BY DANI THOMPSON · 10 SEPTEMBER 2026
How to make an AI weekly business review
Give your AI assistant two dated snapshots of your business.
Ask what changed, what needs attention and what to improve next.
The result should be a short decision list tied to the original records—not a long summary of everything you already know.
Make the business visible first
Use two small files: a project list and a spending list. For projects, include project name, owner, stage, due date, next action and blocker.
For spending, include date, vendor, amount, currency and purpose. Keep last week’s version so the assistant can compare it with this week.
You do not need a live connection to every app to try this. Export a CSV or prepare a small text table.
Claude supports file-based analysis; see its file creation and analysis guide. Open Claude, attach the snapshots and explain what each contains.
No files yet? Get the free starter. It comes with a sample business to practice on.
Use a small example with a visible answer
Illustrative dataset: last week the Oak project was awaiting approval; this week it still is, and delivery is tomorrow.
Your USD software spending was $180 last week and $240 this week. A new $60 charge explains the difference.
The useful answer is ‘Oak needs an approval decision today’ and ‘Software spending increased by $60 because of this charge.’
It is not ‘Business activity appears dynamic.’ Ask the assistant to show the row behind each finding.
Keep currencies separate. Do not count an invoice and its payment as two costs.
A larger spend is not automatically waste: the context may explain it.
Give the review a fixed shape
Use four headings: decisions today, changes since last week, missing information, and one improvement to try.
Limit the first section to three items. Each item needs a reason, the source record and the next action.
Ask for a compact table or a simple visual with projects grouped into moving, waiting and overdue.
This is the Visualize step: the output should help you see the situation, not create another pile of notes.
Repeat it before connecting everything
Run the review again with the next snapshot.
Check three things. Does the assistant notice a newly overdue task?
Does it clear a blocked project once its status changes? Do the spending totals reconcile?
If it misses those cases, fix the input fields or instructions before adding more tools.
Once the review is dependable, move to the Automate step: a scheduled job.
It retrieves current information, runs the review and delivers it somewhere you will read it.
A saved prompt alone does not run every week; that requires a scheduler and access to the sources.
Choose one improvement
If approval delays repeat, try requesting sign-off earlier or naming a single approver.
Record the change and see whether the next projects move faster. That is Optimize: using what you can now see to change how the work happens.
Use the weekly review starter for sample files, or read how to set rules for your assistant.
This is an operational review, not a replacement for reconciled accounts.
Try this prompt.
Compare last week’s and this week’s attached project and spending files. First report the date range, row counts, missing fields and totals by currency. Then give me: 1. Up to three decisions needed today, 2. What changed, 3. Missing information, 4. One improvement to try next week. Cite the filename and row or record for every finding. Show calculations behind spending changes. Flag possible duplicate subscriptions for review, but do not assume they are unnecessary. Do not invent payment status or send messages. Finish with a compact table of moving, waiting and overdue projects.
Copy this into your assistant after adding the source material described above.