Architecture project tracker: spreadsheet or Arkscape
Most studio trackers start the same way: a sheet with a task, a name, and a date. It works for a while. Then the beam sizes owed by the structural engineer go quiet for three weeks and nobody notices, because a row nobody has touched looks exactly like a row updated this morning.
The fix is less about the tool than about what the tracker records. This guide covers the columns that catch a project slipping, how to keep them in a spreadsheet, and where Arkscape, a project tracking tool for architects, designers, and engineers, keeps them for you.
What a project tracker needs to record
Every task gets one row, across all your projects, so you can read the whole week in one place.
| What to record | Why it's there |
|---|---|
| The task, written as its outcome | "Confirm beam sizes at the level 2 opening" can be ticked off; "Structure" can't |
| One responsible person | Two names on a task usually means nobody |
| Whether they accepted it | "I sent it to Tom" and "Tom said yes, by Thursday" are different facts |
| Who owes it: your team, a consultant, or the client | The tasks holding up a date usually belong to someone outside the studio |
| The due date | The day it's needed, tied to what it blocks |
| When it last moved | A task nobody has touched in two weeks is the first sign of trouble |
| Notes | The drawing number, the detail, and what the task blocks |
Most trackers stop at the task, a name, a date, and a status. The three in the middle are the ones that catch a project before a date is missed: work nobody agreed to, work owed by someone outside the studio, and work that has quietly stopped.
Keeping it in a spreadsheet
One sheet does the job. Give each column above its own heading, add a Project column so a single sheet holds every job, and use a dropdown for anything with fixed answers: Yes, Not yet, or Declined for acceptance; Our team, Consultant, or Client for who owes it.
Two formulas do most of the work. Highlight the due date in red when it has passed and the task isn't done. And add a column that counts the days since the last update, =TODAY()-[last update], highlighted once it reaches 14.
Then pick a day and read it. Friday afternoon works well, because what you find feeds your weekly status update.
- Update every task that moved this week, including its last update date.
- Read the red dates. Each needs a new date, a conversation, or both.
- Filter to what consultants and the client owe, and chase anything quiet or not yet agreed.
- Give every task without a name an owner, and ask for a yes.
For one or two projects and a small team, this is enough. Keep the spreadsheet.
Where a spreadsheet breaks down
The last update date is typed by hand, so on a busy week the quiet column means nothing. People keep their own lists beside the tracker, and by the second week the two disagree. Consultants never see it, so their yes is your guess at their yes. And a date only turns red when someone opens the file.
None of this is a discipline problem. A spreadsheet is a copy of the work, and copies drift.
How Arkscape keeps the same tracker
In Arkscape, each project is a group with its own board, and each row becomes a card. The difference is that the tracker isn't a copy. It is the work itself.
When someone takes on a card from the project's board, the same card appears on their own board, Your Ark. There's one list, not two: when Maria ticks off a checklist item on her Ark, the project sees it.
Accepting is part of assigning. Choosing a card's Responsible person sends them a request they answer with Accept or Decline, and a decline can carry a reason. Until they accept, the card stays off their Ark, so "sent" never passes for "agreed".
Consultants and clients work on the card instead of in your inbox. Share one card with Add people, up to 10 people besides you, and they see that card and its discussion, nothing else. For a long collaboration, invite them into the project's group. People you invite join free.
Nothing has to be typed to show what's gone quiet. Each card's History records every change, and the project's Reports tab lists Stalled cards, open and undated and untouched for 14 days, beside the count of Unowned cards and those still awaiting acceptance.
| In a spreadsheet | In Arkscape |
|---|---|
| One sheet for every project | One group per project, and Your Ark for each person |
| A name in the Responsible column | Responsible, accepted or declined on the record |
| Owed by a consultant or the client | The person on the card itself, through Add people or the group |
| Last update and days quiet, typed by hand | History and Stalled, kept automatically |
| Your own status counts | The report's Open cards, Overdue, Due in 7 days, and Unowned |
| The Friday update, rebuilt from memory | Copy as text on the week's Completed cards |
Moving over
Arkscape has no spreadsheet import, so moving means creating cards for the open rows. Finished rows can stay in the spreadsheet as your record. Start with one live project rather than all of them.
If you've connected Claude or ChatGPT to Arkscape, paste the open rows and ask it to create the cards, up to 20 at a time. You still assign each card yourself, and each person still accepts.
Groups, cards, and sharing work on every plan, including Free, which lets you create one group of your own. Project reports come with the Business plans, from $25 per user a month with a 14-day trial, and with the Connect ($10) and Pro ($20) Personal plans.
Which to choose
Keep the spreadsheet if you run one or two projects, the team sits together, and everyone who owes you something is in the room. Choose Arkscape when you're running several projects at once, consultants and clients owe you answers, and the weekly update takes an hour to rebuild.
If what you actually need is fees, timesheets, and invoicing, neither is the answer. That is practice-management software, and our guide to project management software for architecture firms compares the options.
Common questions
What should an architecture project tracker include? One row per task with its outcome, one responsible person, whether they accepted, who owes it, the due date, when it last moved, and notes on what it blocks.
Can I track several projects in one sheet? Yes. Add a Project column and filter by it. Keeping every project in one place is what lets you see a person's whole week.
Can I import my spreadsheet into Arkscape? Not directly. You create the cards for open work yourself, or ask a connected AI assistant to create them from your rows.
Does Arkscape track fees and hours? No. It tracks who is doing what by when. Fees, timesheets, and invoicing belong in practice-management software.
Read next: how to manage multiple projects at once, team workload tracking without timesheets, and how Arkboards work.