Your dates, not ours
- The disposal-due date comes from your own rule or agreement. The file holds no retention periods and sets no default.
- Warning days are your own setting too. Blank or 0 means no warning.
What is in the file
- Settings: an as-of date (blank means today) and your warning days.
- Log: sample ID, part or material, lot or batch, reason kept (Production, First article, Customer return, Supplier lot, Other), date taken, location, quantity kept, disposal-due date, sample state (Kept, Out for check, Disposed), out on, back on, disposed on, notes. Days to disposal due is worked out.
- A separate check column. Neither the status nor the sample state hides it, a filled date is checked for the cases listed below, and a row can show several notes, joined with a semicolon.
- Counts under the log: rows logged, rows per status, rows with a check note, rows past the disposal-due date with no disposed date (any status), a line that should read 0 (rows not in any status), rows per reason and rows per state. No score and no ranking.
How the status is worked out
In this order; the first match wins. A row only reads Kept, Out for check or Disposed when every step before it is filled. Text typed in a date cell counts as blank:
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Enter sample ID | The row has an entry but no sample ID. It still counts. |
| Enter part or material … Enter location | Part or material, lot or batch, reason kept, date taken and location, in that order. |
| Enter quantity kept | Blank, or not a number above 0. |
| Enter disposal-due date | Blank, or text instead of a date. The date is your own entry; the file sets no default. |
| Enter disposed date | State is Disposed, disposed date blank. |
| Disposed | State is Disposed, with a disposed date. |
| Enter date out | State is Out for check, out date blank. |
| Out for check | State is Out for check, with an out date. |
| Enter sample state | State blank or not in the list. |
| Disposal-due date passed, still held | Kept, as-of date after your disposal-due date. |
| Within your warning days | Kept and inside your own warning days (blank or 0 means no warning). |
| Kept | Every step filled, disposal-due date not passed. |
Check column notes, each followed by "worth a check", on any row whatever its status:
- Disposal-due date passed, no disposed date
- Disposed date filled, state is not Disposed
- Disposed, disposed date blank
- Disposal-due date before the date taken
- Disposed before the date taken
- Disposed date earlier than your disposal-due date
- Out date before the date taken
- Back date filled, out date blank
- Back date before the out date
- Out date filled, back date blank, state is not Out for check
- Back date filled, state still Out for check
- Out or back date after the disposed date
- Sample ID used on more than one row
- A date after the as-of date
- Date not readable (text in a date cell)
- Quantity kept is not a number above 0
Example (fictional)
Made-up parts, lots and dates, extract, as of Thursday 22 October 2026, warning days 30 (an example value, not a recommendation):
| Sample ID | Part or material | Reason kept | Date taken | Disposal-due date | State | Disposed on | Status | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-01 | Housing PA66 | Production | Mon 7 Sep 2026 | Fri 5 Mar 2027 | Kept | Kept | ||
| S-02 | Bracket steel | Production | Mon 3 Aug 2026 | Wed 14 Oct 2026 | Kept | Disposal-due date passed, still held | Disposal-due date passed, no disposed date: worth a check | |
| S-03 | Cover ABS | Customer return | Mon 6 Jul 2026 | Mon 12 Apr 2027 | Out for check | Out for check | ||
| S-04 | Seal EPDM | First article | Mon 14 Sep 2026 | Thu 12 Nov 2026 | Kept | Within your warning days | ||
| S-05 | Clip POM | Supplier lot | Mon 4 May 2026 | Fri 4 Sep 2026 | Disposed | Mon 7 Sep 2026 | Disposed | |
| S-06 | Gasket | Other | Mon 1 Jun 2026 | Thu 1 Oct 2026 | Disposed | Enter disposed date | Disposal-due date passed, no disposed date: worth a check; Disposed, disposed date blank: worth a check | |
| S-07 | Housing PA66 | Production | Mon 5 Oct 2026 | Thu 1 Oct 2026 | Kept | Disposal-due date passed, still held | Disposal-due date passed, no disposed date: worth a check; Disposal-due date before the date taken: worth a check | |
| Bracket steel | Production | Mon 12 Oct 2026 | Mon 1 Mar 2027 | Kept | Enter sample ID | |||
| S-09 | Clip POM | Supplier lot | Mon 13 Jul 2026 | Wed 13 Jan 2027 | Kept | Kept | Out date filled, back date blank, state is not Out for check: worth a check | |
| S-10 | Cover ABS | Production | Mon 12 Oct 2026 | Fri 9 Apr 2027 | Kept | Enter location |
Worth a check each week
- Samples past your disposal-due date with no disposed date, whatever their state (red when still kept).
- Samples out for a check with no back date.
- Disposed samples with no disposed date.
Keeping or disposing of a sample is your call. The file records it and does not judge it.
Related
- Quarantine hold log (Excel)
- First article inspection report template
- Customer return analysis log (Excel)
- Boundary sample register (Excel)
- Free 8D and quality tools
Advisory template, in English. Not a customer decision.