Hi. I have a user that created a large excel spreadsheet. The user used Excel security to only allow users access to a form page that pulls data from the hidden sheets of the spreadsheet. The hidden portions include a lot of confidential proprietary data that we are now worried could be sent our either pruposefuly or accidentally to external people. We know Excel security is really a secure solution so we are looking for a better way. We do know that sharepoint is an option (expensive) and there are a few other options out there but we thought we'd try something homegrown first:
We were thinking it may be possible to lock it down through Windows security. We'd create a front end spreadsheet and a backend spread sheet in two separate locations on the network, with different security on each. The backend would hold the data and would only be visible to specific people and we'd have to open it up to the application itself (somehow). The front end would be visible to the users and would call the appropriate data from the backend. This way, the users couldn't walk away with any data, other than a printout or screenshot we allow them via the front end. We ran a quick test and it is possible but we're not sure about setting up the security. Somehow we have to allow Excel to access the backend data without letting users access said data. Worse case, we could allow users access to the backend data but hide that folder so they can't physically browse to it. A savvy user could still get to it though... Any ideas on how to set up the security between the two spreadsheets. VBA? Other ideas? I'm totally open to suggestion:)
Start Free Trial
