Your first
AI analyst.

Start with one useful report

Your first AI analyst needs a job, a source file, and a way to know when the work is right. This kit gives you all three. The fictional Northstar Studio case is small enough to inspect: 20 source rows, five clients, three named owners, and a few exceptions that change the answer.

The download includes a start-here guide, the existing five-tab Excel workbook, the source CSV, five complete assignments, an answer key, a reusable reporting brief, and a before-you-share checklist. These are authored teaching materials. We tested the reference data and checker; we have not independently benchmarked the current Claude add-in on this exercise.

1. Make a working copy and open the start-here guide.
2. Ask Claude to explain the source and flag anything that needs a decision.
3. Give it the reporting rules, then compare the result with the known answer.
4. Use the owner review and internal team update to turn the report into a useful handoff.
5. Fill in the reusable brief before switching to your own approved data.

Install the official Claude Excel add-in

Start from the Claude for Microsoft 365 listing. Install the add-in, open Excel, activate Claude, and sign in. Anthropic supports Excel on the web and specified Windows and Mac versions, with Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise access. Check the official version requirements; your work administrator may need to approve installation.

The add-in can send data over the internet. Begin with the fictional workbook, and follow your organization’s AI policy before using confidential data. Save a separate working copy.

The correct answer is $54,700. Here is why.

This fictional June 2026 case has 20 source rows and 19 unique transactions. Seventeen transactions count: 16 paid transactions totaling $55,500 and an $800 refund. Net completed sales is an operational measure here, not recognized accounting revenue or profit.

• $55,500 paid − $800 refunded = $54,700. The refund is already negative in the CSV.
• A second reconciliation: $67,000 across all source rows − $1,800 duplicate − $7,000 cancelled − $3,500 pending = $54,700.
• Owner totals: Maya $16,600; Owen $19,400; Lena $17,200; Unassigned $1,500. All four must sum to $54,700.
• TX-260606 repeats identically and is counted once. TX-260616 is a valid $1,500 sale without an owner: include it and flag it.

Give Claude a reporting contract

Use this prompt with the practice workbook, then change the definitions deliberately for your business:

Create a June 2026 sales report. Preserve the source sheet. Remove the identical duplicate by transaction_id; flag conflicting IDs rather than choosing silently. Include paid amounts and signed refunds dated in June. Exclude pending and cancelled transactions. Keep blank owners under Unassigned. Produce totals, owner and client breakdowns, and an exceptions list with source IDs. Show the calculation rules and reconcile to the source. Do not invent a prior-month comparison or an explanation for client behavior.

Check the result before you share it

A cell citation helps trace a claim. It does not prove that the inclusion rules are correct.

• Reconcile the counts: 20 imported, 19 unique, 17 included. Do not drop the unassigned sale.
• Reconcile the dollars both ways. A $56,300 result would be consistent with treating the $800 refund as positive.
• Trace the owner and client summaries back to individual transactions. Each breakdown must sum to $54,700.
• In a separate copy, increase one valid paid transaction by $100. Its owner total, client total, and overall total should each rise by $100; the count should stay unchanged.
• For your own export, define row meaning, period, currency, refund treatment, and duplicate key first. Transaction IDs alone are unsafe when one transaction spans multiple line items.

Five prompts, each with a job to finish

The kit is organized around decisions you already make at work. Each assignment includes what to provide, what to ask for, and what to check afterward.

For a guided first assignment across business files, try How to Use Claude Cowork + Free Starter Kit: a client kickoff, weekly report, and meeting action plan with source files and answer keys.

• Understand the workbook: get a plain-English map and an exceptions list before changing anything.
• Build the report: produce the completed-sales total and two independent reconciliations.
• Brief the sales team: show totals by owner, preserve the Unassigned sale, and separate actions from speculation.
• Brief the internal team: summarize the checked total, leading clients, and unresolved data issue.
• Make it repeatable: adapt a reporting contract to your files, definitions, and review process.