Most designers long ago transitioned away from using spreadsheet programs as an alternative to LW. The problem one can run into is lighting rigs often have an immense amount of information that needs to be organized, utilized, and displayed in a number of different ways parsing out what is relevant to the particular application. Spreadsheet programs generally don't do this well; they aren't really designed to handle all the different points of relation and to loop and
feedback the information to where it belongs. Not saying it can't be done- it's just complicated to setup to reliably relate the data from a lighting rig unless you are keeping it really simple in terms of how much information you put into it and how many ways you're going to display it. Not planning on making lots of updates to the information helps too. If you mess up your information won't flow properly when things change.
This is where database driven programs take over. DB type programs relate different types of information to each other which allows better organization and display of the information in various ways while ensuring updates and changes reliably hold among the different points and types of information. Lightwright is the dominant one as it's dedicated to the needs of most lighting professionals and can fully integrate with VWX to port information and changes back and forth with reliability and
ease. You can make a change in either program and it can be made to show up in the other. Not to mention the layering on of compatibility with connecting to
ETC's
EOS family of consoles to further it being a one-stop shop for managing a show's lighting information.
As has been pointed out,
Vectorworks does include some built in tools, again based around the database within the file, that can generate the paperwork you've mentioned and allow for referential changes without risk of breaking the connections between data points. Some designers are already using these tools in place of LW since there are options to make custom reports and the data is already right there without going back and forth between two programs. I've seen others successfully utilize Filemaker, another standard database program, but the issue can become cost and that it's something you'd need to
build from scratch unless you found a good
template file. I'm with Steve B. here, if you can find a way to get a student license for LW that would be ideal and end up being a truly sellable skill set. Otherwise the report/paperwork tools in VWX are likely the easiest starting
point as you'll get a lot of the benefits provided by LW without having to do a lot of work setting things up.