length, substr, split, sprintf, and x operator can make for some pretty terse table generation. I would want to preserve as much information as possible; which means before just chopping off useful data, condense the data; e.g.:
convert date to m/YY
have a "short" category code; e.g., Software & Tech would become somethbing like Sw/Tech
filter out "stop" words to description to filter out useless words, or maybe shorten them