I’ve recently noticed a gradual increase in the number of enquiries I’m getting from online prospects, about my Excel-VB Poultry Farm Manager app.

Interestingly, more of them now ask if the app can work across an intranet. In other words, for those who have a network of interconnected offline PCs, or those who use apps that send and receive live updates via the web, the Farm CEOs ask me if my app offers similar functions.

Now, I could be wrong, but the more I get asked this question after I answered someone else not too long ago, in the affirmative, the more I cannot help feeling that the same people are the ones coming back through proxies to ask me the same question again.

Why would they do this?

Well I suspect it’s the same reason some of my past clients did so. Knowing that my app is built using MS Excel, which is NOT designed to be multi-tasking, they find it hard to imagine how ONE app like mine can possibly be used at the same time on multiple terminals across a network.

Rather than argue, I will simply tell the reader that I have done it more than once, and for GOOD pay too. Way back in paid employment I developed a Training Records Database application for use by departmental heads across the brewery via the intranet.

Each head was able to launch the app from where I’d placed it on the server, using the shortcut I’d placed on their PC desktops. They then quickly/easily generated training reports for individual employees in their departments, for printing.

Now, despite the fact that the above happened, it was only good for VIEWING and report generation/printing.

If data entry needed to be made, that had to be done by posting into the app on the server, and then advising ALL users to close and re-launch the app to view the latest updates.

As you can imagine that option did not appeal to the CEO of a hotel I got invited to build a Hotel Records Management System (HRMS) for.

In his case he wanted the different sections of the hotel where data recording happened (e.g. Accounts, Reception, and Bar/Restaurant) to post their data as and when needed in a way that would promptly reflect in the report generation interface of the app, once it is REFRESHED.

In my usual way, I thoroughly investigated the possible options available online until I found a perfect solution described by an Excel-VB developer named Pierre LeClerc.

Even though his method did not suit the hotel’s purpose, a little creative thinking quickly helped me develop an adaptation that did.

2 months later, I’d successfully trained the staff in the different hotel data entry sections, to use the app across the company’s intranet.

After overcoming the usual teething problems, they soon got up and running using the app. I still recall being asked by the CEO to call up the app on his laptop so he could view latest reports drawing from data being posted in the different sections.

It is the same method I used for the hotel that I would use as a guide for developing a network-able version of my Poultry Farm Manager app.

I cannot give details of how I would do it, but once completed, it would enable a Farm CEO readily access any latest posted data updates the staff may have done, from ANY terminal – including the web.

If you’re interested in using my Excel-VB driven Poultry Farm manager across a network, click here to send me details of your needs, and how you’d like me to help you.

In my response, I will send you a one page annotated diagram that depicts the approach conceived by Pierre LeClerc, which I modified to develop the HRMS mentioned above.

Below is a small version of the diagram:

The larger version I will send to everyone who submits this web form, will come with boldly written explanatory notes, labels and generic information.