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Power Query · Excel · Automation · 2025

Reporting Automation

Turned a week-long manual report into an automated pipeline.

Business Intelligence Analyst

60%+
faster recurring reporting
~3 days
analyst time returned each month

Sanitized implementation diagram

Diagram · implementation view

Manual assembly to controlled reporting pipeline

The before-and-after operating model, using the team’s existing tools.

  1. Before

    Recurring source files and workbook steps were assembled by hand each cycle.

  2. Pipeline

    Bring recurring source files into one controlled flow. Standardize repeatable cleanup and joins in Power Query. Use macros to remove the repetitive workbook steps.

  3. After

    Keep human review at the small set of judgment points.

Sanitized process diagram. The workflow is abstracted; employer files and data remain private.

My contribution
Mapped requirements, guided automation, validated output, and handed off the workflow
Hard constraint
Stay inside the team’s maintainable Excel toolset
What changed
Most manual assembly became repeatable transformation steps

A recurring report used to take the better part of a week to assemble by hand. I guided and validated its end-to-end automation. Cut a recurring week-long reporting process by more than 60%, returning roughly three analyst-days each month. The output is also more consistent than the manual version it replaced.

Outcomes

  • Cut a recurring week-long reporting process by more than 60%, returning roughly three analyst-days each month.
  • More consistent output than the manual process it replaced.

Evidence & claim boundaries

Measurement basis
Compared end-to-end completion time before and after automation; the recurring cycle fell by more than 60% and now returns roughly three analyst-days per month.
Maintainability
The automation stayed in Excel and Power Query so the operating team could inspect, run, and maintain it in their established platform.

Problem

A recurring report was rebuilt by hand every cycle. It was slow, easy to get wrong, and consumed time intended for analysis. Because each run was manual, small inconsistencies crept in from cycle to cycle.

Approach

I guided the process's conversion into an automated pipeline in the tools the team already used, then validated the result. Data flows in, transforms through Power Query, and reports out through PivotTables, with Excel macros handling the repetitive steps. The manual touch points went from most of the workflow to a handful of checks.

Key decisions & trade-offs

I deliberately kept the workflow in Excel and Power Query, the team's existing toolset. Familiar software reduced training and handover demands and left the team with a solution they can maintain independently.

I made consistency an explicit feature. Standardizing the transforms removed the cycle-to-cycle drift that manual assembly introduced, so the numbers are now repeatable as well as faster.

Technology Power Query · Excel · PivotTables

Scope Internal BI process