Manage Information More Effectively; Server-Based Control; Data Connection Library - Microsoft 065-04940 - Office Excel 2007 User Manual

Manage Information More Effectively

Organizations often find it challenging to manage and control business-critical
spreadsheets. Copies of spreadsheets are prevalent throughout an organization, and it
can be a challenge to keep track of who has access to confidential business data. It can
also be difficult to ensure whether you and your coworkers are working with the most
current version of a spreadsheet.
Office Excel 2007, combined with Excel Services and Office SharePoint Server 2007,
addresses these challenges to help you manage business information more effectively. By
providing centralized access to a spreadsheet to a specific audience or set of users, you
can help protect sensitive data by controlling viewing rights, and help ensure everyone is
using the most current, accurate information.

Server-Based Control

Office Excel 2007 offers server-based control that helps ensure consistency across your
organization, while enabling the automatic refreshing and delivery functionality that is so
often requested.

Data Connection Library

When you and your team need to access external data and import it into a spreadsheet,
you no longer need to know the names of corporate data sources or call for help from IT.
After your organization's IT department has determined a set of common databases to
which you need access, you can use the Data Connection Library to access these sources
and import information directly into your spreadsheet—without having to provide
password authentication.
In Office Excel 2007, the connections are exposed to simplify the process of creating a
new external data object, such as a PivotTable or OLAP formula. A reference to the data
connection file is added to the Office Excel 2007 spreadsheet. When the spreadsheet is
executed in Excel Services, the server checks the connection in the library to see if it has
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