From 4 Hours To Minutes: Automated CSV Reporting

The client regularly receives raw data in CSV format from external sources. To produce meaningful business reports from this data, their team had developed a complex but entirely manual process that consumed 3 to 4 hours every time it needed to be run.

The workflow involved importing the CSV into Excel, copying the raw data across to a pre-formatted reporting spreadsheet, manually merging it with predefined reference data, running a series of macros to transform and calculate the figures, reviewing the output for errors, and then formatting the final reports for distribution.

This process was fragile, time-consuming, and entirely dependent on one or two team members who understood the specific steps. If they were unavailable, reports simply didn't get done — or were done incorrectly.

Black Lantern built a custom reporting application that replicates every step of the manual process — import, transformation, merging, calculations, and formatting — in a single automated pipeline.

All the predefined reference data, lookup tables, and business rules are embedded directly into the system. The logic from the Excel macros has been rebuilt as clean, reliable server-side processing that produces consistent results every time.

The client's new workflow is simple: upload the CSV file, and the system handles everything else. The data is validated on import, transformed according to the existing business rules, merged with the reference datasets, and output as a polished, ready-to-distribute report — all within minutes.