Monthly progress report automation for contractors
The monthly progress workbook rebuilt as a refreshing Power BI report, with every figure traced to a source system or a validated input.
The problem
Each month someone exports from Procore, accounting and the schedule, pastes into a multi-tab workbook, and types in the rest. The report is late, its logic lives in formulas nobody tests, and errors can offset each other so the total looks right while the detail is wrong.
What we build
We rebuild the report as a pipeline: source data lands nightly in a Microsoft Fabric lakehouse, is validated and modeled once, and feeds Power BI pages for portfolio, financials, schedule, safety, quality, billing and vendors. Inputs no system holds are captured through validated SharePoint lists instead of free-typed cells.
How it works
- 1
Read the existing report
We trace every tab and formula in the current workbook, list which figures come from which system, and flag logic errors before rebuilding anything.
- 2
Extract and land
Notebooks pull Procore, accounting and scheduling data into bronze as received, so a logic fix is a re-run, not a re-extract.
- 3
Validate and model
Silver cleans and checks the data and flags bad rows with a reason; gold applies the project crosswalk and cost-code mapping once for every page.
- 4
Gate and publish
Automated quality rules run before the semantic model refreshes; if a run fails, the report keeps the last good numbers and says so.
- 5
Show coverage
Source coverage and an unresolved-records worklist show what is missing and which system to fix it in.
- Procore
- Sage 100 Contractor
- Outbuild
- SharePoint
- Microsoft Fabric
- Power BI
The value it creates
Time saved
The report refreshes itself, so month-end effort moves from assembling to reviewing; capture hours per report before and after.
Cost saved
Fewer manual inputs means fewer errors to find and rework; use the cost calculator to put your own numbers on today's process.
Visibility
Drill from portfolio to project to cost code on any page instead of reading a static tab.
Collective intelligence
Finance, operations and the field read the same figures from one model rather than separate spreadsheets.
Proof
Related use cases
- Built and shown
A construction data lakehouse in Microsoft Fabric
One governed home for construction data: raw sources landed, cleaned, mapped, checked, and published to Power BI and a SQL endpoint.
- Built and shown
Automated WIP schedule from Procore and accounting
A WIP schedule that builds itself from Procore and your accounting system every night, with month-end figures frozen as reported.
- Built and shown
Executive portfolio dashboard for contractors
A portfolio page and a one-page executive KPI view, with drill-through from any project to its detail.
- Built and shown
Job cost reconciliation between Procore and accounting
A nightly cross-check of Procore cost against accounting job cost, with every difference listed and traced to the system to fix.
- Built and shown
Structured manual inputs in SharePoint for data no system tracks
Wins, risks, safety, and QC registers move from loose spreadsheets into SharePoint lists with defined fields that flow through the same quality checks.
- Built and shown
Weighted project health scorecard for construction
A 0 to 1 project health index from weighted categories, with the arithmetic and data coverage shown so nobody has to take the score on faith.
Frequently asked questions
Do we lose the inputs our project managers type in today?
No. Inputs that no system holds, such as update notes, wins and risks, move into SharePoint lists with validation and are tied to a project and reporting period, so they flow through the same pipeline as system data.
What happens if a source system is down on refresh night?
The quality gate fails, the semantic model does not refresh, and the report keeps showing the last version that passed with a notice that the latest run failed. A stale answer beats a wrong one.
Can we keep the layout our owners are used to?
Usually, yes. We start from the existing report's structure and agree any changes, then add drill-through and coverage pages that a static workbook cannot offer.
We don't use Sage or Outbuild. Does this still apply?
Yes. The pattern is the same for other accounting and scheduling systems; the connectors change. The Procore, QuickBooks and HubSpot build is an example of the same approach on a different stack.
Next step
Which report or workflow would you like to improve?
Tell us what your team does today, which systems are involved, and what you want to change. We'll discuss whether there is a practical fit.
Prefer email? charley@buildflows.ai