Free Training Matrix Health Check

Why check a matrix before you import it?

Most training matrices fail quietly: a date typed as text, a blank that should be N/A, or an expired card nobody filtered for this week. A quick health check surfaces those issues on your real file before you spend time on colouring cells by hand again — or before you upload into software and wonder why statuses look wrong.

The tool does not invent legal obligations. It reads the columns and dates you already maintain. Your organisation still decides which requirements apply to which roles, customers and sites.

How to run a check

1. Export or save your matrix as Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. Put column headers on the first row.
2. Drop the file into the checker above (or choose it from disk).
3. Read the summary: expired, expiring within 60 days, invalid text dates, blanks and N/A counts.
4. Open the per-column table if you need to see which requirement columns are driving the totals.
5. Fix the sheet (real dates, N/A where not required, fill missing names), then re-check if you want a clean pass.
6. When you want reminders and evidence on the record, upload the same structure into FieldClear.

Common spreadsheet failures

• Text months (“Aug 26”, “March 2025”) instead of DD/MM/YYYY dates — sorting and conditional formatting both break.
• Merged header cells or title rows above the real headers — put one clean header row first.
• One “F-Gas” or “CPCS” column that hides categories you allocate work by.
• Blank cells that mean “not required” with no N/A marker — audits read blanks as missing.
• Duplicate worker names without a clear company or role to tell them apart.
• Evidence living only in email while the matrix only has a date.

What “good” looks like

A healthy matrix uses real dates, marks true not-required cells as N/A, keeps worker names filled, and has far more current cells than expired or invalid ones. Zero expired cells is not always realistic mid-renewal — what matters is that you can see the problem list and act on it.

Privacy

• Analysis runs entirely in your browser.
• We do not upload, store or train on your spreadsheet.
• Aggregate event counts (rows analysed, expired cells) may be sent to analytics only if you have accepted analytics cookies — never worker names or cell contents.

After the check

1. Convert invalid text dates to real Excel dates (DD/MM/YYYY).
2. Replace ambiguous blanks with N/A where the requirement does not apply.
3. Fill missing worker names or remove empty rows.
4. Attach or note evidence locations for rows you will need in an audit.
5. Put a weekly diary reminder in place — or upload for automatic expiry reminders.

Spreadsheets will not email you before the next card lapses. When that becomes the bottleneck, import the cleaned file into training matrix software that calculates status every day.