Overview
The SAS Tax Reports Dashboard started as a personal tool to collect tribal knowledge about undocumented SAS reports. PowerShell monitoring was added to enable real-time job tracking. After identifying a critical visibility gap, the solution was passed to senior leadership and subsequently absorbed into the company-wide IT monitoring system.
SAS Reports Dashboard - Real-time monitoring interface
The Problem
Business Context
Tax reporting operations depend on 18+ SAS jobs generating critical business reports. No monitoring system existed—problems were discovered only when stakeholders asked "where's my report?" Tribal knowledge of job schedules and dependencies was spread across the team with no consolidated view.
I was given SAS tasks from a promoted employee with minimal documentation. When teams reached out, I didn't know what reports they were referring to or how to find information. I built this dashboard as a personal tool to collect the tribal knowledge I was learning through requests and conversations with other employees.
Impacted Departments
Key Pain Points
The Solution
Started with a Power BI dashboard to centralize knowledge, then added a PowerShell script to monitor folder locations based on report criteria (naming conventions, file sizes, expected schedules). This enabled real-time job tracking instead of reactive troubleshooting.
Evolution Path
Monitoring Capabilities
Validation Criteria
| Check | Pass Condition |
|---|---|
| File Exists | Expected file present |
| File Size | > minimum threshold |
| Timestamp | Within schedule window |
| Naming | Matches expected pattern |
Alert Conditions
Identifying the Gap
These SAS jobs were a single point of failure for high-priority tax reports with no visibility. I identified this critical gap, built the solution, and presented it to senior leadership. The project went through WEX's ISARB process (Internal Security Application Review Board) and was ultimately absorbed into a larger company-wide IT tracking system.
Monitored Systems
Architecture
Technology Stack
| Technology | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Power BI | Visualization platform |
| PowerShell | Monitoring scripts |
| SQL Server | Data storage |
| SAS | Report generation (monitored system) |
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visibility | None | Real-time | Complete coverage |
| Discovery | Reactive | Proactive | Hours saved |
| Documentation | Tribal knowledge | Centralized | Accessible to all |
| Response Time | After complaints | Before impact | Preventive action |