“Currently, sales report … ” vs. “Currently, THE sales report …”

Question

I read and compared with this question: Are there any simple rules for article usage ("a" vs "the" vs none)

However, either I am missing something here ... or the first construction is plainly wrong with regard to the answer given there (and still heavily misused all around).

In constructions like this one:

"Currently, sales report is executed automatically every hour" vs. "Currently, THE sales report is executed automatically every hour"

... I see both versions around quite frequently, both with or without "the". Do I understand correct that according to the answer given on the other thread, only the second approach is correct?

Answer 1

In general, any time you are referring to a single instance of something, and the word used is not a proper noun, you should precede the noun with "a", "the", or one of certain adjectives, like "one" or a possessive. Note that most adjectives don't eliminate the requirement for the article.

Right: I fed the dog.
Wrong: I fed dog.

Right: I fed Rover.
Wrong: I fed the Rover. (assuming "Rover" is the name of the dog)

Right: I fed my dog.
Wrong: I fed the my dog.

Right: I fed the black dog.
Wrong: I fed black dog.

Answer 2

The confusion may be arising because you are hearing "sales report" in a very specialised context. When talking about sales reports in normal conversation, only the second construction is correct. However, my guess is that in the context you are hearing it, "sales report" is the name of a program or process that creates a sales report. In this case Sales Report is a proper noun, and the second case makes sense.

Answer 3

As it is written, I would say "Currently, the sales report is executed automatically every hour."

However, from the context it seems that this refers to a computer program executing to compile/generate a sales report. In the case where this program is called "Sales Report", it would also be correct to say "Currently, Sales Report is executed automatically every hour."