The work is assembly
Ask a team what monthly reporting involves and you get a sequence: export this, export that, reconcile, format, distribute, explain. Only the last part needs a person.
The first four are mechanical, repetitive and deadline-driven, which is exactly the profile that automates well.
We start by writing down the recipe
- Every source, named, with how the data is obtained today
- Every transformation, including the ones done by hand in a spreadsheet
- Every check performed, including the undocumented ones
- Who receives what, in which format, by when
The undocumented manual adjustments are the interesting part. Nearly every month-end contains a step that exists only in one person's head, and that step is the real project.
The checks are what make it better than manual
- Totals agreeing between sources, to the penny
- Period-on-period movements outside an expected band, flagged not hidden
- Record counts against expectation
- Missing data for any entity that reported last month
- A visible statement of what was checked and whether it passed
A careful person does these when they have time. A system does them every cycle, which is the actual quality improvement.
Distribution in the format each audience wants
A PDF for the board, a spreadsheet for the analysts, and a three-line summary in the channel everyone already uses. The summary is the one that gets read.
We keep the raw extracts too, so when a figure is questioned three weeks later you can answer in minutes rather than rebuilding.
What it costs
£10,000–£30,000 depending on the number of sources and how consistent your definitions are. Definitions usually take longer to agree than the build, and that conversation is worth having regardless.