How to automate your weekly reports with AI

The automation needs to read data from somewhere. The simplest option is Google Sheets.

1. Create a sheet in Google Sheets with the metrics you want in the report: weekly sales, completed tasks, new users, whatever is relevant to you.
2. Make sure the data is in columns with clear headers, for example: “Sales”, “Goal”, “Change”.
3. Keep the sheet in your personal Google Drive: Make or Zapier will read it from there.

If you use Notion, Airtable or a CRM like HubSpot, those work too. Just change the source module in Step 2.

An automation flow always has three pieces: a trigger (when it starts), a data action (what it reads) and an AI action (what it generates).

How to create the flow in Make:

1. Go to https://make.com and create a free account.
2. Click “Create a new scenario”.
3. Pick “Schedule” as the first module: configure it to run every Monday at whatever time you prefer.
4. Add a second module: “Google Sheets → Get Range Values”. Connect your Google account and select the sheet with your metrics.

If you prefer Zapier: create a Zap with the trigger “Schedule by Zapier” (weekly) and the action “Google Sheets → Get Spreadsheet Row”. For flows with more than 2 steps in Zapier you need the Professional plan (from $29.99/mo; confirm at https://zapier.com/pricing).

This is where the AI turns your numbers into text ready to share.

In Make:

1. Add a third module: “OpenAI (ChatGPT) → Create a Completion” (or search for Anthropic → Claude if you prefer Claude).

2. Connect your API key:

   • For OpenAI: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
   • For Claude: https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys

3. In the “System prompt” field write something like:

   “You are a reporting assistant. With the data I give you, write a professional weekly report in English, 3 to 5 short paragraphs. Include the highlights, changes from the previous week, and one action recommendation.”

4. In the “User message” field, map the variables from Google Sheets: drag the values from the previous module so the AI receives them every week.

Use gpt-4o (OpenAI) or claude-sonnet (Anthropic) for best results. Confirm each model’s availability and price on the official page before activating the flow.

The last step is sending the AI-written report wherever you need it.

Add a fourth module in Make:

• Gmail → Send an Email: put your email (or your team’s) in “To” and use the AI-generated text variable in the message body.
• Slack → Create a Message: paste the text in the message field and pick the channel.
• Google Drive → Upload a File: save the report as a text file in a shared folder.

Once all modules are connected, click “Run once” to test it manually. If the result looks right, activate the flow with the “Scheduling: On” button.

On Make’s free plan you get 1,000 operations/month. Each module in each run counts as 1 operation: a 4-module flow that runs 4 times a month uses only 16 operations. Confirm current limits at https://make.com/en/pricing.

If you don’t want to set up Make or Zapier yet, you can generate the report manually with Claude in under 5 minutes every week:

1. Copy and paste your Google Sheets data into Claude’s chat (claude.ai).
2. Tell it: “With this data, write a professional weekly report in 3 to 5 paragraphs. Include the key points, the most important changes, and one action recommendation.”
3. Copy the result and send it by email or Slack.

It’s the ideal starting point to see what format you like before automating it.

1. In Make, click “Run once” with real data in your sheet.
2. Check the “Output” section of each module to confirm data flows correctly.
3. Confirm the email, Slack message or Drive file arrived with the report text.
4. Adjust the prompt if the tone or format isn’t what you’re looking for.

If you want to pair the report with charts, check our tutorial How to create a metrics dashboard with AI. And to go deeper on Make flows, see How to automate tasks with Make and AI.

Problem	Fix
Make says “Invalid API key”	Copy the key again from the OpenAI or Anthropic console; sometimes there are extra spaces
The report arrives empty	Check that the Google Sheets module is reading the correct range (e.g. A1:D10)
The AI responds in the wrong language	Add to the prompt: “Always respond in English”
The flow doesn’t activate on its own	Confirm the “Scheduling: On” toggle is enabled in Make
I exceeded Make’s free 1,000 ops	Upgrade to the Core plan (from ~$10.59/mo) or reduce the flow frequency