From 8 Hours to 5 Minutes: AI-driven Report Automation For an Affiliate Marketing Leader

When management of a mature affiliate marketing agency realized that manual report generation was eating up time and pulling focus away from strategic priorities, they turned to GetDevDone, their long-time software development partner, for a solution. As a result of the collaboration, we managed to deliver a functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that automates custom report generation within just one month.

• Period of cooperation: 2022 – ongoing
• Expertise: Affiliate Marketing, Advertising, Digital Marketing
• Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Project highlights

• MVP in a month: Built and launched an AI-powered report generation tool under tight timelines.
• AI + Power BI Synergy: Used OpenAI’s GPT models to interpret internal data, generate insights, and summarize reports in business-friendly language.
• Faster, Scalable Reporting: Enabled client-ready weekly/monthly reports to be generated in under 5 minutes, reducing workload from 8 hours to 1.

Business challenge

Our long-term client, a seasoned affiliate marketing agency, faced a significant operational challenge: generating weekly and monthly reports for top managers at client organizations was taking up to eight hours per report. A 10-person internal team compiled and validated the data manually, which significantly drained time and focus.

This reporting bottleneck hindered scalability and delayed the delivery of insights to key client stakeholders, ultimately impacting the perceived value of the service. That’s when the agency turned to GetDevDone for support.

Technology solution

The client approached us with a bold idea: to explore whether artificial intelligence, specifically OpenAI’s capabilities, could be combined with internal system data to streamline the generation of Power BI reports. The catch? The solution needed to be built within a few months.

GetDevDone’s experts started with a comprehensive technical assessment to evaluate feasibility, resource requirements, and the complexity of integration. Once we confirmed the project’s viability, we kicked off development.

Our Approach

• CRM System Integration: We embedded the client’s existing CRM system to centralize data and reduce fragmentation in report generation workflows.
• User Testing & Onboarding: We delivered a solid beta version to internal users and client stakeholders for validation and feedback.
• Expanded Report Capabilities: Our team enhanced the system to support additional report types, with export options in PDF format for easier sharing and documentation.
• AI-Powered Insights: We integrated GPT-based models to automate text generation, identify data correlations, and summarize analytics into clear, client-facing narratives. This made the insights more accessible to non-technical decision-makers.

By combining automation, data integration, and AI, the solution significantly reduced the time and effort required for report generation, while elevating the quality and clarity of insights shared with top managers.

Business outcomes

The successful implementation of the AI-powered reporting system brought both measurable impact and long-term strategic value to the client.

• Operational Efficiency Gains: Manual report compilation, once an 8-hour task, was reduced to just 1–5 minutes of system processing and under an hour total with manager validation. This freed up team capacity, reduced operational overhead, and accelerated the delivery of insights to client stakeholders.
• Scalable, Client-Friendly Reporting: The new solution enables the agency to deliver timely, accurate, and user-friendly reports to its clients. Correlation detection and GPT-based summaries now make complex data more actionable.
• Stronger Strategic Partnership: This successful delivery reinforced the client’s trust in GetDevDone’s technical expertise and problem-solving capabilities. As a result, the collaboration is growing: the team is now expanding, and we’ve already kicked off work on a new initiative driven by one of the stakeholders on the client side.

The project not only optimized internal workflows, but it also deepened GetDevDone’s role as a trusted development partner.