How can I get data from multiple Siemens PLCs into Excel?

I use Siemens WinCC SCADA system and I need to transfer data from specific addresses in a Siemens PLC into Excel for reporting purposes.

Is it worth to try doing it by programming in WinCC scada or are there any other reporting tools? My main requirements are:

Easily define PLC and data addresses to read
Customize report view in Excel (add logo, adjust formatting etc.)
Having data in tabular form and in an Excel chart
Price should not be very high

By the way, I have a small panel PC on site. This PC has 1 GB RAM and Intel Celeron CPU. The reporting application has to be running in such small PCs.

Solution

You could use PLC Reports www.plcreports.com. You define your reports directly in Excel and PLCReports ‘fills’ it with data. What I like is that you can use the complete Excel functionality. I even use it to run my own macros to make special calculations. Regarding your requirements: - You specify the PLC definition in one Excel row – just pass the IP Address, Rack and Slot – very easy. - You can add any logo and format the Excel Report as you want - Tabular data is possible – the Report is an Excel file :-) -or PDF if you want - There is a starter version if you only need a few reports which is quite cheap. And it runs on low performance hardware. I run it together with WinCC Flexible on a Panel PC.