Project Administration · Agent blueprint · validated with 7 team members

Monthly Progress Report Drafter

For each public-client project in the invoice cycle, the agent pulls budget, spent and percent-complete figures by phase from Vantagepoint, fills the Excel tracker and Word report, and drafts the standard narrative. The coordinator adds the project-specific commentary, the PM approves, and the report goes out with the invoice.

41readiness · AI assist (a person acts)

1–3 hback per week, of 6 h now

$4K–7Ka year

3–5 wkto build · size M

Trigger

Start of the monthly invoice cycle: the coordinator launches the run (Power Automate button or Copilot Studio chat) for the public-client projects due a report.

Done when: The project manager has approved the report and it has gone out with the invoice.

Needs: List of public-client projects due a report this cycle, with PM and task leads; Vantagepoint project review data by phase: budget, spent, percent complete; Invoice figures for the same period, for the percent-complete check; Monthly Progress Tracker (Excel) and the Word report template or last month's report; Schedule status for each project (source not yet confirmed); PM or task-lead input on work completed this period

What the agent does

1
Confirm the project list and cycle before anything is written or sent · Copilot Studioperson
The coordinator reviews the list of projects and approves the run. Policy forbids unattended record changes or messages.
2
Pull budget, spent and percent complete by phase · Deltek Vantagepointapi
Read the same project review figures the coordinator opens by hand today. Read-only.
3
Write the figures into the Monthly Progress Tracker · Excelconnector
Replaces the retyping from Vantagepoint (75% of cases). Writes to the working tracker only after the run is approved.
4
Fetch the invoice's percent complete and compare with the report figures · Deltek Vantagepointapi
Team rule: percent complete in the report must match the invoice. Flag any difference for the coordinator.
5
Create the month's report from the template with figures filled in · SharePointconnector
Copies the Word template into the project site and fills the phase table from the tracker. Replaces the 100% retyping from Excel to Word.
6
Coordinator approves the PM update request for each project · Outlookperson
Required before any message goes to a PM or task lead.
7
Ask the PM or task leads what was done this period · Outlookconnector
Send a short request with the project and period. Collect replies for the work-completed section.
8
Draft the standard narrative and work-completed section from the replies · Microsoft 365 Copilotai
Draft only from the PM input and figures. Mark gaps instead of guessing.
9
Add a recovery plan section where the project is behind schedule · Microsoft 365 Copilotai
Only when behind schedule. Draft a placeholder for the coordinator and PM to complete; contents are not yet defined.
10
Review and edit the draft and the flagged items · Wordperson
The coordinator writes the project-specific commentary and variance explanations, and resolves any mismatch with the invoice.
11
Approve the report before it goes out · Outlookperson
The PM approves, via an approval request, before the report is sent.
12
Send the approved report with the invoice · Outlookconnector
Only after PM approval. Sent together with the invoice, per the team rule. The client portal submission stays a manual step (ui only).

Decisions the agent makes

Decide	Rule	Source
Whether to include a recovery plan	If the project is behind schedule, include a recovery plan in the report. Most respondents agreed.	The team
Which figures go in the report	Budget, spent and percent complete by phase from the Vantagepoint project review, entered in the tracker and the report. Most agreed, and the observed flow matches.	Team, confirmed by data
Whether percent complete in the report is acceptable	It must match the invoice. How a mismatch is resolved was not described.	The team
Whether the report can be sent	Only after the PM has approved it. It goes out together with the invoice.	The team
How 'behind schedule' is determined	Not known yet: ask the team. Where schedule status comes from is unclear (five answered 'not sure').	Not known yet
Who to ask for work-completed input when it is missing	Not known yet: ask the team. The answers say the PM or task leads, but not which one or when.	Not known yet
Which client format or template applies	Not known yet: ask the team.	Not known yet

Where a person signs off

Coordinator approves the project list and run before figures are written
Coordinator approves the PM update requests before they are sent
Coordinator reviews and edits the draft report
PM approves the report before it is sent with the invoice

Exceptions

When	What the agent does
The project is behind schedule (the team says under 1 in 10 reports, though answers varied)	Add a recovery plan section and flag it for the coordinator and PM. The agent does not write the plan unaided.
Percent complete in the report differs from the invoice	Stop the draft for that project and show the coordinator both figures. Do not send.
The PM or task leads have not replied (chasing updates was named by about 1 in 6)	After a set wait, send one reminder, with the coordinator's approval, and show the project as waiting on the PM. Leave work-completed blank rather than guess.
Tracker or Vantagepoint review is not needed (about 11% of cases did not open them)	Skip the fill steps and hand the draft to the coordinator with a note.
The project has a phase missing, closed, or structured differently in Vantagepoint	Hand to the coordinator with the phase list found, so they can map it.
The client needs a specific report format (one respondent raised it; no formats described)	Use the standard template and flag the project for manual formatting until the formats are known.

Build with

Power Automate: Orchestrates the run, calls Vantagepoint, writes to Excel and SharePoint, sends Outlook messages, runs approvals
Copilot Studio: Coordinator front end: starts the run, shows the project list, flags mismatches and exceptions
Microsoft 365 Copilot: Drafts the standard narrative and work-completed text from PM replies and figures
Deltek Vantagepoint API: Source of budget, spent, percent complete and invoice figures
Excel and SharePoint connectors: Update the progress tracker and create the report from the template

Skills: Power Automate, Copilot Studio, Vantagepoint API, Word/Excel templating

Before building

Vantagepoint API access for a service account with read rights to project review and invoice data
Power Automate and Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses for the builder and coordinators
Standardised Word report template and Excel tracker layout, stored on SharePoint, with a phase mapping per project
A way to list the public-client projects due a report each cycle, with the PM and task leads
Agreement on where schedule status comes from
Confirmation that Word documents can be filled through the SharePoint/Microsoft 365 connectors, since Word was not listed in the systems inventory

Risks

The retyping may exist for a reason nobody explained (stale exports, client formats, phase mapping), which could break the automated flow
Setting up templates for different clients and phase structures may take longer than planned
The AI draft may state work that was not done; it must only use PM input and mark gaps
Percent-complete figures may change between report and invoice if pulled at different times
Savings are limited because commentary and PM approval stay manual; expect about 25-45% time saved, not full automation

How we'll know it worked

Median coordinator time per report (baseline 43.6 min; 9 reports a week; 5.8 team hours a week)
Share of reports with figures retyped by hand (baseline 75% Vantagepoint to Excel, 100% Excel to Word)
Days from invoice cycle start to PM approval of the report (no baseline measured; collect in the pilot)
Share of reports with a percent-complete mismatch against the invoice caught before sending

Still to answer before building

Where do schedule, issues and progress details come from, and who is asked when something is missing?
Why are the figures retyped instead of exported or linked from Vantagepoint?
Are there client-specific formats, and what do they require?
How is 'behind schedule' decided, and what must a recovery plan contain?
Where are the rules (approver, required checks, client requirements) written down?
How long does PM input and approval take, given that the measured data show no wait?
Can the agent write to the tracker directly, or must the coordinator approve each write?

Where the team disagrees

Settle these first: an agent needs one rule, and new hires get mixed answers today.

Biggest pain point is split: review and approval delays (about a third), then chasing PM updates, checking numbers, matching client formats and retyping data (each about one sixth).
Frequency of unusual reports varies from almost never to often.

Evidence

0% of cases follow the same steps
6 team hours a week
data is moved by hand from Deltek Vantagepoint to Microsoft Excel (75% retyped)
100% of cases need an extra lookup (an exception the agent must handle)

Observed main path (0% of cases):

Handover spec for the builder (text) →

Designed by AI from how the team did this work (2026-10-19 to 2026-10-23), the company's tools and its rules. A starting point for the builder: confirm system access and approvals before building.