Certificate of insurance tracking spreadsheet alternative

What the spreadsheet is good at, and where it breaks

A sheet is a fine list of names. It is a poor list of dates once more than one person edits it. Common failures are a date stored as text, a single column trying to represent general liability and workers' compensation, a file path that points at someone's desktop, and a status word that is typed by hand. None of those failures announce themselves. The row still exists. It just isn't true.

The other break is the renewal request. The sheet does not email the vendor, and it does not give them a place to put the new PDF that automatically sits next to the old one. Someone exports a list, writes emails, and saves attachments into a folder that the sheet does not know about. The folder and the sheet diverge in a week.

What replaces each column

The vendor name becomes a party. Each coverage line becomes a document with its own expiration, so general liability can be current while workers' compensation is expired. The PDF is the file on that document, not a path. Status is calculated from the date and your reminder window: valid, expiring, or expired. You do not type the word current. Reminders at 30, 14, and 7 days replace the habit of filtering the sheet on Monday mornings.

The update link replaces the attachment dance. The vendor uploads without an account. You accept or reject in Review. A rejected file does not become the current certificate. That is the piece a spreadsheet cannot do without a second workbook and a promise that everyone will follow it. CSV import still exists for the day you leave the sheet: name, kind, email, phone, trade, and state come across. Dates should be entered with the PDF, because imported date text is how the wrong day got into the sheet in the first place.

• Stop typing the word current. Let the date decide.
• One document per coverage line.
• Keep the PDF on the record, not in a path that dies when a laptop does.
• Send the renewal request as a link, not as a mail-merge you have to babysit.

Cost of leaving the sheet

Starter is $29 a month or $290 a year, 25 parties and 3 seats. Pro is $59 a month or $590 a year, 100 parties and 10 seats. Business is $99 a month or $990 a year, 300 parties and 25 seats. The annual price is two months free. Limits match. A 7-day trial applies to first-time subscribers only. There is no implementation project and no claim that the import will repair bad dates. If a row in the sheet says 3/4 and you do not know whether that is March or April, do not import that cell. Open the PDF and type the expiration that is printed on it.

This is not a broker portal and it does not call the carrier to see if a policy was cancelled last week. A certificate can be wrong the moment it is issued if the policy is cancelled afterward. What you gain is a file you can defend: who sent it, when it purported to end, and whether you asked for a replacement before that day. For a line-by-line reading of the form itself, use the page on what to check on a subcontractor COI.