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ChatGPT for business Excel analysis: from file to report
Short answer
ChatGPT helps join exports from your systems, find mismatches and prepare a report in a spreadsheet. Start with one report, for example weekly sales by branch. Check the totals before and after joining the tables, and that the formulas recalculate after the data changes. At 8 reports a month cut from 3 hours to 1, €491 a month is left after licences for 3 people.
- net per day of closed training for the team
- from €1,150
- people in one training group
- up to 15
- after this time, we measure the effect on the same tasks
- 30 days
We belong to the OpenAI and Anthropic partner programmes and learn through their official courses. What this means ↓
Author: Syntalith · 3 min read
Statistics
ChatGPT and working with data: statistics 2026
€491
a month is left at 8 reports cut from 3 hours to 1, after ChatGPT Business licences for 3 people. Scenario.
40%
According to a study published in Science (2023), ChatGPT cut the time 453 professionals spent on writing tasks by 40%.
Source: Noy and Zhang, Science (2023) ↗
25.1%
According to a Harvard Business School study (2023) of 758 consultants, tasks within the model's capabilities went 25.1% faster with AI.
15.1%
According to Eurostat (2025), 15.1% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU used generative AI tools for work.
26.2%
According to Eurostat (2025), 26.2% of EU enterprises analysed data from transaction records such as sales and payment records.
Source: Eurostat, digital economy and society statistics, enterprises (2025) ↗
Figures checked: 22 October 2026
What to prepare before the first analysis
The report has to keep the definitions of the measures and let you trace the data behind the numbers. This guide is about working with files in ChatGPT. An add-in that runs inside Excel is a separate product, described in the article how to add AI to Excel at work.
- A transaction export and a dictionary of products or branches
- The definition of sales: orders, invoices or payments received
- Rules for returns, the date range and the currency
- Only the columns you need, with no customer contact data
- The company's consent to use this data in the chosen tool
ChatGPT analyses CSV files and Excel workbooks and creates reports for review, as OpenAI describes in its data analysis guide. Check support for macros and external connections separately.
First check how the tables join
The export has 1,000 lines, and the product dictionary has two rows with the same ID. A join on that ID will duplicate transactions and inflate sales. A chart will not show the cause.
| Check | What it reveals |
|---|---|
| A unique ID in the dictionary | The risk of duplicated transactions |
| The number and value of unmatched items | Data left out of the summary |
| The total before and after the transformations | Unexplained changes in values |
| Period, currency and returns | Different definitions of the result |
Do not ask for duplicates to be removed without defining what a unique record is. Two rows of one invoice may be two items that have to stay. The rules for joining are described in OpenAI's guide to consolidating spreadsheets, and the same problem in purchasing on the Excel in procurement page.
Instructions for the first report
- 01Columns and IDsList the columns and check the IDs used for joining.
- 02ChecksShow duplicates, missing matches and control totals.
- 03DefinitionsUse the sales definition from the attached instructions. Where something is missing, state the question for a decision.
- 04ResultA separate sheet with the result, a tab of exceptions and a note on refreshing. The source files unchanged.
- 05CheckOpen the result in the team's tool and compare chosen rows with the source.
Did the formulas recalculate the new data
The plan is €100,000, and actual sales change from €112,000 to €118,000. The overrun should rise from €12,000 to €18,000. If the report still shows €12,000, the comment explains an outdated number.
Microsoft describes automatic and manual calculation modes. In manual mode the calculation has to be triggered: F9 recalculates changed formulas in all open workbooks, and Shift+F9 in the active sheet. The acceptance test covers changing a known value, recalculating and reading the number that goes into the report.
What ChatGPT for Excel gives: cost and the value of time
- Today
- 8 reports × 3 h = 24 h
- With ChatGPT, checking included
- 8 × 1 h = 8 h
- Time given back
- 16 h × €34.90 = €558
- ChatGPT Business licences, 3 people, monthly billing
- $75 (€67)
Left after licences
€491 a month
The number of reports and the times are the scenario's assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat. Converted at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026. At this result a €1,150 rollout pays back in 2.3 months.
A report prepared by hand in ChatGPT will not refresh itself next week. When it should be produced automatically as a file appears, you need Excel automation from €3,000 net, with a schedule, error handling and retries.
Check next week before you call the work finished
Use an export that did not exist when the instructions were written. Add a new product and a missing branch code. The report should name the decision to take, without dropping the row and without inventing a category. Also settle who updates the dictionary and the definitions.
At Syntalith a rollout for a team of up to 10 people costs from €1,150 net: accounts, rules for working with data and training on the team's spreadsheets. The full budget is in the article how much a ChatGPT rollout costs.
Worked example · Scenario
How we count the payback: Excel reports
We run the same count for your team's reports in the free analysis: how many there are, how long they take and what an hour of work costs.
€1,815
a month for 12 h a week of report preparation
Payback: 1.9 mo.
The hours for each firm size and checking in 15% of the old time are our assumptions. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat, for companies with 10 or more employees. We measured the model cost in our report system: a commentary with a check of the figures costs about €0.0002, converted at the NBP rate of 21 October 2026 and the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
See the full calculation →
