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PPS: Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse

County agencies are required to submit data to the Program Participation System (PPS) describing all enrolled mental health and substance use consumers, the services they receive, and their functional status.

We use this data to evaluate the performance and capacity of Wisconsin's behavioral health system.

PPS redesign

We are redesigning parts of PPS. This project includes merging the mental health and substance use modules into one module.

Learn more about this project

Data specifications

Batch XML specifications

Training materials

PPS Portal reports

PPS Portal reports display data on participant episode and service data submitted by your agency to the mental health and AODA modules in PPS. These include reports on data quality, participant demographics, outcomes, and services.

We have transitioned to a data warehouse that stores the data for the PPS Portal reports. The Enterprise Data Warehouse/Data Analytics and Reporting (EDW/DAR) is a SAS solution that has replaced Business Objects and the Gainwell DSS/ LTC Data Warehouse.

The PPS Portal reports are being transitioned to the new SAS application in phases. Currently, two data quality reports are available to run in the production environment:

  • PPS Portal: Data Quality - Open Episodes without Recent Services
  • PPS Portal: Data Quality - Open Episodes Need Status Update (mental health)

We will be adding the remaining reports over the next several months. We will update this page with information about the remaining reports when the information is available.

Want to learn how to access these reports? Check out these frequently asked questions.

Frequently asked questions

Accounts for SAS EDW/DAR are managed through the Partner site of the ForwardHealth Portal.

A previous login used to access the PPS Portal reports in Business Objects through ForwardHealth is still valid. To access the SAS PPS reports, refer to the other FAQs.

To request a new login, refer to "Section 3 Getting Started" in the ForwardHealth Partner Portal User Guide.

When you login: In the "Role" field, be sure to select "PPS MH & AODA Reports."

Your request will then need to be approved by your local administrator. For more information on portal administrators, refer to the relevant sections in the ForwardHealth Partner Portal User Guide.

For help with account issues, contact the ForwardHealth Portal Helpdesk:

To change or reset your password, refer to "Section 5 General Portal Information" in the ForwardHealth Partner Portal User Guide.

Once you have a username and password through the FowardHealth Portal, you can log into the SAS applications.

SAS EDW/DAR includes a virtual learning environment (VLE) and a production environment.

  • The SAS VLE is where you go to retrieve training content and materials.
  • The SAS Viya production environment is where you go to use the SAS software to access reports.

Refer to the External Users: Instructions for Accessing the SAS Environments (PDF) to log in to the SAS environments.

If you have any issues accessing either of these environments, contact the SAS Helpdesk at widhs-helpdesk@sas.com with a screenshot of your issue.

To access the SAS EDW/DAR training, log into the SAS VLE and select the "External Users" tab at the top.

Complete the following trainings to learn how to access and use the PPS Portal reports. Note: Follow the instructions for SAS Visual Analytics Reports rather than the SAS Studio Report Tasks, as the PPS reports are accessed through the SAS Visual Analytics application.

  • Training One: Introduction to the EDW/DAR SAS solution video
  • Training Two: Accessing SAS reports video

You can find a quick guide to navigating to Visual Analytics reports in the “Interacting with SAS Visual Analytics Reports” section starting on page two of the “Job Aid: Accessing SAS Reports."

If you have issues or questions regarding the training, contact EDWDARtraining@sas.com for assistance.

If you are interested in attending a one-on-one training session with a SAS instructor, contact EDWDARtraining@sas.com to request a training office hour. When requesting an office hour, please send a list of the topics you are wanting to discuss along with proposed dates and times.

Log into the Production environment and navigate to the Visual Analytics application by selecting "Explore and Visualize" in the upper left menu.

Within the SAS Visual Analytics application, the PPS Portal mental health/substance use reports are located in SAS Content/External/_DAR/Mental Health & Substance Abuse/Additional Reports/.

If you have questions about the PPS Portal reports, contact the Division of Care and Treatment Services at DHSWEBMAILDCTS@dhs.wisconsin.gov.

If you are able to log into SAS EDW/DAR but the "Mental Health & Substance Abuse" folder does not appear by following the path in the answer to the previous question, you may need to request DSS universe access for your ForwardHealth Portal account.

Log into the ForwardHealth Portal. Refer to the ForwardHealth Partner Portal User Guide for instructions if needed.

Follow the instructions in section 4.3 “Requesting DSS Universe Access” starting on page 35 of the ForwardHealth Partner Portal User Guide. Request access to "PPS MH & AODA Reports."

For help with account issues, contact the ForwardHealth Portal Helpdesk:

Related pages

Glossary

 
Last revised April 8, 2025