mentro or Excel, paper and OneNote?
Many training companies document without dedicated software today: the SDBB form, a Word template from the professional organisation, a OneNote folder. That is legally perfectly fine, and it has a limit that can be named very precisely.
As of: August 14, 2026 · Sources
The status quo
The official SDBB form for the education report is available as an interactive PDF and as a Word file. Many professional organisations issue Word and Excel templates for the learning documentation, and in plenty of companies OneNote or SharePoint takes on the role of the filing system. Legally that is sufficient: what is required is that the learner’s progress is recorded and discussed at least once per semester and that the learner keeps their learning documentation regularly, nobody demands a particular piece of software.
| Criterion | Excel, paper and OneNote | mentro |
|---|---|---|
| Legally sufficient | yes, the form is not prescribed | yes |
| Mapping to the curriculum | by hand, if at all | automatic through the AI, which does not assess |
| Competency picture over time | does not emerge, entries remain loose documents | weighted picture from six sources, continuously up to date |
| Education report at the end of the semester | reconstruction from files and memory, form filled in by hand | prepared from the documentation, official SDBB format, signed electronically |
| Reminders and accountability | depends on individuals and calendars | in the system: due dates, sign-off, history |
| Access and roles | file shares, different in every company | roles for trainer, practice instructor, supervision; each company only sees its own data |
| Effort per semester | low in daily work, high at the end of the semester | seconds in daily work, report largely prepared |
In short
The Sunday evening before the appraisal meeting is what the status quo costs in time: the SDBB form open, the OneNote folder and the Excel list next to it, and the assessment reconstructed from filing and memory. There is nothing wrong with that: it satisfies the legal requirements, and anyone who supports a single learner with discipline needs no software. mentro moves the work to where it is small: an entry takes seconds, the AI maps it to the competencies of the curriculum, and reminders for due entries run in the system instead of in private calendars. The entries continuously build a weighted competency picture, and at the end of the semester the education report in the official SDBB format is largely prepared; both sides sign electronically. Switching pays off if today the report regularly only comes together the evening before, or if several learners need to be supported across different occupations and locations.
Sources
As of: August 14, 2026. Third-party information from the providers’ public sources, retrieved on the date shown. “Not documented” does not mean the feature is missing. Partial comparison along the criteria shown.
- berufsbildung.ch: documenting and assessing (forms, digital education report)
- mentro: features
- mentro: homepage (problem and solution)
OneNote, SharePoint and Excel are products of Microsoft Corporation, and the education report form is an offering of the SDBB. mentro has no affiliation with these providers; the names identify the products compared.
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