I've been the person stuck rebuilding the report
I'm Anna, and DataOctet is me. I build reporting automation, internal tools, and dashboards for small teams that can't move their data into someone else's platform.
- Based in
- Pacific Northwest, working remotely
- Works with
- Small teams, operations and finance leads, owner-run firms
- Focus
- Reporting automation, internal tools, dashboards
- Engagements
- Fixed scope, quoted as a project
The short version
Before I built these systems, I used them. I spent years in roles where a spreadsheet held something important together: class rosters, month-end reconciliations, support queues. Every one of them had a file that somebody rebuilt by hand, every week, because fixing it properly was never anyone's job that month.
That's the work I do now. I take one recurring, manual process and turn it into something that runs on its own, hands back a result you can trust, and doesn't collapse when the person who understood it goes on leave.
I work alone and on purpose. You talk to the person building the thing, not to an account manager who relays it. Nothing gets handed to a subcontractor.
That also sets the size of what I take on. A two-to-six week project with a clear finish line is exactly right. A permanent data department is not, and I'll tell you that on the first call rather than three invoices in.
How I work
Four things shape every project, and they're worth knowing before you hire me.
- Your data stays where it livesMy first question is where your data is allowed to live. The answer usually points to a tool that runs inside your environment instead of one that copies everything out of it.
- Fixed scope, quoted up frontYou know the price and the finish line before the work starts. No hourly meter, no scope that quietly grows.
- Built to outlive meEvery build ships with a plain-language runbook and a written handover, so your team can run it, change it, and fix it without calling me.
- The numbers have to be checkableAn automated report that's wrong is worse than a manual one. Reconciliation and verification are part of the build, not an afterthought.
Where the background comes from
Four fields, one common thread: someone was doing by hand what a system should have been doing.
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Education
Records, rosters, and reporting that had to be accurate and on time, with no technical staff to lean on.
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Finance and accounting
Reconciliation work, where "close enough" isn't a result. This is where I learned to distrust a number until it ties out.
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Insurance technical support
The technical side of a regulated environment: systems, access, and the hard limits on where client data is allowed to go.
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Data analytics
Power BI, Python, SQL, and workflow automation. Building the reporting instead of assembling it by hand.
If you need a full data platform, a staffed BI department, or someone on site five days a week, I'm not the right fit, and I'll say so on the call.
Credentials and tools
- Certified Data Analyst
- Associate degree, Network Security
- Power BI, SQL, Python
- Workflow automation and internal tooling
- Web analytics, Search Console, and data quality auditing
The security training is the part clients notice least and benefit from most. It's why I ask what your data is allowed to touch before I ask what you want built, and why the answer is rarely "upload it all to a new service."
DataOctet is operated by NestPaths LLC, registered in Washington State.
Tell me about the report that takes too long
Twenty minutes, no preparation needed. Bring the process that annoys you most, and we'll figure out whether it's a two-week fix or something you should leave alone.
Prefer email? anna@dataoctet.com