Any Excel users here?

[ericscher]

I'm working on a refresh project for a company that does nuclear medicine and we're doing upgrades to a bunch of pharmacies we picked up.

Right now I'm putting together a packet that we'll be sending out to all the stores that will basically tell them what we'll be doing, so that if any issues come up we can get them dealt with NOW, rather than two months into the RFP process.

So I have an excel sheet that contains a floorplan of the pharmacy in the form of a TIFF file, which was originally marked up in it's paper form with location numbers for every device in the store.

What I need to do is a literal "X" marks the spot for some equipment we're adding.

Now, this could be a text box with a line from the box to the spot, it could be a circle/oval/rectangle around the spot with another circle/oval/rectangle off to the side which contains a description, it could be an actual "X" with text off to the side that says "we'll be putting our widget here"...

... in fact it could be ANYTHING that allows me to put information into the excel page that marks a spot and allows me to add a sentence or two of explanation on the same page.

Here's the catch...

It can't be one of those things that you have to click on, hover over or whatever.

The people who will be getting this file are going to want to just print it out and have the page show everything they can see on the monitor. WYSIWYG.

Does anyone know how to do that?

I'm hoping I don't need to spend the evening googling this and sorting through 800 pages of nonsense to get to what I need.

 

[CcanDo]

ericscher,

Have you considered programs such as CAD ? Excel, being considered lower level language, may attract users that will complicate the solution.

CAD or Generic 3D-CAD may be what you are asking from Excel. Nuclear Medicine suggests engineers are involved that may be proficent with higher language.

However, Excel may be meshed into another language, such as C or Assembly to provide expandable options. The scheme would involve writing firmware, a dongle and etc. Perhaps, Excel can offer best support.

 

[ericscher]

No, the use is very specific and frankly I'm surprised I've gotten as much latitude on this project as I've been given. This is a Fortune 20 company, they're big on those whole Six-Sigma and Process things; and people whose compensation only starts with a "1" do not get to decide how things will be.

My choice is either find a way to do this electronically that the Pharmacy owners won't screw up when they go to print them out; or I get to print out 140 floorplans, mark them up manually and then scan them back to file.

 

[CcanDo]

I realize the area is sold and budgeted to the square inch for maximum return on investment. The constraints of your presentation/software design may serve the immediate solution. However, subject to flexibility, long term, it could be argued that a more sophisticated protocol is flexible and justified. You have an SIC number as a point of beginning. Beyond that, history for not only the subject product, but other products as well.

Forward thinking may lead protocol design to include part or all accounting data. The model may even include inventory control.

I realize this dialog has ranged well beyond your intial question. However, on your behalf, the 8 figure CEO is only limited by piers holding the ladder.

Your project appears to be a unique need. The solution is not limited to this project. Sometimes, a meeting for presentaion creates a budget and staff critical for better pro-forma growth. For example, does your floor plan art include traffic control, color criteria, security and visbility ?

 

[CcanDo]

Eric, type in the address bar, "How To Develop a retail floor layout program", there are several attachment options shown. However, there is probably a lot of future opportunity not included.