croissantAutomating weekly reports with AI: a practical workflow
Build a reporting workflow that collects source records, separates facts from interpretation, and gives readers a useful summary.
A weekly report should make decisions easier, not create another document nobody reads. AI can help organise updates and draft a summary, but the reporting process still needs agreed sources, a reporting period, and a clear distinction between facts and interpretation.
Start with the decisions the report supports
Ask who reads the report and what they need to decide. Choose a small set of sections, such as completed work, open issues, and decisions needed. A fixed structure makes it easier to compare weeks and notice missing information.
Collect before summarising
Gather the relevant records for the same time period before asking for a narrative. Keep links or identifiers that let a reader check important statements. If a source is unavailable, show the gap rather than silently producing a complete-looking report from partial data.
Example: a report built from task records
Imagine a weekly report for an operations lead. The workflow collects tasks updated in the reporting window, groups completed work and outstanding decisions, and links each point back to its source. A task with no recent update should not automatically be described as progressing. If one project’s data could not be retrieved, the report flags the missing section. The reader can then distinguish an actual lack of activity from an incomplete collection step.
Review changes and unresolved questions
Ask the agent to distinguish what changed from what is merely restated. Review numbers against their source and label interpretation as interpretation. Give each unresolved question an owner when possible. The report should point to work that needs attention, not conceal it behind a polished summary.
A reality check before you hit run
Anthropic emphasizes relevant context rather than indiscriminately adding more material. For a weekly report, define the reporting window and source records first. [1]
Anthropic’s evaluation guidance supports testing agent outcomes against explicit criteria. For reports, compare totals and conclusions with the source data. [2]
Implementation checklist
- Define the reader, decision, and reporting window.
- Keep source links alongside important facts.
- Show unavailable or incomplete sources.
- Review figures and assign the next actions.
The sources behind the sauce.
Primary research and official documentation behind the cited points. The workflow examples and checklists are Croissant’s own guidance.