← Working Journal

D&S Resources

Work journal covering May 2025 to present.

Section 1: Job knowledge, responsibilities and tasks

Scope What the job covers

The six parts of the business I build the reporting for: projects, finance, HR, plant and equipment, HSEQ, and carbon. All six stand on one platform, the financial reporting system and data warehouse I designed, built and run.

Knowledge The platforms and tools I work in

Two bar charts. The first shows the business systems I read through their APIs: AroFlo, Xero, Clockify, Employment Hero, Gearbox and SharePoint. The second shows the tools I build with: Python, n8n, SQL Server, Power BI, Dagster, Excel and Obsidian. Each bar shows how much of that platform I run myself.

Tasks and responsibilities How work gets done

A repeating cycle of eight steps: get business requirements, interpret the requirements, assess system capability, build a prototype, ask for feedback, implement, monitor, improve, and back to the start. Obsidian sits at the centre because every step is documented there.

System flow How the data moves

Diagram: six source systems are read on a schedule by n8n cloud flows and a separate Python full extract, both started and restarted by Dagster. Raw files land in SharePoint before anything is processed, sync down to a workstation where Python watchers pick them up, and Python loaders write them into two SQL Server databases, an incremental one and a full loading one, that are compared against each other every morning. Power BI reads from the databases, and some reports still read the SharePoint files directly.

Section 2: Performance and contribution

129 pages and sheets of reporting 59 n8n workflows 8,820 lines of Python, writing and maintaining

Reports What leadership opens

Level Report Platform Pages / sheets Phase Contribution
Company D&S Company Level Reports Power BI 8 In Production Company financial report including HR and HSEQ
Project AROFLO Projects Summary Data Modeling Power BI 17 In Production Give details and bird-eye overview about project financial health
Project AROFLO Projects Summary Data Modeling-SQL Power BI 17 Finalizing Incremental loading method for future efficiency
Project AROFLO Projects Summary Data Modeling - Dagster-SQL Power BI 17 Finalizing Applying Dagster for better system management
Project Major Projects Report (DNS-11243) Power BI 16 In Production Give details and bird-eye overview about Major Projects financial health
Project Major Projects Report (DNS-11170) Power BI 16 In Production Give details and bird-eye overview about Major Projects financial health
Project Major Projects Report (DNS-11084) Power BI 16 In Production Give details and bird-eye overview about Major Projects financial health
Project Project Schedule Excel 1 In Production Project progression and project financial overview
Plant & Equipment GEARBOX_D&S Equipment tracker Excel 3 In Production Fleets and machine kms and hrs
HR Workforce Management Registry Excel 8 under Review Timesheet, leave and fatigue management
Carbon EMS Tracker Report Excel 5 In Production Scope 1 and 2 of CO2 emissions report
Project QUOTATION TEMPLATE Ver 1 Excel 5 under Review Quote template
12 reports 129

Workflows What runs without anyone starting it

Source system Platform Workflows Running
AroFlo n8n (cloud) 20 18
Xero n8n (cloud) 8 5
Employment Hero n8n (cloud) 3 0
Gearbox n8n (cloud) 1 1
SharePoint only / internal n8n (cloud) 21 10
Learning & scratch n8n (cloud) 6 0
Total 59 34

Counted from the live n8n instance, following the API cursor to the last page.

Code What I wrote and maintain

What it does Language Files Lines
Extract from API Python 6 2,859
Authentication Python 1 134
Transform Python 4 843
Load to database Python 5 1,474
Watch & trigger Python 2 947
Validate & monitor Python 6 1,311
Draft / utility Python 4 1,252
Total 28 8,820

Measured from the files themselves. Blank lines and comments excluded. Every figure above is counted from the rows beside it.

Section 3: Productivity

Time efficiency Tasks on cloud and machine schedule

Four recurring jobs. The left block shows how many times a month a person used to do each one by hand; the right block shows the same work still happening, on the same cycle, run by machine. A week of site claims consolidated weekly, the cash position every Friday, project setup for every new project, and report refreshes before each report.

Objectives Achieved

260 GB SharePoint storage reduced
498 GB D&S Resources data backed up
1 day DNS-11170 Daily Cost Summary, built

Section 4: Communication

Method How I explain technical work

Five steps in a line: identify where the understanding breaks down, narrow it with questions, choose a familiar analogy or a visual, explain, then confirm it has landed. A return arrow runs from the last step back to the second: if it has not landed, narrow it again.

Section 5: The role

Disciplines What the job covers

Four marks in a row, each labelled: Financial Analyst, Data Engineer, Power BI Developer and AI Automation Engineer. All four are drawn in navy and pale blue with a single amber element.

Get in touch

Happy to walk through any of this in more detail: how it was approached, or what I would do differently now.

Adelaide, South Australia · ACST (UTC+9:30)

nguyencongkhoitran@gmail.com Connect or message me