How to keep an equipment calibration tracking list

• Calibration
• Updated: 4 October 2026
• About 4 min read

Setting up the tracking list

1. 1

   Open one row for each instrument

   Bring all the instruments that need calibration together in a single list. Give each instrument a unique inventory (asset) number and put that number on the instrument with a label. Do not delete instruments that are out of service, faulty or scrapped; update their status instead.

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2. 2

   Decide which fields you need

   • Identification: inventory no., instrument name, manufacturer, model, serial no.
   • Technical: measuring range, resolution, acceptance criterion (tolerance).
   • Location and responsibility: department, user or person responsible.
   • Calibration: in-house or external calibration, laboratory, date of last calibration, interval, next date, certificate number and file, result (pass / fail).
   • Intermediate check: date and result of the intermediate check, if any.
   • Status: in use, away for calibration, faulty, out of service.

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3. 3

   Set up reminders

   Set up a reminder routine for instruments whose next calibration date is approaching (e.g. a warning 30 days beforehand). In Excel the next date can be calculated by adding the interval in months to the last date (the EDATE function), and conditional formatting can colour the dates that are approaching or overdue. When the certificate arrives, compare the results with the acceptance criterion and enter them in the list.

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4. 4

   Excel or software?

   For a small number of instruments and a single person responsible, a well-designed Excel list may be enough. Moving to calibration tracking software usually makes sense in these situations: the instruments number in the hundreds, more than one person updates the list, finding certificates in file folders takes time, you need automatic email reminders and a record of who changed what (an audit trail), or it is becoming hard to keep track of instruments sent to external laboratories.

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The records from the standards' point of view

ISO 9001 requires the measuring resources used to verify the conformity of products and services to be calibrated or verified at specified intervals, to be identified, and the results to be retained as records. ISO/IEC 17025, for its part, expects laboratories to keep in their equipment records the identity of the instrument, its location, the calibration dates and results, the next calibration date or the interval, and the maintenance and fault history. If your tracking list covers this information, everything you look for at an audit is in one place.

Good practice

• Attach a label to the instrument showing its calibration status (the next date).
• Withdraw an instrument that fails from use immediately and assess the effect on earlier measurements.
• Link electronic copies of the certificates to the instrument record.
• Review the list regularly (e.g. once a month); name the person responsible.

Frequently asked questions

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