How to Automate Weekly KPI Reports with n8n

1 Schedule the Monday run

The n8n Schedule Trigger uses the workflow timezone, so set it once in n8n and every later date expression in n8n follows it.

The Schedule Trigger node starts the report at 8:00 every Monday, early enough for leadership to read it before standup.

Add a Schedule Trigger node and configure:

Node: Schedule Trigger
Trigger Interval: Weeks
Weeks Between Triggers: 1
Trigger on Weekdays: Monday
Trigger at Hour: 8am
Trigger at Minute: 0

Make sure the workflow timezone matches your office. You can also compute the report week label later from the trigger time with this expression:

Expression: {{ $now.minus({ days: 7 }).startOf('week').toFormat('yyyy-MM-dd') }}

{
  "timestamp": "2026-11-09T08:00:00.000-05:00",
  "Day of week": "Monday"
}

2 Read the current week metrics

The n8n Google Sheets node handles OAuth for you, and n8n returns each row as a separate item for the next node.

Add a Google Sheets node that returns every row on the Current tab. Whoever maintains the data, or an upstream n8n workflow, writes the five metrics here.

Node: Google Sheets
Credential: Google Sheets OAuth2
Resource: Sheet Within Document
Operation: Get Row(s)
Document: Weekly KPIs
Sheet: Current
Return All: on
Options > Data Location on Sheet: header row 1

[
  { "metric": "revenue", "value": "48200", "week_start": "2026-11-02" },
  { "metric": "signups", "value": "312", "week_start": "2026-11-02" },
  { "metric": "churn", "value": "2.4", "week_start": "2026-11-02" },
  { "metric": "nps", "value": "41", "week_start": "2026-11-02" },
  { "metric": "tickets_resolved", "value": "187", "week_start": "2026-11-02" }
]

Google Sheets returns numbers as strings in many cases, so convert them with Number() in the Code step rather than trusting the type.

3 Read the previous week from history

Filtering inside the n8n Google Sheets node keeps the data small, which makes the later n8n Code node faster and simpler.

Use a second Google Sheets node on the History tab. Filter to last week's start date so you pull exactly five rows.

Node: Google Sheets
Operation: Get Row(s)
Sheet: History
Filters:
  Column: week_start
  Value: {{ $now.minus({ days: 7 }).startOf('week').toFormat('yyyy-MM-dd') }}
Return All: on

At the end of the workflow, or in a separate small n8n workflow, append the current rows to History so next week has something to compare against. Without this step the report only works once.

[
  { "metric": "revenue", "value": "44900", "week_start": "2026-10-26" },
  { "metric": "churn", "value": "2.1", "week_start": "2026-10-26" }
]

4 Calculate week-over-week change

Because n8n passes items between nodes as JSON, the join by metric name is a plain JavaScript lookup inside one n8n Code node.

A Code node joins current and previous rows by metric name, computes the absolute delta and percentage change, and applies a threshold. Churn is a lower-is-better metric, so the rule direction is stored per metric.

Node: Code
Mode: Run Once for All Items
Language: JavaScript

const cur = $('Current Sheet').all().map(i => i.json);
const prev = Object.fromEntries($('History Sheet').all().map(i => [i.json.metric, Number(i.json.value)]));
const rules = {
  revenue: { good: 'up', limit: 10 },
  signups: { good: 'up', limit: 15 },
  churn: { good: 'down', limit: 10 },
  nps: { good: 'up', limit: 10 },
  tickets_resolved: { good: 'up', limit: 20 }
};
const rows = cur.map(r => {
  const now = Number(r.value);
  const before = prev[r.metric];
  const delta = now - before;
  const pct = before === 0 ? 0 : (delta / before) * 100;
  const rule = rules[r.metric];
  const bad = rule.good === 'up' ? pct < -rule.limit : pct > rule.limit;
  const improving = rule.good === 'up' ? delta >= 0 : delta <= 0;
  return { metric: r.metric, now, before, delta, pct: Math.round(pct * 10) / 10,
    status: bad ? 'flag' : improving ? 'good' : 'watch' };
});
return [{ json: { rows, flagged: rows.filter(r => r.status === 'flag') } }];

The percentage formula is (current minus previous) divided by previous, times 100. Guarding against a previous value of zero avoids a divide by zero result of Infinity.

{
  "rows": [
    { "metric": "revenue", "now": 48200, "before": 44900, "delta": 3300, "pct": 7.3, "status": "good" },
    { "metric": "churn", "now": 2.4, "before": 2.1, "delta": 0.3, "pct": 14.3, "status": "flag" }
  ],
  "flagged": [{ "metric": "churn", "pct": 14.3 }]
}

5 Build the HTML report

An n8n Code node can return any string, so building HTML there needs no extra n8n templating service.

Another Code node renders the table. Email clients ignore most stylesheets, so use inline styles. Green marks improving metrics, red marks flagged ones, and amber covers movement in the wrong direction that stays under the limit.

Node: Code
Mode: Run Once for All Items

const { rows, flagged } = $input.first().json;
const color = { good: '#15803d', flag: '#b91c1c', watch: '#b45309' };
const sign = (n) => (n > 0 ? '+' : '') + n;
const tr = rows.map(r => `<tr><td>${r.metric}</td><td>${r.now}</td><td>${r.before}</td>
  <td style="color:${color[r.status]}">${sign(r.delta)} (${sign(r.pct)}%)</td>
  <td style="color:${color[r.status]};font-weight:bold">${r.status}</td></tr>`).join('');
const summary = flagged.length
  ? `${flagged.length} metric(s) need attention: ${flagged.map(f => f.metric).join(', ')}.`
  : 'No metric crossed its alert threshold this week.';
const html = `<h2>Weekly KPI report</h2><p>${summary}</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="6" style="border-collapse:collapse">
<tr><th>Metric</th><th>Current</th><th>Previous</th><th>Change</th><th>Status</th></tr>${tr}</table>`;
return [{ json: { html, summary, rows, flagged } }];

{
  "summary": "1 metric(s) need attention: churn.",
  "html": "<h2>Weekly KPI report</h2>..."
}

6 Email the leadership list

The n8n Send Email node accepts HTML directly, so the output of the previous n8n node can be passed in without conversion.

The Send Email node delivers the HTML body through SMTP.

Node: Send Email
Credential: SMTP account
From Email: reports@yourcompany.example
To Email: leadership@yourcompany.example
Subject: Weekly KPI report, week of {{ $now.minus({ days: 7 }).startOf('week').toFormat('LLL d') }}
Email Format: HTML
HTML: {{ $json.html }}

Use a distribution list address instead of a long list of individual recipients, so membership changes never require editing the workflow.

7 Post the summary to Slack

Run the n8n workflow manually once and check the Slack output in n8n before the first scheduled Monday.

Slack cannot render HTML tables, so send a short plain version: the top-line numbers and the flagged metrics. Build the text with an expression in a Slack node.

Node: Slack
Resource: Message
Operation: Send
Channel: #metrics
Text: *Weekly KPIs*
Revenue: {{ $json.rows[0].now }} ({{ $json.rows[0].pct }}%)
Signups: {{ $json.rows[1].now }} ({{ $json.rows[1].pct }}%)
{{ $json.summary }}

Search the rows array by metric name instead of relying on position if the sheet order may change.