The problem
Before each show, every child needs a costume for every dance they're in. With 150 pupils and 10 dances, collecting sizes, adding up how many of each costume in each size, and working out what each family owes takes about 10 hours, and one miscount means a child without a costume on the night.
What the AI does
Keep one Google Sheet with a row per pupil per dance and the pupil's size. Click Ask Gemini and ask it to build a pivot table of costumes by dance and size for the supplier order, and a table of costume charges per family for invoicing. Google says Gemini in Sheets can create tables, formulas and pivot tables. You check the totals against the class lists. Because it holds children's details, it belongs in a business account: Google Workspace Business Standard (about $16£12€14A$23C$23 per user a month).
A worked example
A dance school in Stoke-on-Trent puts on 2 shows a year with about 150 pupils across 10 dances. The principal keeps sizes in a Google Sheet on Workspace and has Gemini build the order and charge tables.
Before
About 10 hours per show on costume sizes, orders and family charges
After
About 3 hours per show, mostly checking
What it's worth
About $186£140€167A$269C$263 saved in each show month, against about $16£12€14A$23C$23 a month for Workspace Business Standard. That is 7 hours per show at an assumed $27£20€24A$38C$38 an hour; with 2 shows a year it's about $372£280€333A$538C$526 a year against about $192£144€171A$276C$271 so it pays back if the school also uses Gemini in Sheets or Docs for other work.
How to set it up
- Use Google Workspace Business Standard (€13.60, about $16£12€14A$23C$23 per user a month on a one-year commitment) for the principal's account.
- Set up the sheet: pupil, family, dance, costume, size, price.
- Click Ask Gemini and ask: 'Make a pivot table of costumes by dance and size, and a table of total costume charges per family.'
- Check each dance's total against its class list, and check two families' charges by hand.
- Send the size totals to the supplier and the charges to families from your usual billing system.
What goes wrong
- Children's names and sizes are personal data under UK GDPR. Google says it doesn't use customers' Workspace data to train its generative AI; personal Google AI plans are on consumer terms. Keep medical notes out of this sheet.
- If a pupil joins or drops a dance, update the sheet first; the totals follow it.
- If Gemini builds a formula wrongly, every total is wrong the same way. Check by hand once.
- Business Starter (about $8£6€7A$12C$11) has Gemini in Gmail only, not Sheets.