I am sorry to hear of your history at the bottling company. Seems like a high pressure environment; I don't know if I would have lasted very long there. My experience with the SQL/Excel connection was a four month contract with a telecom company transmitting inventory reports to branch offices. The database connections were nothing like production/realtime processing data. The clients had already set up their SQL Server platform and needed a simple data connection and automation of the transmittal process. For this the VBA application SendMail dialog function through MS Outlook was convenient. I have had other experiences with Excel and Access VBA, mostly with small to mid-size companies which have begun their data management processes with small spreadsheets or databases. As the data operations have gained scope and size, the clients realize the need for increased data capacity and automation. Some have remained with MS Office, some have moved up to SQL Server with an eye to eventually moving to Big Data or some cloud products. One works with what one has been given. I hope this reply has not caused any additional tics.