How to track work orders in Excel, and when to stop
A spreadsheet is a fine start for tracking work orders. Here is a clean way to set it up, and how to tell when it is holding you back.
The short version
- One row per work order
- Consistent columns
- Upload the same file to a dashboard when it gets heavy
How do I track work orders in a spreadsheet?
One row per work order. Useful columns: work order number, customer, site, date opened, status, assigned to, date closed and notes. Keep one value per cell.
What are the signs a spreadsheet has stopped working?
Multiple versions in email, someone rebuilding a summary by hand every week, duplicate rows, or customers asking for status you have to look up.
What is the next step?
Keep the same spreadsheet or export and upload it to a dashboard tool, so the summary builds itself and can be shared live.
See it with your own data
Tell us what you want to report on. We will set up a walkthrough built around your own kind of data.
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