Newbie with hodge-podge of carts wants less trial/error

[l_d_allan]

Various OP's in several threads: I ought to get more organized and rely less on trial and error

I've got a hodge-podge of 25 CLI-8 cartridges for my Canon Pixma Pro-9000-2, and can see the value of being more organized. My observation is that the most helpful Inkjet Masters with 1000+ posts and years of experience rely a Lot Less on trial and error than I am doing.

My "inventory" of cartridges:

4  CLI-8Bk  Black (I believe it is die-based rather than pigment ... correct?)
4  CLI-C    Cyan
2  CLI-G    Green
5  CLI-M    Magenta  (fuzzy on how ended up with 5??)
3  CLI-PC   Photo cyan
2  CLI-PM   Photo magenta (fuzzy on how ended up with only 2??)
2  CLI-R    Red
3  CLI-Y    Yellow

* 8   Canon OEM that came with printer acquired via Canon rebate special on camera body
* 2   Canon OEM for Red and Green from local Office Depot they reported "Low"
* 5   from Rapid-Refill local franchise that appeared to be brand new Canon OEM carts with orange outlet caps
* 10  Canon OEM carts that had been refilled by local Rapid-Refill franchise
* 0    Non-oem compatible carts

I was thinking of putting together an Excel spreadsheet for the above, but thought I'd check how much I might be "re-inventing the wheel".

Seems like the attributes for the spreadsheet might include:
* Unique identifier for each cart, like CLI-G-a, CLI-G-b, etc.
* Color
* Date acquired
* Date of each refill
* Number of times re-filled
* How much ink put back in cart (might refill a partially empty cart)
* Whether "Low" or "Empty" or "Partial" when refilled
* Problems encountered.
* Associate with dated Nozzle Check to watch for deterioration
* Associate with dated Kodak-like proof-print as a baseline
* Associate with dated profiler grid of 200+ rectangles
* Date of cart purging (soaking out ink, if ever)
* Refill method used (German, Top-Traditional, Top-Alternate-A, ...)
* Used for cleaning solution of what kind

I've mostly been installing carts from Rapid-Refill as "Low cart" has been reported by the printer. I've only refilled about 10 carts in one setting using OCP ink, but I wasn't keeping track of whether those were ones that came with the printer, or from Rapid-Refill. I am unable to tell which carts in the printer were reloaded by me, and which by Rapid-Refill ... which seems flawed if and when I have to do trouble-shooting.