Automating manual reporting
A report someone assembles by hand every week can produce itself: the figures come straight from the systems where they already live, and the overview is ready before anyone asks for it.
Short answer
Elusive Innovations, an AI and software company in Oss, Noord-Brabant, automates manual reporting for mid-sized and manufacturing companies. We connect the systems where the figures already live, such as ERP, planning and administration, and build reports and dashboards that update themselves. At Trust Marketing reporting went from 1-2 hours a day per branch to half an hour a week across all branches, and at De Molen Banden eight production departments are visible in realtime in one order overview.
A reply within one working day.
- Company
- Elusive Innovations B.V.
- Office
- Romeinenweg 110-E, Oss
- Service area
- Oss and north-east Brabant, the rest of the Netherlands remotely
- First step
- Free business scan, then a defined Sprint
From our own work
- Trust Marketing30 minreporting a week for every branch, was 1-2 hours a day each
- De Molen Banden8departments in realtime
Every figure comes from that project's dossier or page and applies to that engagement. It is not a promise for every company.
What does automating reporting mean?
Manual reporting is rarely one task. It is exporting from two or three systems, pasting into a spreadsheet, checking what does not add up and sending it round. By the time the overview is ready, the moment to act has often passed.
Automating means the figures come straight from the source and the report produces itself: as a PDF per branch, as a message in the group where the team already is, or as a dashboard on a screen on the shop floor. Before building, we pin down the definitions, such as whether an order counts on order date or delivery date. Otherwise two departments read a different number from the same screen.
When automating makes sense, and when it does not
Makes sense when
- Someone collects the same figures from the same systems every week or every day.
- The figures sit in a system that can be connected, or that can produce an export.
- Several branches, departments or teams need the same overview.
- Decisions now wait for an overview that arrives too late.
Does not make sense when
- The report is made once a year. Then building it costs more than the manual work.
- Nobody agrees on what a figure means. Then we start with the definitions, not the integration.
- Your accounting package or ERP can already produce the report and nobody knows. Check what is already in there first.
Reporting we have already automated
- Client project · Trust Marketing
Reporting that writes itself
Monthly PDF reports per branch write themselves, the standings appear in the team's WhatsApp group every 30 minutes, and management gets daily coaching prompts. What remains is 30 minutes a week for all branches.
View: Reporting that writes itself - Client project · De Molen Banden
Realtime order overview in production
A production environment with eight departments, from forge to transport. Every order can be followed live, connected to the existing ERP, and work orders and stickers are generated automatically. Production, planning and transport work from the same realtime picture.
View: Realtime order overview in production - Our own product
Elusive DASH
Gross, net and yield per shift, live per branch and per canvasser, with pace against the day and week target, instead of counting at the end of the week.
View: Elusive DASH
What determines the investment?
One report from one or two sources can often be a defined Sprint. A dashboard across several departments or branches, connected to ERP and planning, is more likely an MVP.
- Fixed scope
Sprint
One defined deliverable: an integration between two systems, a recurring step that disappears, or an internal screen that does not exist yet. Scope and price are fixed upfront.
- Production-ready
MVP
A first version of your product or platform that real users can use. How long it takes depends on the scope, usually a few weeks.
- Ongoing
Partnership
Fixed build capacity per period, for organisations that keep extending. New parts, integrations and automations delivered to a steady rhythm.
A Sprint starts at 999 euro. For an MVP or a Partnership it depends on scope; we share that figure during the intake.
What moves the price most
- The number of sources, such as ERP, planning, accounting and spreadsheets.
- How current it has to be: live, or once a night. The second is considerably cheaper to connect.
- Whether the sources have an API, or an export has to be processed.
- How many definitions still need pinning down.
Explained in more depth in What does custom software cost?
How we approach it
Take the report apart
We sit with whoever makes the report now: which exports, which edits, who reads it and what they do with it.
Pin down definitions
One meaning per figure, agreed with the departments that use it.
Connect the sources
Per source we choose how current it has to be. If a system has no API, we process an export automatically.
Run beside the old report
A period side by side, so you see the figures are right before the manual work stops.
Frequently asked questions
Who automates reporting for a manufacturer in Uden or nearby?
Elusive Innovations in Oss builds automated reporting and dashboards for mid-sized and manufacturing companies in Oss and north-east Brabant, including 's-Hertogenbosch, Uden, Veghel and Nijmegen, and the rest of the Netherlands remotely. For De Molen Banden we built a realtime order overview across eight production departments, connected to the ERP.
Do we need all our data in order first?
No. We work with the sources you have and handle the clean-up needed while connecting them. It does not need to be perfect, it needs to be usable.
What if our system has no API?
There is almost always another route: reading the database, a periodic export we process automatically, or in the last resort a controlled import. Less elegant, but it works.
What does it cost to automate reporting?
A Sprint starts at 999 euros: one defined result with a fixed scope. Above that it depends on what needs to be built, and we work with an MVP through to production or an ongoing partnership. After the introduction you know which shape your question falls into.
Will it be a dashboard or a report?
Whatever works best for the person reading it. At Trust it is PDF reports per branch and messages in the team's WhatsApp group; at De Molen Banden a live order overview on the screen on the shop floor. A dashboard nobody opens is not an improvement.
Read next
- ServicesData & IntelligenceThe figures from your systems on one screen, current, without anyone exporting them first.
- ServicesBusiness AutomationDetails that are retyped between systems today travel on without anyone touching them.
- InsightsSoftware for manufacturers: where custom software next to your ERP pays offYour ERP knows what was ordered. The shop floor knows where it is. What sits in between, and when custom software works better there than yet another package.
- InsightsWhere to start automatingHow to find the one process worth automating first, and why the biggest annoyance is usually the wrong starting point.
The next step
Tell us where work gets stuck.
Bring an example from your everyday work. Together we explore what is needed and whether we are the right team to help. Prefer it on paper first? Request the free business scan.