Every Friday afternoon it’s the same routine. You dig through Slack, check last week’s numbers, pull figures from three different tabs, and spend an hour writing a summary nobody asked for but everyone expects.

That’s a week’s worth of time every month doing something a machine can do for you.

Here’s how to set up an automated weekly report that pulls the data, formats it, and sends itself. You do nothing after the initial setup.

Why bother automating this

The weekly wrap-up isn’t just admin. It keeps teams aligned, flags problems early, and creates a record you can look back at. The problem isn’t the report. The problem is that pulling it together manually takes time that could go into actually doing the work.

Automated reports also tend to be more consistent. Manual ones get skipped when things get busy. An automated one goes out every Friday at 4:30 PM whether you remembered or not.

What you need

Google Sheets to store your data
Make (make.com) or Zapier (zapier.com) to run the automation
Gmail or Slack to deliver the report

Make has a free plan that covers this use case. Zapier’s free plan works for basic versions; the Starter plan (USD $19.99/month) handles more steps. Google Sheets and Gmail are free. Slack’s free plan is enough for receiving automated messages.

Step-by-step setup with Make

This example uses Make, but the logic works identically in Zapier.

Step 1: Set up your Google Sheet. Create a spreadsheet where you (or your team) log weekly data. This could be sales figures, hours logged, jobs completed, customer enquiries, whatever matters in your business. Keep one row per week with a date in column A. Make sure the data is updated by end of week, either manually or pulled in from another tool.

Step 2: Create a new scenario in Make. Log in to Make (make.com) and create a new scenario. A scenario is just Make’s word for an automated workflow.

Step 3: Set a schedule trigger. The first module in your scenario should be “Schedule.” Set it to run weekly on Friday at 4 PM (or whenever suits). This is the trigger. The automation starts here every Friday.

Step 4: Pull data from Google Sheets. Add a Google Sheets module. Choose “Search Rows” and connect it to your spreadsheet. Set it to retrieve the most recent row (this week’s data). Map out the columns you want to include: revenue, jobs, enquiries, or whatever you’re tracking.

Step 5: Format the report. Add a text formatter module or use Make’s built-in templating to build the email body. Something like:

Week ending: [date]
Revenue: $[revenue]
Jobs completed: [jobs]
New enquiries: [enquiries]
Outstanding: [outstanding]

Keep it short. A weekly report that’s too long doesn’t get read.

Step 6: Send it. Add a Gmail or Slack module as the final step. For Gmail, set the recipient (yourself, your business partner, your team), subject line (“Weekly Wrap-Up: [date]”), and paste in the formatted report. For Slack, post it to a channel.

Step 7: Test and activate. Make has a “Run once” button for testing. Click it, check that the email or Slack message arrives with the right data, then turn the scenario on. From now on, it fires every Friday automatically.

What to track in the report

The simpler, the better. Five to eight data points is enough for most small businesses. If you’re a tradie, track jobs quoted, jobs won, and revenue. If you’re in retail, track daily sales totals and stock alerts. If you run a service business, track hours billed and outstanding invoices.

Resist the urge to include everything. A report with 30 metrics gets skimmed. One with six gets read.

AU-specific tips

If you use Xero or MYOB, both have APIs that can push financial data to Google Sheets automatically using tools like Coupler.io or Sheetgo. That means your revenue figures update themselves. No manual entry needed.

Coupler.io (coupler.io) has direct Xero and MYOB connectors and a free plan that covers basic use. This takes your automation from “I type in the numbers” to “the numbers appear by themselves.”

Also consider: Australian privacy law applies to any report that includes personal data (customer names, contact details). Keep aggregate data in the report; don’t include individual customer records.

Not just for the boss

Most business owners think of this as an internal management tool. But you can also send a simplified version to staff. A brief Friday summary (“Here’s how the week went, here’s what’s next”) takes one extra Gmail module and keeps the team in the loop without a meeting.

Set it up once. Let it run.

This guide is part of SmallBizAI.au’s automation guides for Australian small businesses.

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