Most welder continuity logs live in a spreadsheet, and most of them work — right up until an audit finds the one row that didn’t. This page is an honest look at when Excel (or Google Sheets) is genuinely the right tool for tracking the ASME IX six-month rule, the specific ways spreadsheets fail, and what software actually changes. We build continuity software, so read the recommendations knowing that — the failure modes, though, come straight from how audit findings actually happen.
When a spreadsheet is genuinely fine
Not every shop needs software, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. A spreadsheet continuity log is a perfectly defensible system when three things are true at once:
- Small roster. Five or six welders means ten or twelve rows. You can read the entire log in one glance; nothing hides.
- One process, or close to it. If everyone runs FCAW all day every day, continuity nearly maintains itself — the log is a formality, and the six-month clock never gets close to zero.
- A disciplined QC owner. One person updates the sheet on a fixed cadence (weekly or monthly), sorts by expiry date, and actually looks at the top rows. Discipline, not the tool, is what keeps qualifications alive.
If that describes your shop, don’t buy anything. Take the free CSV/Excel continuity log template — it has every column an auditor expects, plus the =EDATE(D2,6) expiry formula — and keep doing what works.
How spreadsheet continuity logs actually fail
The audit findings we hear about are never “the shop had no log.” The log existed. It failed in one of four ways:
- Nobody sorts by expiry. Sheets get built alphabetically by welder and stay that way. A compliant-looking log with a lapse buried in row 40 still produces an audit finding — the auditor sorts it even if you don’t.
- The math is manual, or the formula is wrong. Someone types expiry dates by hand, or a fill-down misses the new rows, or
=EDATE()got replaced with a pasted value in March. A spreadsheet error looks exactly like a correct answer, which is what makes it dangerous. - Updates happen before audits, not after welds. The sheet gets a frantic refresh the week the auditor is due — which is precisely when it’s too late, because a lapse discovered in month eight can’t be un-lapsed. It means a requalification test and a disposition question over the welds made since month six. (What that test costs is on the requalification cost calculator — typically several hundred dollars per welder per process.)
- The person who owns the sheet leaves. Or retires, or goes on leave in month five. The log was really a person, and the file they left behind has no cadence, no owner, and soon no accurate dates.
Notice that none of these are Excel’s fault. They are process failures that Excel does nothing to prevent — and that software can make structurally impossible.
Excel vs. ContinuityLog free vs. Pro — the honest table
| Excel / Sheets | ContinuityLog (free) | ContinuityLog Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 (you have it) | $0, no signup | $29/mo per shop |
| Expiry math | Manual, or a formula someone must maintain | Computed automatically, per welder per process | Computed automatically |
| Sorted by risk | Only if someone re-sorts it | Always — soonest lapse floats to top, flagged at 30 days | Always |
| Warns you before a lapse | No — you must open it and look | Only when you open it | Yes — email 30 days before any lapse |
| Audit report | Format it yourself | One-click printable report + CSV export | Same, plus alert history |
| Survives the owner leaving | No — the sheet is the person | Partly — the math and sorting survive; opening it doesn’t | Yes — the alerts chase whoever is on the list |
| Your data lives | Your file server / Drive | Your browser only — nothing uploaded | Hosted, backed up |
| Best for | Small roster, one process, disciplined owner | Any shop that wants the math and sorting done for it | Shops that want the reminder to come to them |
What software actually changes
Strip away the marketing and software changes exactly two things. First, it removes the failure modes that come from arithmetic and sorting: the expiry date is always computed, the riskiest row is always on top, and a welder at month five is impossible to miss — that’s what the free tracker does, in your browser, with no account. Second — and only in the paid tier — it removes the failure mode of nobody looking: an email lands 30 days before any lapse, whether or not anyone remembered to open the log. That’s the entire pitch. A shop whose QC manager already sorts the sheet every Friday gets limited value from the first and may not need the second.
The honest decision rule: if your log has never surprised you, keep the spreadsheet — the template will make it tighter. If you have ever opened the sheet and found a date further in the past than you expected, the discipline assumption has already failed once, and the fix costs either nothing (the free tool) or less than a tenth of one requalification test per month.