> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.summation.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Catch anomalies before the review does

> A weekly report that flags the biggest changes, keeps ongoing issues visible, and tells you what it could not check.

<span className="template-meta">
  <span className="template-meta-label">Output</span>
  <span className="template-meta-value">[Report](/features/artifacts/reports) and scheduled [workflow](/features/workflows)</span>
  <span className="template-meta-label">Cadence</span>
  <span className="template-meta-value">Weekly</span>
  <span className="template-meta-label">For</span>
  <span className="template-meta-value">COOs and VPs of Operations, merchandising and category managers, revenue and growth leads, ops analysts</span>
</span>

## When to use it

Most problems start before the weekly review catches them. Summation checks the data every week and sends the few changes worth acting on. It keeps open issues visible and tells you when data is missing, so a quiet report means nothing changed, not that the check failed.

## Understanding the demo

When you delegate a monitor to Summation, you get a short report every week in the same order, whether or not anything happened.

The report starts with the changes worth a look, ranked by financial impact and limited to what your team can actually follow up on. Ongoing issues stay there until they are resolved. It also shows what could not be checked and includes zeroes, so you can tell the difference between a quiet week and a failed run.

<Frame caption="The monitor running as a scheduled workflow">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/summation-676748f5/O3zDvKjZscZT36fR/images/use-cases/templates/anomaly-detection.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=O3zDvKjZscZT36fR&q=85&s=5176c9e833effe26302242a48620c644" alt="A workflow canvas with three linked cards: a 'Schedule' card set to Monday at 7:00 AM on a weekly schedule; a 'Playbook' card named 'Return Rate Monitor', described as a 'Single-metric weekly anomaly detection report: return rate on the ultimate (accrual) basis, gross_demand minus net_sales over...' with an 'As-of week (blank = newest)' parameter left blank; and a 'Send an email' card with one recipient. A panel on the right titled 'Run Rate Anomaly Detection' reads 'Run the weekly return rate monitor before the Monday morning WBR and email attendees', with Status Active, Project Merchandising, Created by Unknown, Last updated Sep 8, 2026, and Next run Monday, Sep 14, 7:00 AM PDT. A note says editor access to the project is required to change or run this workflow, and the 'Run now' button is disabled." width="2534" height="1172" data-path="images/use-cases/templates/anomaly-detection.png" />
</Frame>

1. **Changes this week:** Findings ranked by margin impact, each with a clear follow-up. If nothing changed, the report says so
2. **Ongoing issues:** Step changes stay visible with their cumulative cost until resolved
3. **What is still unknown:** Possible causes the data cannot confirm, plus who can investigate
4. **What could not be checked:** Questions the available data cannot answer, routed to the right team
5. **Counts:** Totals for flagged, clean, ongoing, ineligible, and unanswerable cases
6. **Method:** How the monitor was calibrated and tested for each run

Every number links to its source query. Summation checks [the data, math, and findings](/features/artifacts/verification) before delivery.

## How it works

Before the first run, you choose what to watch and what counts as important:

1. **Check the data:** [Addison](/features/addison) looks at what is available, how each metric is calculated, and whether the data is current
2. **Set the watch list:** You decide which direction is bad and how many issues your team can handle each week
3. **Test the settings:** The monitor runs against your history, so you can see how often it would have alerted before you choose a threshold
4. **Build and verify:** Summation checks freshness, groups related changes, and writes the report, then [verifies](/features/artifacts/verification) it before anything is sent: cited figures against their source queries, and each finding against the data behind it
5. **Run it each week:** Save it as a [Playbook](/features/artifacts/playbooks) and schedule it weekly, and every run repeats the same checks on that week's data

## What you need

| Data                                            | Required? | What it adds                                             |
| ----------------------------------------------- | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Transactions at the level you want to watch** | Yes       | The metric and how it is calculated                      |
| **One full seasonal cycle of history**          | Optional  | Lets the report call a movement an anomaly               |
| **Margin or cost**                              | Optional  | Ranks findings by dollars. Without it, they rank by size |
| **Promo or launch calendar**                    | Optional  | Keeps expected events from being flagged                 |
| **Known past events**                           | Optional  | Tests the detection before it goes live                  |

Connect your [warehouse](/features/connectors) to run the monitor on fresh data each week. You can also upload a file for the first run.

## Make it yours

Change the metric, level, floor, or cap in the Playbook. Name a past event to test the monitor against it. Set a period to replay an earlier week. Ask Addison to remember corrections for future runs.

## Try it

**In Summation:**

* **Use the setup skill:** `/anomaly-detection`
* **Or follow the guided setup:** Get started → Choose a ready-made job → **Catch unusual changes early** → Explore demo → **Create with my data**

**From another agent:** Open [summation.com/agents.md](https://summation.com/agents.md) and ask for weekly anomaly detection on a named metric.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Reports" icon="file-lines" href="/features/artifacts/reports">
    How a report is built, cited, and edited.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Verification" icon="shield-check" href="/features/artifacts/verification">
    How Summation checks accuracy before you share.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Playbooks" icon="list-check" href="/features/artifacts/playbooks">
    Save the instructions so a run repeats exactly.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Workflows" icon="arrows-repeat" href="/features/workflows">
    Add a schedule and deliver by email or Slack.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
