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I am looking for suggestions for a user friendly database editing tool. A client of ours has a deliverable in Excel format. We feed data to it via FME from a SQL Server/SDE database. However the client does edits in the excel file and the edits never make it back to the database. I know, we can load the edited data back to the DB via FME again, but preferably, the users will edit the data directly in the database.

The client is used to the editing functions in Excel so we need to offer them something very similar/easy to use. The data to be edited is a non-spatial table but related to a parent spatial object.

The tool must have:

  • Allow for bulk editing (replace drag functions in excel).
  • Must be user friendly/no code. We have tried MS Access but it is too complex. From the user perspective they just need to:
    • access and filter a subset of the data
    • eyeball the values and add comments in one column.

Good to have:

  • Track editor id
  • Read and write by FME

We are flexible on the database so if there is a solution out there on an entirely different platform, we are open to it. We have PowerBI(+all the other MS apps) and ArcGIS Enterprise but we have not found a way in either of these (maybe not looking hard enough). Ideally, there is no major development involved, but we can handle some coding.

 

Thanks in advance!

I'm not a database expert, but i'd suggest keeping with the method you have. Editing directly into the database has many potential risks, the major one being once an edit is made, its done, you can only go back to the last backup (hours/days ago). What if a user accidently deletes every row in the table?

 

At least by working in something like excel then loading the changes you have the ability to incorporate QA/QC steps to ensure that something erroneous is not going to make it into the database.

We use https://airtable.com/

But it gets a bit expensive, depending on the amount of users. You can GET and POST, PATCH stuff using a REST API.

Otherwise, there are endless low code solutions on the market.

If this can help, wow about "devart" plugin for excel. I have tested it in trial version for editing Postgresql tables in excel, thats look nice. Url: https://www.devart.com/excel-addins/postgresql/download.html

I've used jqGrid before with FME Server workspaces supplying the database functionality.

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