How can I improve the efficiency of my sheet?

Halil Olsen

We are using a sheet to track a number of different measures which will provide a baseline for Q4 2020. These measures are tracked for a month, with detail and a RAG status being provided by a number of different people once a week from October 9th - 30th.

At the moment, we have a separate column for each detail and RAG status, as seen in the picture below.

This is obviously not very efficient as each person will have to access the sheet, find the correct column and enter their data.

We have discussed the possible use of update requests or reports but are interested to hear if anyone else has encountered a similar problem and has an efficient solution?

Please let me know if you need more information.

Thank you.

David Tutwiler

Would it make sense to have 3 columns, potentially? Something like:

RAG | Measure | Date

Where you enter the RAG, the Measure, and then maybe have a dropdown of all the different date types you could have (ie 9th October, 16th October, etc).

Then on the input form people would use a dropdown to select their date, enter their information, and then you would get a unique row for each entry.

You could then use either a Calcuation sheet, Sheet Summary, or Reports to collect the data in one place to do with it as you need.

The key, as far as I understand, is getting the information in one place and tagged so that you can easily reference it. From there, what you do with it depends on your specific needs.

David Tutwiler

Would it make sense to have 3 columns, potentially? Something like:

RAG | Measure | Date

Where you enter the RAG, the Measure, and then maybe have a dropdown of all the different date types you could have (ie 9th October, 16th October, etc).

Then on the input form people would use a dropdown to select their date, enter their information, and then you would get a unique row for each entry.

You could then use either a Calcuation sheet, Sheet Summary, or Reports to collect the data in one place to do with it as you need.

The key, as far as I understand, is getting the information in one place and tagged so that you can easily reference it. From there, what you do with it depends on your specific needs.

Halil Olsen

That's a good idea, I will give it a go! Thanks a lot David.

David Tutwiler

No problem. Hope it works out.