When a spreadsheet stops being enough
A spreadsheet is a reasonable IT asset register for a small estate with one owner. This guide covers where it works, where it breaks, and how to move when it does.
Where a spreadsheet is the right answer
For a few dozen devices and one person keeping the list, a spreadsheet is fine. It costs nothing, everyone can open it, and it needs no server. With the right columns (asset tag, serial, make and model, status, location, who has it, cost, purchase date and warranty end) it answers most of the questions a small organisation asks. The free template gives you those columns with three example rows to copy.
If that describes your estate, keep the spreadsheet. Give it one owner, keep the status list short, and copy serial numbers exactly. The rest of this guide is for the day it starts to hurt.
Where it breaks
The problems are the same in every organisation, and they arrive in roughly this order.
Two people edit it
The sheet lives on a share or in OneDrive. Someone edits a downloaded copy, someone else edits the live one, and the two drift apart. Even with a single shared file there is no record of who changed which cell. "Last modified by" gives you one name and one time for the whole file.
There is no history
A row shows an asset's current state. When a laptop passes from a leaver to a new starter, the old name is typed over. Six months later, when the auditor or the insurer asks who had that machine in March, the answer is gone. Status has the same problem: you can see that a device is retired, but not when, or why, or by whom.
Nothing reminds you
Warranty end dates and licence renewals sit in a column that nobody reads until something fails. A spreadsheet cannot send an email, so renewals get missed and out-of-warranty kit breaks at the worst moment. Conditional formatting helps only if someone opens the file that week.
Nothing scans
Finding a row means typing an asset tag or a serial into a search box, so the sheet stays at the desk while the kit is somewhere else. A label with a QR code opens the record from a phone in a second, and a spreadsheet has no equivalent.
It does not know what device management knows
New machines are enrolled in Microsoft Intune or Jamf and never make it to the sheet. Within a year the register and the management system disagree, and neither is trusted.
Audits mean a printout
A physical audit becomes an afternoon of walking round with a printed list and a pen, then an evening of typing the corrections back in. Most organisations do it once, find it painful, and quietly stop.
What a register adds
A purpose-built register is a database with a record per asset, so it solves these problems by design rather than by discipline.
- A dated history on every asset: who changed what, and when
- Check-out and check-in, so who has what is a record rather than a cell that gets overwritten
- Renewal reminders by email for warranties, licences and kit past its replacement age
- Printable QR labels for assets and rooms, and a phone that reads them
- A feed from Microsoft Intune or Jamf, so enrolled devices arrive without typing
- A physical audit workflow that records each confirmation with a date
- Reports and exports, so finance and auditors get a file rather than a screenshot
- Roles, so a colleague can read or edit without being able to delete the lot
In Tagaris everything on that list except roles is on the free tier, which has no limit on the number of assets. Device sync from Intune and Jamf is a free beta. Roles, single sign-on and the organisation-wide audit log come with the Team licence; see pricing.
How to move
The spreadsheet you have been keeping is the import file.
1. Tidy the sheet
One header row, one asset per row, and ideally the columns from the
template. Dates as
YYYY-MM-DD or DD/MM/YYYY, prices as a plain
number. Different header names are fine; the mapping step handles them.
2. Export it as CSV
From Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice. The importer takes up to 5,000 rows per file, so split anything larger.
3. Import it
In Tagaris go to Assets, then Import. The wizard guesses the column mapping from your headers and you correct anything it gets wrong; only the name is required. Categories, locations and people named in the file are created automatically if they do not already exist, and duplicate serial numbers are flagged as warnings rather than errors.
4. Check the preview
Every import runs as a dry run first. The preview shows what will be created and which rows will be skipped, and nothing is written until you confirm.
5. Finish the job
Print QR labels for the kit and the rooms, set the daily renewal digest, and connect Intune or Jamf if you use them. From then on the register keeps itself current. The importing guide covers the wizard in detail, including presets for Snipe-IT and Halo exports if you are moving from another tool rather than a spreadsheet.
Related guides: all guides, how to create an IT asset register and how to choose IT asset management software.
See what the spreadsheet becomes
The live demo is a full register with a realistic dataset loaded. No sign-up, and it resets nightly.