I am trying to get around using a pivot table in a shared workbook. The Pivot Table is making the file too large, too slow, and isn't refreshing the data. The refresh data option is greyed out when the workbook is shared and even though I set it up to refresh on open, it isn't updating the data.

I thought of just CREATING a table with formulas in each cell to do the count.

Here is what I need to do and I need help with the formula. Once I can do it for one cell in the new table, I can duplicate it for each of the other cells in the table.

Sheet 1 is where we track PROJECTS by employee, project type, and status.
Column A = Employee initials (8 employees)
Column B = Project Type (3 types of projects)
Column C = Project Name
Column D = Project Status (9 different status CODES)

In Sheet 2 is the pivot table that tracks the number of projects for each employee by type and status. Currently we have a pivot table in sheet 2, but when I set up the workbook to be shared by all the employees, it won't refresh in shared mode. Ideally, we want this table to show an accurate count everytime one of the employees updates the status of a project or a new project line is added to Sheet1. We use the count to DETERMINE workload for each employee and to assign new projects.

What I want to do is create a formula so that I get an accurate count:
If Sheet1 Column A = "EmployeeJD"
And Sheet1 Column B = "ProjectType1"
And Sheet2 Column D ="ProjectStatus1"

I need to get a count of the number of rows where all three criteria are met. I tried COUNTA, COUNTIF, SUMPRODUCT, but can't get it set up to return the correct results. I know that the data in the columns is correct because each of the columns has a drop-down LIST validating the correct format.

HELP!