Articles · 2026-08-25
How to set up a job table
Some jobs carry a list: every weld on a spool, every test point on a vessel, every item on a client's request. Stratum Track gives that list one home. A job table is typed in once when the job is created, and every step that needs it draws its rows from there, so the same weld number is never entered twice and two steps can never disagree about it.
This guide sets up a weld register and points a step at it. It takes about fifteen minutes.
Building the list in Settings is available to everyone. Pointing a step at it is switched on per company, so if Allow extra rows in step 5 is missing from your form builder, ask us and we will turn it on.
What you need
- A manager login.
- A form with a step that should have one row per item on the list.
Step 1: Open Job Tables
Go to Settings, then the Job Data section, then press Configure job tables.
Step 2: Create the table
Press New table and name it after the list it holds. The description is the line your team reads under the heading when they fill it in.
Two more boxes matter if you print the list in a report. Report name for the list is the whole list, and Report name for one row is a single row, so the line in your Word document reads the way you would say it out loud: for a list of welds, welds and weld. Stratum Track shows you that line as you type. Most rows a job may record is a safety rail, not a target.
Leave Use on every template on and the list appears on every job, including forms you add later. Switch it off and you pick the forms it belongs to.
Step 3: Add the columns
Add one column for each thing the list records. Choose what each one holds, add a line of help text if the name is not enough, and tick Required when a job is created for the ones a job cannot go ahead without.
Names can change later. The reference beside each one cannot, because your report prints it.
Step 4: Fill the list in on a job
The table now appears on the create and edit job forms. Your office types the list in once, or pastes a block of cells straight out of a spreadsheet and the rows are added to fit.
Step 5: Point a step at the list
Now the step. Open the form with Actions, then Review.
On the Structure tab, find the table on the step and press Allow extra rows. A step table starts life with one row; this is what lets it hold as many as the job needs.
Switch to the Preview tab, click the table, and set Rows come from to your job table, then press Save changes.
Step 6: Carry the columns across
Click a cell in the table, then Carry from the job, and choose which column of the list it shows.
Press Save link and repeat for each column you want carried. A carried cell shows the job's answer and cannot be typed over on the step, so the same value is never recorded twice.
Step 7: Check it on a job
Open a job and go to the step. There is one row per row on the list. The carried columns are already filled and greyed, and the columns you left alone are waiting for your technician. The line above the table counts the rows the step is using, because a step can be narrowed to part of the list rather than all of it.
Worth knowing
- The list is recorded once and read everywhere. Two steps pointed at the same job table always agree.
- A carried column cannot be typed over on the step. That is the point: the register answers it.
- Changing the form on a live job saves a draft. Nothing changes for your team until you press Activate Template and confirm.
- Once a step draws its rows from the list, the list decides them. Your technician does not add rows on that step. Add the missing item to the job's list instead and the step follows.
Common questions
Can I paste the list out of a spreadsheet?
Yes. Paste a block of cells into any cell on the job form and the rows are added to fit.
Can two different steps use the same list?
Yes. That is what it is for. Point both at the same job table and both get the same rows.
What happens if the list changes after work has started?
Edit the job and change the list. The steps follow it. A row your team has already recorded work against, and which is then taken off the list, is not thrown away: it stays on the step marked as no longer on the list, so nothing is lost quietly.
Why is there no Allow extra rows on my step's table?
Pointing a step at a job table is switched on per company. Ask us and we will turn it on. Building the list in Settings works either way.