An inventory is useful when it helps someone decide what happens next. A long list of filenames alone will not tell you which spreadsheet matters, who can explain it or whether anyone has reviewed it.
1. Define what belongs in the inventory
Start with spreadsheets that support important reporting, customer or financial decisions, recurring operations, or information passed between teams. Include macros, desktop databases and other end-user tools where they perform the same role. Set the scope with the people responsible for the process.
Record the boundary you chose. For example: “Spreadsheets used to prepare the monthly management report, including files that supply its inputs.” Keep working copies and obsolete versions out of the active register, but preserve any required records.
2. Capture the minimum useful fields
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Identifier and name | A stable reference and a name people recognize. |
| Business purpose | The process, report or decision the file supports. |
| Accountable owner | The person responsible for its business use and review. |
| Operator and reviewer | Who runs it, who can maintain it and who checks it. |
| Approved location | The controlled location of the current working version. |
| Inputs and outputs | Main data sources, external links and downstream users. |
| Frequency | When it runs and which deadlines depend on it. |
| Sensitivity and access | What information it contains and who should have access. |
| Initial risk and rationale | A provisional priority, with a short explanation. |
| Review and action | Last review, next review, evidence location and open actions. |
| Lifecycle status | In development, active, being replaced or retired. |
3. Ask questions that uncover the real process
- What would stop, be delayed or be wrong if this file failed?
- Who relies on its output, including teams outside the owner’s area?
- Does it depend on another workbook, an export, a manual adjustment or a macro?
- How do people know they are using the current version?
- Could someone else run and explain it if the usual operator were unavailable?
4. Make ownership explicit
Confirm the owner with that person rather than inferring ownership from a file’s creator or last editor. Separate accountability for the business process from responsibility for updating formulas. Record an escalation route when ownership is disputed or unknown.
5. Keep the register part of the workflow
Update the inventory when a file is introduced, materially changed, transferred, reviewed or retired. Set a review interval appropriate to the process and its risk. Ask owners to confirm both that listed files remain in use and that important new files are not missing.
Before calling the first version complete
- Each in-scope active file has an agreed owner.
- The approved working location is recorded.
- Its purpose and main dependencies are understandable.
- Unknowns and actions have an owner and a date.
- The next inventory check is scheduled.
Next: decide what needs closer attention
Use the inventory to prioritize a review. Start with consequence and dependence, then consider complexity and the strength of existing controls.