How do you write a report with AI?

Dexter, Sintra's AI for data analysis, turns your raw data into structured, ready-to-share reports in minutes. Upload your data or connect your accounting tool, describe your goal, and Dexter handles the structure, analysis, and writing so you don't start from scratch.

Financial reports · Market trend summaries · Budget breakdowns · Operational analysis

Dexter is included in Sintra X for $97/mo · 14-day money-back guarantee

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Setting up Dexter for report writing

1. Sign up for Sintra and select Dexter from the Helpers list.
2. Set up Brain AI. Upload your business context (company name, industry, key metrics, goals) in under 5 minutes. Without it, every report starts from zero and lacks your business-specific framing.
3. Prepare your data, or connect a source. Dexter works with .xlsx, .xls, and .csv files up to 20 MB, uploaded directly in chat. For financial reports, connect Dexter to QuickBooks, Xero, or one of 30+ other accounting tools so Dexter pulls reports directly. Read operations like pulling reports and querying data run without extra approval. Write operations like creating invoices require your sign-off.
4. Run your first report prompt. Describe the report you need and Dexter returns a structured first draft with analysis, findings, and recommendations.

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How to write a report with Dexter in 10 steps

Follow these 10 steps in order to go from raw data to a shareable report. Most steps include the exact prompt to send Dexter. Copy it, fill in the brackets, send.

Step 1. Open Dexter

Sign in to Sintra, select Dexter from the Helpers list, and start a new chat. Make sure Brain AI is already set up with your business context. Without it, every AI reporting has no context.

Step 2. Define the goal

Tell Dexter what you need, who reads it, and what decision the report drives. The clearer the goal, the tighter the report.

Prompt: "I need to write a [report type, e.g. quarterly financial report / market analysis / operations review] for [audience, e.g. our leadership team / investors]. The goal is to [goal, e.g. show Q1 performance vs targets]. What information do I need to prepare?"

Output: A short list of inputs Dexter needs. Data files, time range, key metrics to include.

Step 3. Upload your data

Drop your .xlsx, .xls, or .csv files directly in the chat, up to 20 MB per file. For financial reports, connect Dexter to QuickBooks, Xero, or one of 30+ other accounting tools and skip the export step entirely. Always add a one-line context note so Dexter knows what it's looking at.

Prompt: "Here is our [data type, e.g. sales data / financial export] for [time period]. Confirm what's in the file and flag any obvious gaps before we start writing."

Output: Dexter confirms which columns and time range it found, and flags missing or messy data.

Step 4. Let Dexter decide report writing format

You can decide the format of report in several ways. Either tell Dexter exactly which sections you want, or let Dexter propose a structure based on the data and audience. The propose-first option works well for new report types. The tell-me option works better when you have a template to follow.

Prompt (let Dexter decide): "Based on the data and goal, suggest a structure for this report. Include the sections, what each covers, and the order they should appear."

Prompt (give Dexter the structure): "Follow this structure: 1) Executive summary, 2) [section], 3) [section], 4) Recommendations, 5) Appendix. Confirm you've got it before writing."

Output: A proposed or confirmed structure with one-line descriptions of each section.

Step 5. Refine and optimize

Ask Dexter to write each section, review it, push back on anything that's off. Section-by-section review keeps tighter control over the output than asking for the whole report in one prompt.

Prompt: "Write the [section name] using the data we analyzed. Keep the tone [formal / concise / accessible]. I'll review before we move on."

Common follow-ups: "Expand on [point]. Shorten [section]. Add the data point for [metric]. Strengthen the language in [section]."

Output: A revised section ready to slot into the final document.

Step 6. Ask for the executive summary

Write the executive summary last, once the report body exists. That way it reflects what's actually in the report, not what you thought you'd write at the start.

Prompt: "Write an executive summary under 150 words. Answer three things: what this report covers, what the key finding is, what action we recommend."

Output: A standalone executive summary ready to place at the top of the final document.

Step 7. Ask for recommendations

Turn the findings into concrete suggestions, each tied to a specific data point. This is the section stakeholders read second after the exec summary, so it has to be tight.

Prompt: "Based on the findings, write a recommendations section. Each recommendation should reference the data point that supports it and suggest a specific next step."

Output: A numbered list of recommendations, each tied to a finding.

Step 8. Ask for the action plan

Move from recommendations to a concrete 30/60/90-day plan with owners, timelines, and success metrics. This is what turns a report from "good analysis" into "we did something with it."

Prompt: "Turn the recommendations into a 30/60/90-day action plan. For each action, include the owner, the timeline, and one success metric we can measure."

Output: A structured action plan, usually formatted as a table.

Step 9. Export in your preferred format

Dexter can reformat the report for different end uses. A PDF-ready document, slide-deck input, one-page memo, or clean markdown for Google Docs or Notion. For cross-functional reports, Dexter can also bring in other Helpers automatically (Penn for narrative polish, Buddy for strategic framing).

Prompt: "Format the full report for [PDF / a slide deck / a one-page memo / Google Docs]. Keep the data, adjust the layout to fit that format."

Output: A reformatted version of the report ready to copy out.

Step 10. Share with stakeholders

Dexter can email the report (or a short summary of it) directly through your connected Gmail or Outlook account. No copy-paste, no leaving the chat. For tools without a native Sintra integration (Slack, Teams, etc.), ask Dexter to write the message and paste it in.

Prompt (native email send): "Email this report to [[email protected]] with a 3-sentence summary as the email body. Subject line: [report title and date]."

Prompt (Slack, Teams, or any other tool): "Write a 3-sentence summary of this report for an internal Slack message. Include the headline finding and the recommended next step."

Output: Email sent directly via your connected Gmail or Outlook account, or a short message ready to paste into Slack, Teams, or wherever the report needs to land.

Manual report writing vs. AI report writing with Dexter

A note on accuracy. Dexter is a first-draft tool. Always review the numbers and column references against your source data before sending the report to stakeholders. Clean, labeled data prevents most errors.

Tips for better AI report writing

• Upload clean, labeled data before prompting. A well-organized file with column headers and a short context note ("this is monthly sales data Jan–Dec 2024") cuts analysis time and reduces errors.
• Tell Dexter who reads the report. A report for investors needs a different structure than one for an internal ops team. Specify the audience in every prompt.
• Ask for the structure before the content. Getting Dexter to propose the report layout first means you catch structural issues before any writing happens.
• Request one section at a time. Asking Dexter to write the full report in a single prompt works, but reviewing section by section gives you tighter control over the final output.
• Connect accounting tools for financial reports. If you're writing P&L, cash flow, or balance sheet reports, connect QuickBooks or Xero so Dexter pulls live numbers. No exports, no copy-paste errors.
• For multi-period reports, upload separate files per period. Then ask Dexter to compare them. Uploading Q1 and Q2 files separately and prompting "compare these two periods and highlight variance" produces a more accurate comparative report than pasting combined data into one prompt.
• Always verify the numbers in Dexter's draft against your source data before sharing externally. Especially column references on messy datasets.

Write your first AI report in the next 10 minutes

It's enough spending time on tedious tasks. Use AI in reporting, so you you need only to review and decide, not format, analyse and draft.

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The complete report writing checklist

From data prep through final review, this AI report writing checklist covers every step worth ticking off. It works with or without Dexter. Expand each category for a standalone list you can save, print, or hand to a teammate.