Software and growth systems for small teams
Automate monthly management reports
Month end should be about explaining the business, not rebuilding the same pack from exports. When every report depends on manual joins and last-minute corrections, the team spends its review time debating the numbers. I build reporting workflows that keep definitions and source periods explicit so the pack can be repeated and checked.
Automate a workflow — from £1,200 for a bounded scope. Requirements and acceptance checks determine the quote.
What the finished solution should accomplish
Produce a repeatable monthly management pack from agreed source data, with reconciled figures, period controls and room for management commentary.
What this could look like in practice
A reporting pack might combine revenue, costs and operational measures by business unit. Finance confirms the period is ready, the system assembles a draft, and owners add commentary before publication. A late adjustment should create a new version rather than silently alter a pack that has already been shared with directors.
Decisions to make before building
Define the reporting calendar, closed-period policy and metric ownership. Decide how adjustments, currency and missing data are represented. Automate collection and calculation before trying to automate the narrative. Use an approved historical month to reconcile the new output, then run the process alongside the existing pack before relying on it.
When a simpler option is enough
An accounting package’s scheduled reports may already cover the need. A saved spreadsheet query or business-intelligence report can be enough when commentary and approvals are simple. Custom development is useful when the pack joins operational and financial sources, needs controlled sign-off or has repeated formatting and distribution requirements.
An initial scope could include
- Report specification and source mapping
- Scheduled draft production and exception report
- Approval, versioning and agreed export format
How we would check the work
- Reconcile an approved month against the existing pack
- Show missing sources before publication
- Republish an adjusted period with a distinct version
Can the system write management commentary automatically?
It can assist with summaries, but the responsible manager should verify explanations and context. A change in a number does not establish why it happened. I would first automate the reliable data work and keep judgement visible.
Scope, ownership and working together
You work directly with Joel from discovery through implementation. We agree the outcome, exclusions and acceptance checks before a build. You receive access to the code, deployment and handover documentation. Hosting, third-party services and ongoing support are identified separately; owning the code does not make operating costs disappear.
Automate a workflow — from £1,200 for a bounded scope. Requirements and acceptance checks determine the quote. Permissions, migration, source-system access and the number of workflows affect scope. Hosting, maintenance and further milestones are agreed separately. Smaller extensions to existing infrastructure can receive a smaller quote.
Related next steps
Have a problem worth solving?
Tell me what you want to change, what is blocking it and the budget you have in mind. We can establish fit and agree the next step by email.
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