Compound Leverage

Issue #0040

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A friend called me about an Excel file he built for the CEO of his company.

He wanted to know if there was a way to take the file and create dashboards with AI.

He said, "I've got this HR Excel file I need to analyze weekly. I’m curious if I can use AI to build dashboards instead of building them in Excel."

I smiled and said, "Yes".

I asked him a few questions and we used that information to build him a prompt.

Then took his Excel file, what he was looking to build - absenteeism patterns by week, reasons for absences, and key trends he wanted to show to his CEO.

From there we asked Claude to build a prompt simple prompt.

Instead of created pivot tables and charts in Excel, we wrote a prompt with Claude, explaining exactly what insights he wanted.

The result?

Claude Sonnet 3.7 built ten beautiful dashboard views in a couple of minutes, showing patterns his team had missed - which days had highest absences and which departments needed attention.

"This would have taken us time to put together in Excel," he said, scrolling through the visualizations.

But here's where it gets better:

"Can I refresh this with new data each week without redoing everything?" he asked.

"Absolutely," I told him. We created a Claude project specifically for his dashboards and saved his initial dashboard as a knowledge source.

If you use Google Sheets and Drive you can connect files to the project to reference otherwise upload the latest version without needing to upload the latest version of the file.

Now when he new report data, he uploads the updated Excel file to Claude with the same prompt. The dashboards refresh automatically with consistent formatting and analysis.

We even published it as a public link so he can send out a link to people to see the data.

The next time you're staring at Excel report data and wondering how to turn it into actionable insights, AI might be your answer.

Here's a simple prompt to try: "Create dashboards from the attached file data showing weekly absence trends, categorized by reason and department, highlighting patterns that need attention. Build visualizations that do [X]"

Make sure to enable Analysis Tool in Claude.

The more specific the prompt, the better the results. If you have examples of dashboards you like you can add pictures to instruct Claude to use them for inspiration or to replicate with your data.

What manual Excel tasks are eating your team's time that AI could solve in minutes?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

If you want to find more ways to cut manual tasks with AI visit one of the links below my signature.

Marvin

P.S. Ways I can help you cut manual work with AI:

1. Cut a Manual Task in 21 Days Cohort Program - Define a time-consuming task, create an AI solution with AI + THINK. Just $697. Pay over time or one-time.

2. AI Scout - Find and win more contracts automatically. Save countless hours on manual contract searches. Apply For Early Access.

3. THINK School Newsletter - Subscribe for $99/year. Two AI deep dives each month with embedded tools, video tutorials, and prompts. Access to resources and courses. Start your 7-day free trial.

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