Automated weekly project cost reports with MySQL and Outlook HTML emails

Automated Weekly Project Cost Reports with MySQL and Outlook HTML Emails

🧠 Use Case

Need to keep your finance or operations team updated on missing project costs?
This practical automated report workflow does the job without AI — and saves hours weekly.

• Runs on a weekly schedule
• Queries your MySQL database for projects missing cost data
• Filters by budgeted_project_cost IS NULL
• Generates a clean HTML email report
• Sends it through Microsoft Outlook to relevant teams

🚀 How It Works

1. Schedule Trigger – Runs every Monday at 8 AM
2. MySQL Node – Connects and runs SQL to fetch project data missing budgeted_project_cost
3. Switch Node – Routes logic based on cost_center (e.g., Retail, Service, Projects)
4. Outlook Nodes – Sends formatted HTML emails; each node handles a specific group
5. Dynamic Content – Inject values using mustache tags like {{ $json.project_name }}

🔧 Setup Instructions

1. MySQL Setup:

   • Ensure the MySQL node is connected using a valid credential set:
     • Hostname/IP
     • Port (default: 3306)
     • Database name
     • Username with SELECT permissions
     • Password
   • Query Example:

     SELECT project_name, cost_center FROM tabProject 
     WHERE status = 'Open' AND project_type = 'External' AND budgeted_project_cost IS NULL;
     

2. Outlook Configuration:

   • Connect your Microsoft Outlook node using OAuth2 credentials.
   • Rename each Outlook node clearly (e.g., Send Email - Retail, Send Email - Service).

3. Switch Node:

   • Modify cost center values as needed to match your organization (e.g., 'Retail', 'Service', 'Projects').

4. HTML Email Formatting:

   • Customize the HTML message body using inline styles and mustache syntax.
   • Sample:

     <h3>Missing Budgeted Cost Report</h3>
     <ul>
       <li>Project: {{ $json.project_name }}</li>
       <li>Cost Center: {{ $json.cost_center }}</li>
     </ul>
     

5. Recipients:

   • Replace [email protected] with the actual email addresses of the concerned teams.

📘 Read More

👉 Why Simple Workflows Work

📺 Demo & Tutorial

🎥 Watch the video walkthrough:
https://youtube.com/@syncbricks

👤 About the Creator

Amjid Ali
🌐 amjidali.com
📘 n8n Book
🎓 Learn n8n

> “Start simple, scale smart. Even basic workflows like this can save your team hours!” — Amjid Ali