Guide · Starting
Moving off spreadsheets without losing anything
Your spreadsheets hold years of knowledge. Move it in the right order and nothing is lost or typed twice.
Gather what you have
Find every sheet: the asset list, the service schedule, the certificate tracker, the contractor list, the one an engineer keeps on their own laptop. Ask the team which one they actually trust when it matters.
Bring the lists in first
Assets and places go in first, because everything else hangs off them. Keep the columns you use and drop the ones nobody has filled in for a year. Do not retype: bring the sheet in as it is and tidy it once it is in.
Then the dates that matter
Bring in the last done and next due date for every service and inspection, especially those with a legal duty or a warranty. These are the dates that cause trouble if they are lost.
Keep the old sheet, read-only
Keep a copy of each old sheet as it was on the day you moved, and stop editing it. If someone asks what the records said last year, the copy answers. Two live copies of the truth is worse than one old one.
Checklist
- Every sheet found, including the private ones
- The trusted version of each list agreed
- Assets and places in first, without retyping
- Last done and next due dates in for every duty and warranty
- Old sheets saved as they were, and no longer edited
Sources
Our own advice, from running maintenance. This guide quotes no studies and no figures.
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