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Introduction
Hi, and welcome to the closing practice episode of the Working with Files session. This time we combine everything we've learned into one real piece of work. We'll help Laras build Sunset Coffee's October sales report: from the sales and expense files, all the way to a one-page report ready to share with the team.
Step 1: Plan the report
At the start of every month, Laras wants to know how her business is doing. Until now she's only looked at her bank balance, without knowing which products drive her sales. Today we build a real report. But before opening the data, we start with questions. Data gives the answers; we're the ones who decide the questions. This episode uses almost everything we've learned in this session: reading spreadsheets, records from receipt photos, checking odd data, matching numbers, and writing a summary for the team. Follow the steps with your own data. Question one: what are total sales for October, and how do they compare with September? Up or down, and by what percentage? Second, which product sells the most units, and which earns the most money? From the previous episode, we know those can be different. Third, what's the weekly trend? Which week was the busiest, and which was quiet? Fourth, how much was spent on ingredients this month? The data comes from the expense log built from receipt photos. Fifth, what will we try next month? Three realistic steps are enough, not a long wish list. These five questions become the report's framework. If a number doesn't answer one of them, it doesn't need to be in the report. Here's our practice workflow. First, prepare two files: sales and expenses. Second, analyze with Claude, starting with a check for odd data. Third, build a one-page report as an Artifact, then check the numbers. Fourth, share the summary with the team, and save the template for next month.
Step 2: Prepare the sales and expense files
This is the October sales file. One row per order, from October first to the thirty-first. The phone number column has already been deleted from this copy. There are over three hundred rows in total. Thanks to the product dropdown list added after the last episode, there's no more ic cup. The product names are consistent. The next tab holds the expense log. It was collected throughout the month from photos of shopping receipts, exactly the way we learned with Claude. Before uploading, Laras checks four things. First, the customer personal data columns are deleted. Second, product names are consistent in every row, so the per-product counts don't get split up. Third, sales and expenses are in separate tabs or files, so they don't get mixed together. Fourth, September's total is noted as a comparison: eighteen million four hundred thousand rupiah. Claude can't guess last month's figure if we don't provide it.
Step 3: Analyze together with Claude
Laras uploads both files at once, states September's total, then asks Claude to check for odd data before answering the five report questions. Claude reads the sales and expense files. Claude finds three rows dated October twelfth with an empty total column, and asks: canceled orders, or forgotten totals? Laras remembers there was heavy rain that day and three orders were canceled. She asks for those rows to be ignored. Claude answers all five questions. October sales were twenty-one million one hundred forty thousand rupiah, up almost fifteen percent. The iced coffee cup sold best with four hundred twenty cups, and the fourth week was the busiest. Ingredient spending was nine million two hundred fifty thousand. The ideas are three steps: a value bundle, extra cup stock at the end of the month, and a year-end hamper promo. Before anything goes into the report, Laras checks the main numbers in the spreadsheet. She builds a per-product table with quantity and total formulas. The SUM formula gives twenty-one million one hundred forty thousand, the same as Claude's answer. The report's headline number is verified. She also calculates the increase herself: a difference of two million seven hundred forty thousand, divided by eighteen million four hundred thousand, gives fourteen point nine percent. It matches.
Step 4: A one-page report
Now the report. Laras asks for one page with key number cards, a weekly chart, and three points of findings and recommendations. The right panel shows a compact report. At the top are four number cards: sales, the increase from September, the number of transactions, and ingredient spending. In the middle, the chart shows sales rising every week. Laras rereads it and realizes something could be misunderstood. Dimas might think sales minus ingredient spending is the net profit. She asks for an extra note. Claude adds the note as the last point. A small note like this keeps the report honest and stops it from misleading its readers. Before sharing, check five things. First, every number in the report answers one of the five original questions. Drop any number that isn't relevant. Second, the main numbers are matched with formulas, just as Laras did with SUM. Third, the report period and the comparison are clearly stated: October, compared with September. Fourth, there's a note for any number that's easy to misread, like the ingredient spending. Fifth, the recommendations are realistic and no more than three. A small team finds it easier to carry out three steps than ten.
Step 5: Share it and make it routine
The report is ready to share. For Dimas, Laras just sends a summary on WhatsApp: three key numbers in one message. The second message has one action for this week, the value bundle, and a note that the full report is in the group. Dimas gets moving right away: preparing promo stickers and adding cup stock for the end of the month. A clear report lets the team know exactly what to do. This is what a report is really for. Not just tidy numbers, but better decisions and actions in the month ahead. Finally, make it routine. Save today's prompt as a monthly report template. The context block names the business and the report month. The data block holds last month's total as a comparison. The task block asks Claude to check for odd data and ask first, then answer the five report questions. The format block asks for a one-page report as an Artifact with the same layout every month, so it's easy to compare. The limits block keeps the report honest: only from the data, with a note for any number that's easy to misread. The Claude screens in this video are simulations, so menu positions may differ slightly. Next month, Laras only swaps in the month, the files, and last month's total. A report she never had time to make is now done in a few minutes.
Done!
Congratulations, you've finished the Working with Files session. We read PDFs, spreadsheets, and images, compared documents, and today built a report from our own files all the way to team action. In the next episode we start the Claude Projects session: a workspace where Claude remembers your instructions and files, so templates like today's don't need pasting again. See you there!
Practice exercises
Try these on your own after watching to lock in what you learned.
Write five questions you want your monthly report to answer
Build a one-page report as an Artifact from your sales data
Match the three main numbers against spreadsheet formulas, then send the summary to a coworker
Ask the class material
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Cerdas Inovasi Digital Team
Software developers, BIM & 3D engineers, and AI practitioners
53 video classes1,286 episodes
We build software, BIM models, games and AI automations for clients every day, and turn that hands-on work into step-by-step classes: every step is shown on screen and comes with a PDF guide you can keep.
