Reports that survive the export changing shape
The problem
The exports feeding the reports kept changing structure — a column renamed, a new one added, the order shuffled. Anything written against fixed column positions broke every time, and someone rebuilt the report by hand.
Some fields also packed several values into one cell — P&C Re; L&H Re; CorSo in a single column.
Standard reporting counted that as one thing, and nobody noticed the totals were wrong.
What I built
- Automatic file pickup from SharePoint — new files are read without anyone touching the report.
- Header detection instead of fixed positions: the pipeline finds the header row and the columns by what they contain, then maps them to the model.
- Automatic field mapping for known variants of the same column, so a renamed field still lands in the right place.
- Multi-value cells split into rows, so each business unit is counted once — and only once.
How a changed export still lands in the right place
Illustration. Column names are examples; the three-unit cell is from the real data.
Result
A changed export no longer means a rebuild: the pipeline reads what is actually in the file rather than what was there last month. It is the least visible thing I built, and the reason nobody had to rebuild reports every quarter. The totals by business unit became trustworthy for the first time.
Relevant if your role mentions
Manual reportingExcel exportsETL / data pipelines Data cleaningPower QueryAutomationDo your reports break when an export changes? Tell me which exports and how often — two lines are enough.
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