Build an Order Capacity Check in Excel for the Web

Before promising a delivery date, check whether the proposed work even fits the available processing time. This small model combines each order’s one-time setup with its per-unit workload, then compares the total with one work window.

Scope: Excel for the web’s free personal-account offering, with an existing account and editable blank workbook. No account was created or accessed while preparing this article. No subscription, trial, Solver, Power Query, macro or desktop application is required. This is a documentation-based exercise reviewed 21 October 2026, not a claim of native execution or desktop feature parity. Examples use English formulas and commas; adapt separators to your locale.

Define one work window

Use minutes throughout. This model assumes one workstation processes three orders sequentially, with one setup per order. Setups do not depend on order sequence. The available time is already net of breaks and other unavailable time. It is a workload screen, not a schedule optimizer or guarantee of delivery.

Enter this fictional table in A1:D4:

Order	Units	Minutes per unit	Setup minutes
Labels	20	3	10
Cards	12	5	15
Packs	15	4	10

Type Available minutes in H1 and 240 in I1. Confirm I1 is a positive number and represents this same workstation and window. Do not add two workers’ hours unless they can actually perform the modeled work in parallel, which this model does not represent.

Reject bad inputs before summing

Type Input check in E1 and Work minutes in F1. In E2 enter:

=IF(COUNT(B2:D2)<>3,"CHECK",IF(OR(B2<=0,B2<>INT(B2),C2<=0,D2<0),"CHECK","OK"))

This requires three numeric inputs, a positive whole-number quantity, positive processing time and nonnegative setup. A blank setup is not silently accepted as zero: enter numeric 0 when zero setup is genuinely intended.

In F2 enter =IF(E2="OK",B2*C2+D2,""). Copy E2:F2 to E3:F4. Check that the references advance to each order’s own row. See relative references for the mechanics rather than entering a different formula pattern on every row.

Expected E2:E4: OK, OK, OK. Expected F2:F4: 70, 75, 70. Independently, the Cards workload is 12 × 5 + 15 = 75 minutes, not 12 × (5 + 15).

Dates are stored numerically in Excel, so a numeric check cannot identify every semantically wrong value. Inspect units and source assumptions as well as the diagnostic column. This model does not detect a typed-over formula.

Make the decision depend on complete results

Enter these labels in H3:H6 and formulas in I3:I6:

Label	Formula	Expected
Validated workload	=IF(COUNT(F2:F4)=3,SUM(F2:F4),"CHECK INPUTS")	215
Capacity decision	=IF(COUNT(I1)<>1,"CHECK CAPACITY",IF(I1<=0,"CHECK CAPACITY",IF(COUNT(F2:F4)<>3,"CHECK INPUTS",IF(SUM(F2:F4)<=I1,"FITS","OVER CAPACITY"))))	FITS
Spare minutes	=IF(COUNT(I1)<>1,"",IF(I1<=0,"",IF(COUNT(F2:F4)=3,I1-SUM(F2:F4),"")))	25
Numeric workload rows	=COUNT(F2:F4)	3

The total is usable only when all three order workloads are numeric. SUM alone could ignore the empty text returned for an invalid order and produce an attractive but incomplete total. The decision and spare-time formulas also require one numeric, positive capacity value in I1. COUNT rejects a blank or text capacity before the numeric comparison; the next IF rejects zero or negative capacity. Still verify its unit and period: a numeric date or another workstation’s minutes can pass a type check.

Test overload and missing information

Change Cards units B3 from 12 to 18. F3 must become 105, total I3 245, decision I4 OVER CAPACITY, and spare I5 -5. Negative spare minutes express the shortfall; they are not free time. Restore B3 to 12.

Clear setup D3. E3 must become CHECK, F3 blank, I3 and I4 CHECK INPUTS, I5 blank and I6 2. The model must not say FITS merely because it omitted Cards. Restore D3 to 15.

Finally set B3 to 12.5. The input check must reject the fractional unit count. Restore it to 12 and verify 215 / FITS / 25 / 3. For the exact-capacity boundary, change I1 to 215: expect FITS and zero spare. Restore 240. Zero spare leaves no resilience for unexpected delays.

Clear I1, then separately enter the text unknown. In each case I4 must show CHECK CAPACITY and I5 must stay blank, while the valid order workload I3 remains 215. Numeric 0 and -10 must also produce CHECK CAPACITY and blank spare time. Restore I1 to 240 and verify FITS / 25. Do not interpret a workload total as an approved capacity decision.

Preserve and extend carefully

Give the workbook a descriptive name and note the assumptions beside the inputs. Before relying on it, reopen the saved workbook in your own web session and repeat the overload test. No reopen test was performed during authoring.

For a fourth order, copy both diagnostic formulas, extend every F2:F4 range and change the required numeric-row count from 3 to 4. Also check the order labels against your source list: identical labels or omitted orders can defeat an otherwise correct arithmetic model. Do not remove a real order just to make capacity fit.

Use the existing number-format lesson to label minutes consistently. If the estimate does not react to changed units, inspect formulas rather than replacing totals with expected numbers. Real production also needs allowances for rework, downtime and delivery constraints, none of which are estimated here.

Sources and verification scope

Microsoft documents free Excel for the web access, nested formulas, COUNT’s numeric-reference behavior, OR, INT and SUM. Microsoft’s browser-workbook differences and Excel for the web service description document support for most worksheet functions with exceptions. This exercise’s web suitability is documentation-based, not proof from an individual function page’s product list or an executed web session. The workload and rejection tests are original and independently calculated. Account access, application execution, saving and screenshots remain unperformed.