How to automate report distribution with SFTP

Picture this: It's first thing in the morning, and there's a meeting coming up. You were meant to have a report ready to show the analysis team but didn't get around to it this month. The meeting starts, and the team opens SharePoint to find today's sales reports already there, neatly organized, and ready for review. The data moved automatically from your ERP system overnight, and you didn't have to lift a finger. 

This isn't wishful thinking. Automated reporting over SFTP makes this happen every day for thousands of businesses. Whether you're moving SAP financials to SharePoint, sales data to Google Drive, NetSuite reports to S3, or anywhere else, you can automatically distribute reports with SFTP.

If this sounds promising, where do you start? How do can you set up SFTP automation that runs reliably, stays secure, and frees your team from repetitive file transfers?

With a little bit of setup, planning, and the right tool for the job, you can create set-and-forget automation to get reports out of any system and distribute them to the right people using SFTP. 

What is automated report distribution?

Automated report distribution combines secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) with automatic report generation. When set up correctly, reports are generated automatically from the source and then moved from the source system to their destination through an encrypted SFTP connection.

This is especially useful when you have regular reports coming from the same place. Automating the process eliminates the need to grab them manually and makes sure they're always available on time and in the right place.

Depending on the systems you're connecting, there's a few things you need to do to get automated reporting set up and running. 

What do you need before starting?

Before setting up automated reporting with SFTP, you'll need a few things.

• SFTP server - You'll need a server that supports SFTP connections to handle secure file transfers
• Destination for reports - If there isn't already a dedicated place (or places) for your reports to end up in your storage platform like a Reports folder, create them. Many businesses use cloud storage like SharePoint or Google Workspace for their reports.
• Make sure your source supports an SFTP connection - Nearly every application can support connections via SFTP, but it's always a good idea to check that yours does.
• Automation tool - This is where you create the automation to pull the report from the source and distribute it to one or multiple destinations and is what makes the process automatic.

Once you have all of these things, you can start setting up your report distribution process. 

How do you set up report distribution over SFTP?

Setting up SFTP reporting involves four key steps:

1. Set up your SFTP server

If you don't have one already, you'll need to set up an SFTP server. You can either do this yourself with an on-premise self-hosted server or with a cloud-based option.

Self-hosted requires you to gather all of the hardware and set up the server yourself. You'll need to run and manage the server and any updates and patches on your own, but with proper maintenance ongoing costs can be relatively low. You'll then need to find a way to connect this server to your storage, which might require third-party software if you're connecting to a cloud platform.

Cloud-based SFTP servers like Couchdrop handle all of the setup for you, and all you need to do is sign up and connect your storage platforms. There aren't any hardware or management costs, and instead, you'll pay a subscription cost that covers everything.

For most businesses, a cloud SFTP server is the easier and more cost-effective option since there are no infrastructure costs and setup is simple without requiring a lot of technical knowledge. 

2. Configure user access

Next, create your SFTP users and set appropriate permissions. You'll need at least one SFTP user to set up report distribution, but if you're getting reports from multiple sources or sending to multiple destinations, you might need multiple users. Remember to follow the principle of least privilege - users should only have access to what they need.

3. Test your connection

Always verify your setup before implementing automation. If you're using a cloud-based SFTP server there's likely an interface you can use to test this. But with either option, you can connect to SFTP through a command line to run a test like this:

# Basic connection test
sftp reportuser@sftp.company.com
[Enter password when prompted]

# File transfer test
put test.txt
get test.txt

4. Connect sources and destinations

With your SFTP server configured and a successful connection, you'll next need to link the server with your sources and destination. Think of the SFTP server as the bridge between the source (where the reports are generated) and the destination (where you want people to access them from). 

While any SFTP server can connect platforms that support SFTP, getting those reports to the destination can be a challenge. Couchdrop can connect directly to your existing cloud storage without any coding or configs, which is a major advantage and simplifies report distribution. 

Test that the process works, that you can connect the source to the SFTP server, and that the SFTP server can connect to the destination(s). Once you've tested and confirmed the connections work, the next step is to set up the automation. 

How do you automate report distribution?

The specific steps for setting up reporting automation will vary depending on the platforms you're using. However, there are a few best practices that apply across the board that can stop potential problems and issues. 

Smart file naming

Your automation should create meaningful file names that help track and organize your reports. Modern SFTP solutions support dynamic variables for automatic file naming. Here are some practical examples:

Monthly Financial Reports

financial_report_{YYYY}-{MM}.xlsx

This creates files like: financial_report_2025-01.xlsx

Daily Sales Logs

sales_{YYYY}-{MM}-{DD}_{TIME_HH}{TIME_MM}.csv

This creates files like: sales_2025-01-10_1430.csv

Regional Reports

{User}_advertising_report_{MMM}_{YYYY}.pdf

This creates files like: John_advertising_report_JAN_2025.pdf

File Security

SFTP transfers are encrypted by design, but you can also add encryption to your files for added security. Some modern SFTP solutions can do this as part of the automation. Files can be pulled from the source and encrypted during transfer. The reverse is also possible, where an encrypted file is decrypted as part of the automation. 

Setting notifications and alerts

In many cases, it's important to let someone know the file is available or to get an alert if the transfer process had an error. Most automation platforms will let you choose a user or email to notify and you can set specifics based on who needs to be notified and what they need to know about. 

Setting up the automation flow

A complete automation setup includes:

1. Source configuration. This will monitor folders for new reports that are generated. You can set file pattern matching to only grab specific files and define processing rules to have different actions done to different files depending on parameters you set. 

2. Transfer rules. Decide if you require file encryption or decryption, and use the automation to rename files to match naming conventions in the destination. Define paths for the final destination(s) for the file. 

3. Post-transfer actions. After the file is transferred, send notifications to anyone who needs to know the file is available. If you don't need the original file at the source, you can also clean it up as part of the automation. 

How do you handle common issues?

Even well-designed report distribution systems can run into problems. Knowing how to handle common SFTP issues keeps your reporting flowing smoothly.

Connection problems are often the first hurdle. When a connection fails, start with the basics: check your network access and verify your credentials. If those check out, look at your server status. Often, the issue is something simple like an expired password or a temporary network glitch.

Failed transfers need a different approach. Set up notifications so you know when transfers haven't completed properly. File logs will let you know what actions were attempted and might have error-handling built-in so you can make adjustments if necessary. 

Practical uses for automated report distribution

Let's look at common real-world examples of automated reporting over SFTP:

SAP Financial Reports to SharePoint

Your SAP system generates financial reports each night at 2 AM. These reports land in a specific output directory in an on-prem server.


The SFTP automation can pick up these files and perform 4 actions:

1. Encrypt them with PGP encryption
2. Move them to your finance team's SharePoint site
3. Rename them with readable timestamps: finance_report_{YYYY}_{MM}_{DD}.xlsx
4. Delete the original unneeded file to save server space. 

MYOB Daily Sales to Google Drive

MYOB exports daily sales data at midnight to a local folder. The SFTP automation performs 3 actions:

1. Monitors the MYOB export folder
2. Transfers only CSV files to your Google Drive analysis folder
3. Notifies your sales team via email when new sales reports arrive.

NetSuite Reports to AWS S3 and Dropbox Business

Someone has configured NetSuite scheduled reports to generate every 12 hours. Your SFTP automation performs 6 actions

1. Collects the reports from NetSuite's SFTP output
2. Makes a copy of the file
3. Delivers one copy to a specific S3 bucket
4. Renames the S3 file to match the S3 bucket
5. Delivers the second copy to Dropbox Business
6. Renames the Dropbox Business file to sales_report_{YYYY}_{MM}_{DD}.xlsx

Each of these processes runs automatically after being set up and tested once, without any manual work. The only time you need to step in is if something goes wrong - and with proper alerting, you'll know exactly when and where to look.

What makes automated reporting successful?

Success with reporting automation comes down to good planning and maintenance. Name your files clearly and consistently - this helps track what's what and when it was created. Set up notifications that tell you about both successes and failures. You want to know when things work and when they don't.

Think about file management too. How long should you keep old reports? Set up retention policies that automatically clean up outdated files. Keep an eye on your storage space and consider sending old reports to an archival platform when they aren't being actively looked at. 

Ready to automate your reports?

Automated reporting using SFTP doesn't have to be time-consuming or complex. With the right tool, you can connect and automate everything without a single line of code. 

If this sounds helpful to you then give Couchdrop a try. With Couchdrop, you can set up SFTP automations in minutes. Simply create an account and your SFTP server will be created instantly with no config files to manage or infrastructure to set up. Then connect your cloud storage and configure your automation rules. The whole process can be done in minutes. 

Start your free 14-day trial and see how easy SFTP automation can be. You'll get full access to all Couchdrop features and don't need to include a credit card to try it out. Register for an account now to get started.