Many companies spend an afternoon a month copying numbers from different places into a spreadsheet. It is a good candidate for automation: it repeats, has clear rules and the result is visible. But there is an essential caution, which is to check that the numbers that arrive are the right ones.
Which reports make sense to automate
- Enquiries by source: how many arrived, from where and in what state they are.
- Diary summary: the week's bookings, no-shows, cancellations.
- New reviews: how many arrived and from which platform.
- Website: visits, main sources and actions (phone, form). We saw the numbers in how to read Google Analytics.
- Ads, if you have them: spend, enquiries and cost per enquiry.
How it is set up, in simple terms
- Choose the three to five numbers you really use to decide.
- Find out where each one lives (the website, the diary, the sheet, the ads platform).
- Choose how to bring them together: a sheet that receives data from the form, a free dashboard linked to the sources, or an automatic log that each new contact fills.
- Define when it arrives, for example Monday morning, by email.
- Keep it to one page: three numbers, one sentence on what changed and one decision it suggests.
The essential caution: check the numbers
When data passes from one tool to another through automatic links, it can arrive wrong or incomplete. Sometimes the report total does not match the source's, with nobody understanding why. So:
- The first time, do a sum by hand with the source and compare it with the report.
- Repeat that check once a quarter, because links change and tools update.
- If the totals do not match, do not make decisions with that report until you understand why.
- Write down where each number comes from, so whoever reads knows what they are looking at.
Personal data
A management report rarely needs names. Show totals and trends, and leave personal data in the source tool, with limited access. The less personal data circulates by email and in shared sheets, the fewer risks you run.
When it is not worth it
If nobody reads the report, automating it only makes the waste more punctual. Before setting up, ask which decision each number helps make. The ones that do not help go. In process automation, reports are one of the tasks we start with, as long as each number has an owner and a source. To choose tasks to automate, see which tasks to automate first, and if you do not yet have contacts in one place, what a CRM is.
The one-page report, by hand
Before automating, make the report once by hand, for a month. On a sheet, write the five numbers that matter, the source of each and one sentence on what changed. At the end of the month, see how long it took and which number was hardest to get. That is the first to automate, and the one most worth checking. When the automatic version arrives, compare it with your sheet: if they match, you can trust it; if not, find the difference before using it to decide.
In short
- Reports on enquiries, diary, reviews, website and ads are good candidates for automation.
- Three to five numbers on a page: what changed and the decision it suggests.
- Always check the totals against the source, the first time and once a quarter.
- A report rarely needs personal data.
Quick questions
Do I need a paid tool?
Not necessarily. There are free dashboards and some people get the essentials with a spreadsheet and a form. The cost is more in defining the numbers well than in the tool.
How often should the report arrive?
Weekly for what changes fast (enquiries, diary), monthly for what shows over time (website, ads). More than that is rarely read.
What if the report's numbers do not match?
Do not decide with it until you understand why. Compare with the source, see whether data is missing and, if needed, ask whoever set up the link for help.
Want to see which reports you still make by hand?
The exploratory call is a 30-minute conversation, at no cost. We see which reports you make by hand and which make sense to automate. You keep the written summary.
Book an exploratory call