Excel weekly dashboards at scale

Designs refreshable Excel dashboards (Power Query + structured tables + validation + pivot reporting). Use when you need a repeatable weekly KPI workbook that updates from files with minimal manual work.

Security Scan

This is an instruction-only skill that coherently describes how to design refreshable Excel dashboards and does not request credentials, install code, or contact external endpoints.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description match the requested inputs and outputs: Power Query templates, workbook plans, and refresh checklists. No unrelated credentials, binaries, or config paths are requested; the required inputs are user-provided data files, which is appropriate for the stated purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md stays on-topic: it describes ingest/clean/validate/report workflows, when to ask the user for missing information, and explicitly warns about PDF/DOCX extraction risks. It does not instruct the agent to read unrelated system files, environment variables, or to transmit data to external endpoints.

Install Mechanism

There is no install spec and no code files to write to disk; the skill is instruction-only, which minimizes installation risk.

Credentials

The skill requires no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. The assets are templates and checklists only, which are proportionate to an Excel/Power Query design skill.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request persistent system presence or modify other skills. The default ability for the agent to invoke the skill autonomously is present but not combined with any other risky permissions or credentials.

Assessment

This skill is instruction-only and internally consistent for designing Power Query-driven weekly Excel dashboards. It does not request credentials or install code, so the direct security risk is low. Before using: (1) do not upload sensitive PII unless necessary — the skill expects you to provide source files and templates are applied to those files; (2) note the Power Query template uses a Windows folder placeholder (C:\PATH_TO_SOURCE_FOLDER) — adapt it to your environment and ensure you do not accidentally overwrite files; (3) the skill warns that PDF/DOCX table extraction is fragile — provide CSV/XLSX exports for reliable results; (4) verify any generated M code or workbook changes in a test copy of your files before applying to production data. Overall this appears coherent and appropriate for its stated purpose.

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

1. Identify source type(s) (CSV/XLSX/DOCX/PDF-export) and the stable business keys (e.g., PayNumber).
2. Define the canonical table schema:
   • required columns, types, allowed values, and “unknown” handling.
3. Design ingestion with Power Query:
   • Prefer Folder ingest + combine, with defensive “missing column” handling.
   • Normalize column names (trim, case, collapse spaces).
4. Design cleansing & validation:
   • Create a Data_Staging query (raw-normalized) and Data_Clean query (validated).
   • Add validation columns (e.g., IsValidPayNumber, IsValidDate, IssueReason).
5. Build reporting layer:
   • Pivot table(s) off Data_Clean
   • Slicers: Year, ISOWeek; plus operational dimensions
6. Add a “Refresh Status” sheet:
   • last refresh timestamp, row counts, query error flags, latest week present
7. 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
  - Slicers

If 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.