Excel weekly dashboards at scale
PURPOSE
Designs refreshable Excel dashboards (Power Query + structured tables + validation + pivot reporting).
WHEN TO USE
- TRIGGERS:
- Build me a Power Query pipeline for this file so it refreshes weekly with no manual steps. - Turn this into a structured table with validation lists and clean data entry rules. - Create a pivot-driven weekly dashboard with slicers for year and ISO week. - Fix this Excel model so refresh does not break when new columns appear. - Design a reusable KPI pack that updates from a folder of CSVs.
- DO NOT USE WHEN…
- You need advanced forecasting/valuation modeling (this skill is for repeatable reporting pipelines). - You need a BI tool build (Power BI/Tableau) rather than Excel. - You need web scraping as the primary ingestion method.
INPUTS
- REQUIRED:
- Source data file(s): CSV, XLSX, DOCX-exported tables, or PDF-exported tables (provided by user). - Definition of ‘week’ (ISO week preferred) and the KPI fields required.
- OPTIONAL:
- Data dictionary / column definitions. - Known “bad data” patterns to validate (e.g., blank PayNumber, invalid dates). - Existing workbook to refactor.
- EXAMPLES:
- Folder of weekly CSV exports: exports/2026-W02/*.csv - Single XLSX dump with changing columns month to month
OUTPUTS
- If asked for plan only (default): a step-by-step build plan + Power Query steps + sheet layout + validation rules.
- If explicitly asked to generate artifacts:
- workbook_spec.md (workbook structure and named tables) - power_query_steps.pq (M code template) - refresh-checklist.md (from assets/) Success = refresh works after adding a new week’s files without manual edits, and validation catches bad rows.
WORKFLOW
- Identify source type(s) (CSV/XLSX/DOCX/PDF-export) and the stable business keys (e.g., PayNumber).
- Define the canonical table schema:
- required columns, types, allowed values, and “unknown” handling.
- Design ingestion with Power Query:
- Prefer Folder ingest + combine, with defensive “missing column” handling. - Normalize column names (trim, case, collapse spaces).
- Design cleansing & validation:
- Create a Data_Staging query (raw-normalized) and Data_Clean query (validated). - Add validation columns (e.g., IsValidPayNumber, IsValidDate, IssueReason).
- Build reporting layer:
- Pivot table(s) off Data_Clean - Slicers: Year, ISOWeek; plus operational dimensions
- Add a “Refresh Status” sheet:
- last refresh timestamp, row counts, query error flags, latest week present
- STOP AND ASK THE USER if:
- required KPIs/columns are unspecified, - the source files don’t include any stable key, - week definition/timezone rules are unclear, - PDF/DOCX tables are not reliably extractable without a provided export.
OUTPUT FORMAT
When producing a plan, use this template:
WORKBOOK PLAN
- Sheets:
- Data_Staging (query output)
- Data_Clean (query output + validation flags)
- Dashboard (pivots/charts)
- Refresh_Status (counts + health checks)
- Canonical Schema:
- <Column>: <Type> | Required? | Validation
- Power Query:
- Query 1: Ingest_<name> (Folder/File)
- Query 2: Clean_<name>
- Key transforms: <bullets>
- Validation rules:
- <rule> -> <action>
- Pivot design:
- Rows/Columns/Values
- SlicersIf asked for artifacts, also output:
assets/power-query-folder-ingest-template.pq(adapted)assets/refresh-checklist.md
SAFETY & EDGE CASES
- Read-only by default: provide a plan + snippets unless the user explicitly requests file generation.
- Never delete or overwrite user files; propose new filenames for outputs.
- Prefer “no silent failure”: include row-count checks and visible error flags.
- For PDF/DOCX sources, require user-provided exported tables (CSV/XLSX) or clearly mark extraction risk.
EXAMPLES
- Input: “Folder of weekly CSVs with PayNumber/Name/Date.” Output: Folder-ingest PQ template + schema + Refresh Status checks + pivot dashboard plan.
- Input: “Refresh breaks when new columns appear.” Output: Defensive missing-column logic + column normalization + typed schema plan.