An agent at work · Report builder
The same report every month,and every number traceable.
The Report builder is one of the roles in Zaela. It makes your recurring marketing reports, first of all the monthly multichannel results report in Excel. It pulls the figures itself, read-only, calculates the rest and tells you exactly where each number comes from.
The film
Report builder
The method
This is how the Report builder works.
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01Format and period
The format decides, not its own judgement.
It starts with the report type, the client and the period. Every report type has a fixed format: fixed blocks, columns, formulas and colours. The client settings say which channels, campaigns, accounts and website events belong in it. It adds nothing, drops nothing and reorders nothing. Want a deviation? It confirms it with you and records it.
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02Data, read-only
It fetches the figures itself.
Budget, impressions, reach, clicks and leads per campaign come straight from Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn Ads. Website visits, engaged visits, session duration and conversion events come from GA4, organic search from Search Console when the report asks for it. It only reads: it cannot change anything in an account.
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03One living workbook
One file per client that grows every month.
Each month gets its own sheet, next to a year overview that is rebuilt from all the months. The workbook is generated by code, not edited by hand: formulas stay live in the cells and earlier months stay untouched. Every derived figure is worked out with the calculator tool, never from memory.
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04Hard validation
First prove that it is right.
Before it delivers, it recalculates the totals with the calculator, compares cells with the raw output of the tools and checks every block, every colour, the title and the period. No error cells. Reach is never added up across campaigns, months or channels, because the same people would be counted twice.
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05Transparency and insights
Then say what it means.
Every delivery comes with a transparency note: which number comes from which source, what stayed open and why, what is estimated, plus the period, accounts and assumptions. In its message, not in the workbook, it adds three to five insights: trends, efficiency per channel, outliers, budget share against results. Fact and hypothesis stay apart.
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06The deck
A report is almost always presented too.
So it proposes a deck and brings in the Presentation builder: it supplies the figures, the validation and the insights, the Presentation builder turns them into an editable deck. A large report is built in phases, one phase at a time, and it asks you before it starts the next one.
This page is based on the agent's instructions and knowledge in Zaela. The drawings are illustrations.
What it pays attention to
What it pays attention to.
- 01
The colour shows the source
Cyan is an ad channel, orange is GA4, yellow is a calculation. A grey dash means no data. Light purple means estimated, with the reason in the cell.
- 02
An honest gap
Better an open cell than a convincing number that was made up. It never presents an estimate as certain.
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Calculator, not memory
Totals, growth rates, click-through rates and weighted costs per click go through the calculator tool. It shows the sum it used.
- 04
Reach does not add up
Reach counts unique people. It asks for the total of the full period in one request instead of adding up months or campaigns.
- 05
The right proportion
1.15% against 1.10% is nearly equal, not a winner. Strong words and bold type are kept for differences that really stand out.
- 06
The weather as a suspect
For a striking peak or dip, the weather is on its list of possible explanations. For Belgian brands it checks measured KMI data instead of guessing.
Teamwork
Who it works with.
Channel analysts
For the definitions and pitfalls of each channel: Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn Ads, GA4 and Search Console.
Presentation builder
Almost always, to turn the figures into a deck for the client.
SEO & GEO specialist
For search volumes and market context from DataForSEO.
HubSpot analyst
For leads and pipeline: which channel brought them in.
Sentiment analyst
For online reception in the larger presentation reports.
Digital advertiser
For any change to a campaign, because the Report builder only reads.
Tools it uses
- Google Ads (read-only)
- Meta Ads (read-only)
- LinkedIn Ads (read-only)
- GA4 (read-only)
- Search Console (read-only)
- Calculator
- Excel and Google Sheets
- KMI weather data (Belgium)
What it never does.
- Change anything in an ad account or in GA4. It only reads.
- Make up a number, a campaign or a brand fact. No data means an open cell.
- Present an estimated or incomplete number as certain.
- Add, drop or reorder parts of the format on its own initiative.
- Overwrite an earlier month without asking you first.
- Write its own comments into the data cells. Insights go in its message.
What you get
What you get.
results-overview.xlsxThe living workbook
A sheet per month plus a year overview, live formulas, colour-coded by source. It also opens as a Google Sheet.
transparency noteWhere every number comes from
Sources, open cells, estimates, period, accounts and assumptions, written out with every delivery.
3 to 5 insightsWhat stands out
Trends, efficiency per channel, outliers and budget against results, each with its figure and source.
changelog.mdSaved for the team
The workbook and its changelog go into shared memory, so everyone finds the latest version.
deck.pptxThe presentation
Proposed when the report will be presented, and built together with the Presentation builder.
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