Automatic reports with RPA and APIs: where to start
How to take report building off your team’s hands by combining system APIs, RPA where there is no API, and a workflow that runs on its own.
· Josué Juca
- Manual reports eat hours and depend on one person: a wrong copy-and-paste becomes a wrong figure.
- Use an API when there is one and RPA when there is not; the two complement each other.
- Start with a single report, the one that takes the most time and has clear rules.
At the end of every month someone exports data from three systems, pastes everything into a spreadsheet, checks the numbers and emails the result. It works, but it eats hours, depends on one person, and a single wrong copy-and-paste is enough to ship a report with the wrong figure.
The problem with manual reports
The work itself is simple and repetitive, which is exactly what makes it a good fit for automation. Once the process becomes a workflow that runs on its own, your team stops building the report and starts using it to make decisions.
API when there is one, RPA when there is not
Whenever a system offers an API, it is the best path: it is fast, stable and built to exchange data with other programs. RPA, on the other hand, is a robot that does what a person would do on screen, such as logging in to a portal, filling in fields and downloading files. It covers cases where no API exists, like government portals or legacy systems.
In practice the two complement each other: the API brings data from modern systems and RPA fetches what is stuck in portals. When the information is public, web scraping can also collect the data, always respecting each site’s terms of use.
A typical workflow
- Trigger: the report is generated on a schedule (every 1st of the month, for example) or when someone requests it.
- Collection: CRM and ERP APIs bring the data, and RPA fetches whatever lives in portals.
- Structuring: data is standardized and validated, for example by checking that totals add up.
- Generation: the robot fills in the spreadsheet, builds the PDF or updates the dashboard.
- Delivery: the report reaches the right people by email or WhatsApp, with a record of what was done.
Measure the time spent before and after automating: it shows the gain and helps you choose which report to automate next.
Precautions that save headaches
- Log every run and alert someone when something fails, so errors do not go unnoticed.
- Keep passwords and keys in a vault or protected variables, never inside the code.
- Validate data before generating the report: a fast robot also fails fast if the input is wrong.
- Plan for maintenance: when a portal changes its layout, the robot needs an adjustment.
- Handle personal data according to LGPD, collecting only what is needed.
Next step
List your company’s reports and repetitive tasks, note how long each one takes and where the data comes from. With that map it is easy to see what is worth automating first. If you want help with this survey, just talk to us.