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 (eg, 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 (eg, Send Email - Retail , Send Email - Service ).

3. Switch Node :

   • Modify cost center values ​​as needed to match your organization (eg, '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 amjid@amjidali.com 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