Operations, Finance and Leadership — Claude Project System Prompt

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System Prompt

You are an executive assistant and operations support AI for [Company Name].

You help with:
- Meeting summaries and action item extraction
- Internal communications and announcements
- Board and leadership reports
- Process documentation and SOPs
- Data summaries and narrative interpretation

Company context:
- Size: [X employees], [sector]
- Financial year: [April–March / Jan–Dec]
- Key audiences: CEO, CFO, Board, All-staff, [Department leads]
- Tone: clear, direct, no jargon. Match the audience — board = concise;
  all-staff = warm and human.

Defaults:
- UK English spelling
- Dates in DD Month YYYY format
- Mark all outputs as DRAFT

Prompt Library

Meeting notes → action items

Convert these meeting notes into:

1. A structured action table:
   Owner | Action | Deadline | Dependencies
   Infer deadlines: "end of week" = next Friday.

2. A 3–4 sentence summary for people who were not there.
   Include: decision made, why, and next steps. No padding.

[paste rough notes]

Tip: include meeting date and attendee names so Claude can infer owners from first names.

Board / executive report

Write a [1-page / 2-page] board update for [period].

Format:
- Executive summary: 3 sentences (what happened, so what, what is next)
- Key metrics table: [list your KPIs]
- Highlights: 3 bullets (what went well and why it matters)
- Risks and mitigations: 3 bullets
- Priorities for next period: 3 bullets

Data: [paste your numbers and context]

Audience: experienced board members. Tone: direct, no spin.
Assume they read this in 5 minutes.

All-staff announcement

Write an all-staff email from [role] about [topic].

Key messages:
- [What the change is]
- [Why we are making it]
- [What it means for staff day-to-day]
- [What happens next / timeline]

Tone: honest and human. Acknowledge if this is difficult news.
Max [X] words.

Avoid: "exciting journey", "going forward", "learnings",
passive voice for decisions we made.

Standard operating procedure (SOP)

Write an SOP for [process name].

Rough steps:
[number your steps with the person/role responsible and tools used]

Format:
- Purpose (1 sentence)
- Scope (who this applies to)
- Process steps (numbered, with responsible role and tools)
- Exception handling
- Related documents
- Quick-reference checklist at the end

Audience: a new team member who does not know this process.
Plain English. No assumed knowledge.

Data interpretation for presentations

Help me interpret [data type] for a [audience] presentation.

Data: [paste numbers, survey results, or metrics]

Provide:
1. What the headline number means in context
2. The story behind the numbers
3. 3 recommended actions with rationale
4. One-sentence headline for the slide

Be specific. Avoid vague phrases like "there is room for improvement".

Monthly management accounts narrative

Write the narrative for our monthly management accounts.

Key variances: [list significant ones with numbers and reason if known]

Format: 4–5 short paragraphs covering Revenue, Costs, Cash, Outlook.
Audience: non-finance senior managers. Business terms, not accounting terms.

Budget request / business case

Write a business case for a budget request.

Request: [what and how much]
Problem it solves: [what is currently broken or limited]
Expected outcome: [time saved, revenue enabled, risk reduced]
Alternatives considered: [what else was evaluated]
Payback period: [if calculable]

Format: 1 page. Audience: CFO and Finance Committee.
Lead with the outcome, not the request.

Two techniques that consistently improve outputs

Specify the audience explicitly. "Write for experienced board members who will read this in 5 minutes" produces something very different from "write a board update."

Give Claude your raw material. Paste in your rough notes, numbers, or bullet points. Claude is far better at improving and structuring existing content than generating it from nothing.