Excel Compliance Checker: automated regulatory verification for concrete testing
Desktop app with drag-and-drop interface that automatically checks concrete test reports against 10 Spanish Structural Code rules. Drop an Excel file, configure the ranges, and the tool highlights everything that fails compliance, generating dynamic Ministry-compliant notes.
Step 01
Problem
Manually reviewing hundreds of rows of concrete test data to verify compliance with the Structural Code is tedious, slow, and error-prone. Each company, time period, and test type requires a full review of cement content, A/C ratio, strength, self-controls, verifications, and statistical coefficients.
Step 02
Context and constraints
At AW Certificación and external labs, concrete test reports arrive in Excel with varying structure. Each test must comply with 10 regulatory conditions (cement content, water/cement ratio, fck strength, CV, self-control frequency, monthly verifications...) and every non-compliance must be documented.
Role: Full application development (v1.0 & v2.0): drag-and-drop interface with TkinterDnD, multi-sheet analysis engine, production regime detection, configurable 10-rule system, Ministry report formatting, and control notes generation.
Step 03
Key decisions
- Use Tkinter with native drag-and-drop so anyone can drop their files and get results instantly.
- Configurable parameters in the UI (cement range, A/C ratio, fck strength) to adapt to different concrete types and regulatory frameworks.
- Low Production regime logic (v2.0) that dynamically checks if the monthly testing frequency conforms to low volume regulations or standard requirements.
- Ministry Report Mode (v2.0) that generates a clean report format using bold text instead of background fills, and adds a dedicated All World Certificación notes box.
- Soft warning rule (v2.0) that handles minor deviations (1-3 total failures in cement/AC) by issuing a warning notice to the company instead of launching a full non-compliance procedure.
- Packaged with PyInstaller as a standalone .exe that runs on any Windows without Python installed.
Step 04
Outcomes
- What used to require hours of row-by-row review now runs in seconds by dropping the file.
- 10 Structural Code rules verified automatically with visual highlighting of every non-compliance.
- Smart Ministry report output with a dynamic notes box tailored to the exact type and amount of detected deviations.
- Standalone .exe: double-click and it works, no installation required.
Metrics
- 10 simultaneous validation rules: cement, A/C, fck, CV, self-control frequency, verification, Sv/Sa, d, CV10.
- Automatic detection and exclusion of duplicate verifications on the same day (treated as warnings).
- Unified soft warning message if total cement + A/C failures are between 1 and 3.
- Generates either standard _REVIEWED.xlsx or Ministry-specific _MINISTERIO.xlsx output.
Step 05
Learnings and next improvement
How it works
- Open the app → a configurable interface appears with range fields (cement, A/C, fck strength) and a drop zone.
- Select report mode → Standard (color-filled cells with red/yellow fills) or Ministry Review (clean layout with bold text and a final callout box containing official auditor notes).
- Drag Excel files onto the green drop area.
- The tool automatically analyzes every row of every sheet against the 10 rules, detecting the production regime (low production vs continuous) to adjust required testing frequencies.
- Saves the file as
_REVIEWED.xlsxor_MINISTERIO.xlsxwith marked cells and the compliance checklist.
The 10 Structural Code rules it checks
| # | Rule | What it verifies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minimum 5 self-controls per month | Test frequency (with sliding window support for low production) |
| 2 | Self-control same day as verification | Temporal coherence of sampling |
| 3 | Cement content within range | Cement dosage compliance (Min/Max limits) |
| 4 | A/C ratio within range | Water/cement ratio (Min/Max limits) |
| 5 | Value and Xn-Kn*Sn > fck | Concrete strength compared to nominal fck |
| 6 | CV < 0.122 | Coefficient of variation statistics |
| 7 | At least 1 verification per month | Demands 2 verifications for continuous or 1 for low production |
| 8 | Sv/Sa ≤ 1.4 | Statistical dispersion |
| 9 | d value >= 0 | Statistical consistency of the production plant |
| 10 | CV10 ≤ 0.13 | 10-test coefficient of variation |
Downloads and Resources
To test the application, you can download the standalone executable along with two anonymized sample spreadsheets ready to run:
- Download Desktop App Executable v2.0 (.exe)
- Download Sample Excel - Soft Warning Scenario (.xlsx) (Triggers exactly 2 cement & A/C deviations to test the advisory note warning)
- Download Sample Excel - Full Non-Compliance Scenario (.xlsx) (Triggers 5 deviations to test full individual non-compliance reports)
Project Source Code
For transparency and code audit purposes, the complete source code of the application is available for direct download:
- View Main script source code (app.py)
- View Build specification (app.spec)
- View Checks and rules reference guide (comprobaciones_revisador.txt)
- Runs completely offline with no network dependencies.
Step 06
Visual resources
