---
id: KB-PS-008
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/getting-started/can-i-manage-this-with-a-spreadsheet
idioma: en
categoria: primeros-pasos
subcategoria: recursos
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-PS-004, KB-PS-009]
citadoPor: [KB-PS-009, KB-CF-011, KB-CF-013, KB-PS-012, KB-PS-016]
---

# Can I manage this with a spreadsheet?

_When it is enough, when it stops being enough, and exactly how you notice._

**Responde a:** 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

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

**En corto**

- Fewer than twenty third parties with documentation.
- One person maintains it and that person is always there.
- Nobody will ask you to prove when each item arrived.

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.

> [!WARNING]
> 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.

> [!NOTE]
> 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.

## Ejemplos

**A company tracks 45 suppliers in a spreadsheet and finds three lapsed insurance policies at an inspection.**

- Uploads only current documentation
- Marks the expiry dates

→ The sheet stops being the control and becomes a list; expiries warn on their own.

**Two people edit the same sheet and a row is lost.**

- Each document gets its own file and history

→ There is no longer a good version that has to be guessed at.

**The sheet says the policy is current and the PDF behind it is two years old.**

- Stores the document with the figure and reads the date from it

→ The figure can no longer contradict the paper backing it.

**Documentation is requested by email and the sheet updated by hand afterwards.**

- The request and the status are the same thing

→ The step where updating gets forgotten disappears.

**Whoever maintained the sheet leaves and nobody knows what a column meant.**

- Statuses stop being one person's criteria

→ The information stays readable without that person.

**An audit asks you to evidence fifteen suppliers' validity.**

- Shares the files with their documents and dates

→ You hand over what backs the sheet rather than the sheet.