Does anyone know the best approach for this?

I have (roughly) 200 EXCEL files that have VLOOKUPs to 5 additional
spreadsheets which have ODBC links to various rate tables in an ACCESS
database. Here's the scenario:

Part 1.

In ACCESS, I have a various Rate Tables where I maintain and update
corresponding rates for various programs. As these rates are changed in
ACCESS, the corresponding EXCEL spreadsheets (having an ODBC link) need to
be opened and the updates allowed to process.

Part 2.

The EXCEL spreadsheets are used by a myriad of users to provide updates -- I
don't want a user to inadvertantly click on "Allow Updates" on the ODBC
linked data (especially if we're in the middle of modifying the Rates in the
ACCESS database).

Currently, the decision has been to protect the 200 EXCEL spreadsheets, and
on the EDIT Links, the Item Update is set to "Automatic". From what I can
tell, under the current setup, I would need a script (Macro, VBA, or Batch
File) that would pass the password for each protected spreadsheet, so that
the Automatice Update of the Linked data could execute.

What is the BEST way to handle this scenario? Here are some thoughts I had:

1. Would Information Rights Management (IRM) be an option? (assuming that
we could unprotect the spreadsheet and assign unique permissions for users)
2. Is there a Macro/VBS/ or Batch File scenario which could allow me to
automatically UNPROTECT the spreadsheet, Open it, Allow the Update to take
place, then close the spreadsheet?

NOTE. I relatively NEW to creating Batch Files, and what I have currently
have won't get me past the password issue, nor close the individual EXCEL
files after they're updated:


I'm drawing straws on which approach to take on this -- any help would be
greatly appreciated -- thanks in advance!