Getting started
Can I manage this with a spreadsheet?
When it is enough, when it stops being enough, and exactly how you notice.
Almost everyone starts this way, and for a while it works. The useful question is not whether a spreadsheet works — it does — but when it stops working and how you notice.
When it genuinely is enough
If that describes you, a spreadsheet and a shared folder is the right answer, and building anything else is work that returns nothing. It is honest to say so.
The four signs it has been outgrown
| The sign | What is actually happening |
|---|---|
| Someone asks "is this up to date?" | The sheet says what someone typed, not what exists |
| An expired document is found by chance | Nothing warns; control depends on someone looking |
| It takes half an hour to find something from two years ago | Only its author understands the structure |
| You have to prove when a document arrived | A file's date can be changed by anyone |
Important
The fourth cannot be fixed with a spreadsheet, however well kept. A file's creation date can be changed by anyone in two clicks, so in a dispute it proves nothing. If your problem is being organised, the sheet works; if it is being able to prove, it does not.
What does not change when you switch
The work of asking still exists. What changes is who does it: chasing stops being yours and status stops depending on someone updating a cell. But if the process is badly designed, it will stay badly designed.
Watch out
Migrating the whole sheet is the classic mistake. Bring what is current and leave the history where it is: what has not been consulted in a year will not be consulted.
Worth knowing
A cheap test: take the document you were asked for last week and time how long it takes to find it and to say when it arrived. If it is more than two minutes, there is your answer.
›Can I start with only part of it?
Yes, and it is recommended: one process, whichever repeats most.
›Do I lose what I already have?
No. You upload what is current and the rest stays where it is.
›Is it worth it if there are four of us?
It depends whether anyone asks you to prove dates. If not, probably not.
A real case
The situation
A company tracks 45 suppliers in a spreadsheet and finds three lapsed insurance policies at an inspection.
What you do
- Uploads only current documentation
- Marks the expiry dates
What you get
The sheet stops being the control and becomes a list; expiries warn on their own.
The situation
Two people edit the same sheet and a row is lost.
What you do
- Each document gets its own file and history
What you get
There is no longer a good version that has to be guessed at.
The situation
The sheet says the policy is current and the PDF behind it is two years old.
What you do
- Stores the document with the figure and reads the date from it
What you get
The figure can no longer contradict the paper backing it.
The situation
Documentation is requested by email and the sheet updated by hand afterwards.
What you do
- The request and the status are the same thing
What you get
The step where updating gets forgotten disappears.
The situation
Whoever maintained the sheet leaves and nobody knows what a column meant.
What you do
- Statuses stop being one person's criteria
What you get
The information stays readable without that person.
The situation
An audit asks you to evidence fifteen suppliers' validity.
What you do
- Shares the files with their documents and dates
What you get
You hand over what backs the sheet rather than the sheet.
This article answers
- manage document control in a spreadsheet
- alternative to excel for supplier documentation
- shared folder or document management software
- spreadsheet vs platform for supplier control
- when does a spreadsheet stop working