You can create the pivot on a linked file, using excel as the source and something like "[07Mar01.xls]Days!$A$1:$E$15" as the range. Note that the filename is embedded, so if there's one file and the name doesn't change, that's good.

More complex if you're using multiple workbooks. There may be a better way, but I'd be tempted to record some code that created your pivot table for you, so you don't need to build it from scratch.

Once achieved, you could modify the code to prompt for the filename.

You might come unstuck of the layout of the costing data changes or if the data is in a slightly different place, or if the headings change, so some kind of integrity check would be required

James.