Setting Up Your First NLG Report

Step-by-step walkthrough of connecting data sources and generating your first automated quarterly narrative in under an hour.

9 min read Intermediate July 2026

Close-up of hands working with quarterly financial documents and calculator on desk

Getting Started with Automated Narrative Writing

You're ready to automate your quarterly reporting process. Good timing — most teams report significant time savings once they've moved through that first setup phase. The process isn't complicated. It's actually pretty straightforward once you understand the three core steps: connecting your data source, configuring your output format, and generating your first report.

Here's what you'll accomplish in this guide. We're walking through everything from initial configuration to running your first full narrative generation. You won't need any special technical knowledge — just familiarity with your quarterly data structure and 45 minutes of focused time.

Professional analyst at modern desk with multiple monitors displaying financial dashboards and reports

The Three Essential Steps

Connect Your Data Source

Start by identifying where your quarterly data lives. Most teams pull from their financial systems — SAP, Oracle, or custom databases. You'll need read-only access to your data source. The system will ask you to authenticate with your credentials, then automatically map your data fields. You don't need to manually connect every field. The software recognizes standard accounting terminology and metric names.

Testing this connection takes about 10 minutes. You're checking that the system can access your latest quarter's data and pull the metrics you'll want in your narrative. This is the technical part, but it's genuinely simple — just API authentication and basic field verification.

Hands typing on keyboard with data integration screen visible, showing field mapping interface with connected data sources

Configure Your Narrative Template

This is where you tell the system what your quarterly report should actually say. You'll define sections — executive summary, revenue analysis, expense review, performance highlights. For each section, you specify which metrics to include and what kind of narrative style you want. Should it be formal? Conversational? Focused on year-over-year comparisons or absolute figures?

The interface is straightforward. You're not writing code or anything complex. You're just selecting from dropdown menus and filling in short descriptions of what you want highlighted. Most teams spend 20-25 minutes configuring their first template. After you've done it once, future quarters take maybe 5 minutes to update.

Computer screen showing template configuration interface with section headers, metric selections, and narrative style options highlighted

Generate and Review Your First Report

Once your template is configured, generating your actual narrative takes seconds. You click "Generate Report," the system pulls your data, processes it through the NLG engine, and produces your first quarterly narrative. The output comes back as formatted text that you can immediately copy into your reporting system.

This is where most teams feel the real impact. What normally takes 4-6 hours of manual writing and editing just happened in 30 seconds. You'll want to review the output — check that the tone matches your expectations and the metrics are accurate. Most reports need minimal editing. Maybe you'll tweak a few sentences for company-specific phrasing, but the narrative structure and analysis are already complete.

What to Expect From Your First Generated Report

Your initial output won't be perfect. That's completely normal. The system learns from your feedback, and each subsequent report gets closer to your exact style and preferences. Most teams find their first report is about 70-80% ready to use. The narrative makes sense, the analysis is sound, but there might be sections that need slight rewording or emphasis adjustments.

Here's what you'll typically see: A clean, well-structured narrative that covers all the metrics you selected. Comparisons to previous quarters. Identified trends and anomalies. Written in clear, professional language. It won't sound like a robot wrote it — that's the whole point of natural language generation. The system uses actual English writing patterns, not templated phrases.

Common First-Report Adjustments

Tone tweaks — making it slightly more formal or casual to match your company voice
Metric emphasis — highlighting specific numbers that matter most to your stakeholders
Narrative flow — adjusting section order or adding transitions between topics
Company terminology — replacing generic terms with your internal jargon

Team members gathered around table reviewing printed quarterly report with annotations and notes marked throughout document

Setup Tips That Save Time

Start With Your Standard Sections

Don't try to be creative with your first template. Use the exact sections you've always written — executive summary, revenue analysis, operating expenses. You can experiment with additional sections after you've seen how the system works.

Include Year-Over-Year Data

The narrative becomes much more interesting when you have prior-period comparisons. Make sure your data source includes last year's figures. The system will automatically identify growth rates and trends without you having to calculate anything.

Test With Historical Data First

Before you generate your actual Q2 or Q3 report, run a test with last quarter's data. You already know what that narrative should say. If the system gets it right, you've validated your setup. If something's off, you can adjust the template before generating your live report.

Keep Your First Template Simple

Three to four major sections work great for a first report. Don't load it with every metric you track. You can expand once you've proven the workflow. A focused report is actually more valuable than a comprehensive one anyway.

Have Your Stakeholders Review Early

Show your team the draft output before finalizing it. Get feedback on tone and emphasis. What matters most to your CFO might be different from what your board cares about. One review cycle now saves multiple revision rounds later.

Plan for Quick Refinement

You'll probably want to run 2-3 versions of your first report. Each time you adjust the template slightly. This is totally normal. Build in maybe 30 minutes for refinement iterations, and you'll have a solid baseline template for future quarters.

Moving From Setup to Regular Use

After you've generated your first report and made your initial adjustments, the real time savings kick in. Future quarters don't require setup. You're just running the same template with fresh data. Most teams find they can generate their next quarterly narrative in under 10 minutes — pull the latest data, hit generate, review the output, done.

Some teams make minor template adjustments each quarter. Maybe they add emphasis to specific metrics based on what's happening in their business. But the framework stays consistent. You're not starting from scratch every three months.

That's where the real value shows up. When you calculate the time you've saved across multiple quarters, you're looking at dozens of hours recovered. Hours your team can spend on deeper analysis, strategic recommendations, and forward-looking insights instead of typing out descriptions of what the numbers show.

Person smiling at desk with completed quarterly report document, satisfied expression showing process completion and success

Educational Note

This guide is informational in nature and designed to help you understand the general process of setting up natural language generation for quarterly reports. Every organization's financial reporting requirements, data structure, and compliance frameworks are unique. We recommend consulting with your finance team, compliance department, and software documentation before implementing any automated reporting system. This content describes general approaches — your specific implementation may vary based on your tools, regulations, and organizational needs.