How to Build Daily Standup Reports from Basecamp with Power Automate

Home > Create > Scheduled cloud flow

Create scheduled cloud flow

Navigate to make.powerautomate.com and click 'Create' in the left sidebar. Select 'Scheduled cloud flow' from the options. Name it 'Daily Basecamp Standup Report' and set the schedule to repeat every 1 day at your preferred time. Choose your timezone carefully since this affects when reports generate.

1. 1Click 'Create' in the left navigation
2. 2Select 'Scheduled cloud flow'
3. 3Enter 'Daily Basecamp Standup Report' as the flow name
4. 4Set repeat interval to 1 day
5. 5Choose your standup time (e.g., 8:00 AM)

Flow designer > New step > HTTP

Connect to Basecamp

Click 'New step' and search for 'HTTP' in the connector list. Basecamp doesn't have a native Power Automate connector, so you'll use HTTP requests with Basecamp's API. You'll need your Basecamp account ID and API token from your Basecamp settings page.

1. 1Click '+ New step' below the Recurrence trigger
2. 2Search for 'HTTP' in the connector search
3. 3Select 'HTTP' connector
4. 4Choose 'HTTP' action

HTTP action configuration

Configure Basecamp projects API call

Set the HTTP method to GET and enter the Basecamp projects endpoint URL. In headers, add 'Authorization' with your encoded credentials and 'User-Agent' with your app identifier. The URL format is https://3.basecampapi.com/YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID/projects.json. This retrieves all projects you'll filter for relevant ones.

1. 1Set Method to 'GET'
2. 2Enter URI: https://3.basecampapi.com/YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID/projects.json
3. 3Click 'Add new parameter' and select 'Headers'
4. 4Add Authorization header with Bearer token
5. 5Add User-Agent header with your app name

New step > Data Operation > Parse JSON

Parse project data

Add a 'Parse JSON' action to structure the Basecamp projects response. Click 'Use sample payload to generate schema' and paste a sample projects JSON response from Basecamp's API documentation. This creates the schema Power Automate needs to reference project IDs and names in later steps.

1. 1Click '+ New step' and search for 'Parse JSON'
2. 2Select 'Parse JSON' from Data Operations
3. 3Click in Content field and select 'body' from HTTP action
4. 4Click 'Use sample payload to generate schema'
5. 5Paste sample Basecamp projects JSON response

New step > HTTP

Get completed tasks

Add another HTTP action to fetch completed todolists for your target projects. Use Basecamp's completed endpoint: https://3.basecampapi.com/YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID/projects/PROJECT_ID/todolists/completed.json. You'll need to repeat this for each project you want in the report.

1. 1Add new HTTP action
2. 2Set method to GET
3. 3Enter completed tasks endpoint URL
4. 4Copy same headers from previous HTTP action
5. 5Replace PROJECT_ID with actual project ID

New step > HTTP

Get upcoming due dates

Add a third HTTP action for Basecamp's schedule endpoint to fetch upcoming deadlines. The endpoint https://3.basecampapi.com/YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID/projects/PROJECT_ID/schedule_entries.json returns events and deadlines. You'll filter these for items due today and tomorrow in the report formatting.

1. 1Add another HTTP action
2. 2Set method to GET
3. 3Enter schedule endpoint URL
4. 4Use same authentication headers
5. 5Target same project ID

New step > Data Operation > Compose

Format the report data

Add a 'Compose' action to build your Slack message format. Use Power Automate expressions to structure the data into a readable standup report. Reference the parsed JSON outputs from previous steps using dynamic content. Include sections for completed tasks, upcoming deadlines, and overdue items.

1. 1Search for and add 'Compose' action
2. 2Click in Inputs field
3. 3Build message template with static text and dynamic content
4. 4Add expressions for date formatting
5. 5Structure sections for completed, upcoming, and overdue tasks

New step > Slack > Post message

Connect to Slack

Add the Slack connector and choose 'Post message' action. Sign in with your Slack account when prompted. Select the target channel for your standup reports from the dropdown. The channel list populates from your connected Slack workspace automatically.

1. 1Click '+ New step' and search 'Slack'
2. 2Select Slack connector
3. 3Choose 'Post message' action
4. 4Sign in to your Slack workspace when prompted
5. 5Select target channel from dropdown

Slack Post message configuration

Configure message content

In the message field, click and select the output from your Compose action. This inserts the formatted report as the Slack message content. Optionally set the bot name and add an emoji icon for the automated posts to distinguish them from human messages.

1. 1Click in Message field
2. 2Select 'Outputs' from Compose action in dynamic content
3. 3Optionally set custom bot name
4. 4Choose an emoji icon for the bot
5. 5Preview the message formatting

Flow designer toolbar > Save > Test

Test and activate

Click 'Save' to store your flow configuration. Then click 'Test' and choose 'Manually' to run it once immediately. Check your Slack channel to verify the report appears correctly with real Basecamp data. If successful, the flow will run automatically on your configured schedule.

1. 1Click 'Save' in the top toolbar
2. 2Click 'Test' button
3. 3Select 'Manually' test option
4. 4Click 'Run flow' to execute immediately
5. 5Check Slack channel for the generated report

Add this expression in your Compose action to format completion dates and filter tasks from the last 24 hours. Paste it in the expression editor when building your message template.

if(
  greater(
    ticks(items('Apply_to_each')?['completed_at']),

if(
  greater(
    ticks(items('Apply_to_each')?['completed_at']),
    ticks(addDays(utcNow(), -1))
  ),
  concat(
    '• ',
    items('Apply_to_each')?['title'],
    ' (',
    items('Apply_to_each')?['assignee']?['name'],
    ' - ',
    formatDateTime(items('Apply_to_each')?['completed_at'], 'MMM d'),
    ')'
  ),
  ''
)