# Monthly Progress Report Drafter

Agent blueprint, validated with 7 team members · Task: Write monthly progress reports · Project Administration · readiness 41/100 · AI assist (a person acts)

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.

**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.

**Inputs:** 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

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

## Steps

1. Confirm the project list and cycle before anything is written or sent (Copilot Studio, person): 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 Vantagepoint, api): Read the same project review figures the coordinator opens by hand today. Read-only.
3. Write the figures into the Monthly Progress Tracker (Excel, connector): 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 Vantagepoint, api): 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 (SharePoint, connector): 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 (Outlook, person): Required before any message goes to a PM or task lead.
7. Ask the PM or task leads what was done this period (Outlook, connector): 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 Copilot, ai): 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 Copilot, ai): 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 (Word, person): 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 (Outlook, person): The PM approves, via an approval request, before the report is sent.
12. Send the approved report with the invoice (Outlook, connector): Only after PM approval. Sent together with the invoice, per the team rule. The client portal submission stays a manual step (ui only).

## Approvals

- 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

## Prerequisites

- 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

## Measure after launch

- 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

## Decisions

| 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. | 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 + data |
| Whether percent complete in the report is acceptable | It must match the invoice. How a mismatch is resolved was not described. | team |
| Whether the report can be sent | Only after the PM has approved it. It goes out together with the invoice. | team |
| How 'behind schedule' is determined | Not known yet: ask the team. Where schedule status comes from is unclear (five answered 'not sure'). | unknown |
| 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. | unknown |
| Which client format or template applies | Not known yet: ask the team. | unknown |

## 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?

## Exceptions

- When 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.
- When Percent complete in the report differs from the invoice: Stop the draft for that project and show the coordinator both figures. Do not send.
- When 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.
- When 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.
- When 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.
- When 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

## Effort and return

- Size M, about 3-5 weeks (Power Automate, Copilot Studio, Vantagepoint API, Word/Excel templating)
- Team time on this task now: 6 h/week; expected back: 1-3 h/week

## 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)