Structured records without a system.
WHAT THIS REPLACES
Information tracked in scattered spreadsheets and messages.
WHAT TO TRACK
Customers and their history Jobs and their status Stock Applications and their progress Assets and maintenance Contracts and renewals
WHAT A STRUCTURED RECORD PROVIDES
Consistency Searchability Reporting A single version
WHY A SINGLE VERSION MATTERS
Separate copies diverge, and nobody knows which is correct.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH BEFORE BUILDING
What you need to record What questions you will ask of it Who will update it and when
WHY THE QUESTIONS
They determine what fields are needed.
WHAT TO AVOID
Recording everything conceivable.
WHY
Fields nobody fills produce incomplete data and doubt about the rest.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Required fields, kept few.
WHAT TO USE FOR STATUS
A defined list, not free text.
WHY
Free text cannot be reported on.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH ABOUT UPDATING
When records are updated, and by whom.
WHY
A tracker nobody updates is worse than none, because it is trusted and wrong.
WHAT TO AUTOMATE
Creation of records from forms Status changes triggering notifications Reminders based on dates
WHAT TO REVIEW
Whether the data is actually current.
HOW
Check a sample against reality.
