You are working on a monthly financial reporting process that is still assembled by hand from multiple source extracts, spreadsheet reconciliations, and emailed approvals. The work takes several days each close cycle, and small formula or copy paste errors create rework for the finance team. You want to automate the first part of the pipeline in a way that reduces manual effort without changing the final reporting structure too quickly.
What would you automate first if you inherited a manual monthly reporting process?