completion and reporting to ownership. I want to merge both worksheets to reduce dual entry and increase my productivity, however merging in excel will be difficult based on the two types of worksheets. I would have used Microsoft Access, but think it is no longer going to be supported in 2025. I would need to create a database with tables such as territory, principal, status, categories of direct and point of sale etc., then have a data entry table with some user interface or data entry screen that I could use to populate the table. For example, a check would be received, and it would be assigned to a primary territory for deposit, when the check is processed it is disbursed across as many as five territories, so there would be some $$ value for each territory, a status would be chosen across each check to track and each assigned one or both categories for direct or point of sale. Using the individual tables would allow me to have relationship from the primary tables to the data table.
My data entry table would look something like this (this is just a tentative example):
The one unique (as unique as I can get) is the check#. If I filter on a given check, I would see how much the payment and how much went to each territory.
What is pushing me to a database approach is that by itself I can use excel for the above, however in this I need to find a way to incorporate a way to have Territory which would include 5 – Metro, Mid, NE, PA, UNY. At any given time, part of a check’s value can disburse to one territory, a couple or all territories. I want a column for territory, so I can sum off the Territories. I can use a column for territory, but this would mean duplicate rows for each check# that I have a value for leaving only one with the full check value and the rest set to zero. Adversely, If I include a column for each territory, I lose the ability to sort on Territory or create visuals on territory. This is mostly why I’m leaning toward a database structure.
The big next step is finding a software that allows me to use Power BI Desktop to connect to the data for reporting/visualization.
So…
- Can Retool do what I’m describing with minimal coding knowledge?
- Will I be able to connect Power BI Desktop to the database, so I can create visuals?
- I am the only one that would be creating, accessing, updating and working in it the end-created database.
- I’m looking at Retool Database quickstart | Retool Docs and this looks very similar to Airtable, which I’ve used in the past. Are there options to connect Power BI to this?
If I had to export out to Excel can that be accomplished.
Thanks
Emma