Not sure what to title this

[jeffcravener]

OK, let me give you a little background of what is currently being done, then what I am working on, and then what I would like to do. I apologize in advance if i do not express any questions clearly.

I am an analyst in a customer service call center. Phone representatives have to enter exceptions when they are off the phones for any reasojn during their shift. They tell their supervisor why they are off and then the supervisor enters this exception into an excel workbook.

Currently, they have it set up that each supervisor has their own workbook and when they enter these exceptions, they have to enter them in red, and then we, the analysts, go in (sporadically) to see if any exceptions have been entered and then we enter them into a workforce management software (TCS).

What I decided to do was start using VBA to create forms that would pop up, and then the supervisor would fill this form out, and then after they click a submit button, it places the exception info into the excel sheet.

Though this will allow me to create some good control on what kind of access the supervisors have to the exceptions they are entering....and helps with validation and what not, it is still an archaic way of doing it.

Databases are out of the question (fricka fracka)...

Exceptions should be entered into the workforce management system as soon as possible...because the more real-time the analysts are, the more proactive we can be in ensuring calls are being answered.

An idea I came up with (literally like 10 minutes ago) was to have some code e-mail the 'owning' analyst of a workbook whenever a new exception is entered. That way, we could enter them right away.

Then I thought of something I vaguely remember in Lotus Notes.

I beleive lotus notes had a way that you could build forms that could be filled out and then sent to an individual.

Can Outlook do that? could I create a 'template', or something, that whenever the supervisors needed to enter an exception, they would go to their outlook e-mail, choose New Exception Entry, they would fill out info on the form, and then send it to us...then I could add options when we receive it, like Deny, Accept, Change.

And then the supervisor would receive a read receipt stating what action the analyst took.

Is that possible? Does it make sense? : )

Thanks for taking the time to read it.

[salvelinus]

First, a rant.
Why do so many people/companies insist on using Excel as a db? Excel is a spreadsheet! Lot's of things can store data. Use the right tool!
But, I know, that's not your problem. Lot's of us have to deal with situations we didn't create.
Anyway, if I understand you, you just want an email to be automatically sent, at least as part of your question? There's a DoCmd method, SendMail I think offhand, that would do that. It's available in Access, so I'd guess Excel might have a similar command.

[jeffcravener]

I took a weekend and design an access database that had multiple tables, relationships, forms, etc...

Came back and IT said no databases on the network...they said it had to be an approved DB...like oracle or SQL...but that only the IT department can create them....and they wouldn't create one for me...grrrrrrrrrrr....

Thanks for the hint!

[salvelinus]

Looks like sendmail in Excel sends only worksheets, which may work for you, don't know. Access, which you can't use, will send any, or at least most, db objects, using sendobject.
You may just have to program to Outlook to send mail.
Maybe the IT dept would convert your Access to Oracle or whatever. That should be a trivial task.