From the scouting spreadsheet to a system

Why everyone starts with a spreadsheet

It is free, everyone knows how to use it and in an afternoon you have a list of players with columns for position, club, rating and comments. For a single scout, or a club following twenty players, it is enough.

When it gets too small

• There are several versions. "Tracking_v3_FINAL_good.xlsx" in three people's inboxes.
• Reports do not fit. A comments cell is not a report by area, and reports end up in Word, away from the list.
• There is no history. A rating gets overwritten and the old one is lost: nobody knows who changed what or when.
• Nothing alerts you. An expiring contract or an unanswered recommendation does not trigger any alarm.
• It is hard to use at the ground. Editing a spreadsheet on a phone in the stands does not work.
• Everyone sees everything, or nobody sees anything: there are no role permissions.

How to switch without losing what you have

1. Clean up just enough. One row per player and one column per field. It does not need to be perfect.
2. Import it as it is. SquadOffice imports your Excel or CSV and lets you say which column is which.
3. Start writing new reports inside, without trying to move all the old ones on day one.
4. Invite the team by link, each with their role.
5. Keep the spreadsheet as a backup. And whenever you need it, SquadOffice lets you download an Excel copy of everything.

The goal is not to have one more piece of software, but to stop doing by hand what can happen on its own: adding up ratings, flagging deadlines and having the information on the profile when you need it.