All Posts
The bigness of your data is likely not its most important characteristic. In fact, it probably doesn’t even rank among the Top 3 most important data issues you have to deal with. Data quality, the integration of data silos, and handling and extracting value from unstructured data are still the most
I have probably touched on this topic many times before: accessing the data that has been loaded into a master data environment. In recent weeks some client experiences are really highlighting something that is increasingly apparent (and should be obvious) for master data management: the need to demonstrate that it
There are multiple types of data models, and some companies choose to NOT data model purchased software applications. I view this a bit differently. I think that any purchased application is part of our enterprise, thus it is part of our enterprise data model (or that concept is part of the
A common question on SAS discussion forums is how to compute the minimum and maximum values across several variables. It is easy to compute statistics across rows by using the DATA step. This article shows how to compute the minimum and maximum values for each observation (across variables) and, for
When you examine where most data quality defects arise from, you soon realise that your source applications are a prime culprit. You can argue that the sales team always enter incomplete address details, or the surgeons can't remember the correct patient type codes but in my experience the majority of
➤ DISCLOSURE! In June 2018 Google introduced changes to the way it handles its Maps platform. They now require API key in order to embed a map, plus Google Maps "projects" must now be associated with a billing account. Unless these new Google rules are met, Google maps described in
Calling All Forecasters Have you tried Forecast Value Added analysis? What did you find out? Are you willing to share your learnings (at least those that can be revealed publicly)?Would you like to be featured in a new blog series on FVA, published by the Institute of Business Forecasting? The IBF was
Data. Our industry really loves that word, making it seem like the whole world revolves around it. We certainly enjoy revolving a lot of words around it. We put words like master, big, and meta before it, and words like management, quality, and governance after it. This spins out disciplines
Several new capabilities and components are available in SAS Environment Manager 2.4, the web-based administration solution for a SAS environment. For me, the most important enhancement is probably the SAS Environment Manager Service Management Architecture Framework, which provides features and functions that enable SAS Environment Manager to fit into a
Having worked in analytics for over 25 years, I’ve never really felt part of the ‘cool gang’. However that’s changing and all of a sudden, at long last, it is "chic to be geek!" Research published by SAS UK and the Tech Partnership reveals that from 2013 to 2020, the
As Sheldon Cooper would say, this is the first episode of "Fun with Charts". I did not find a cool term like "Vexillology" and "Cartography" is taken by map making, so let us go with "Chartology". Yesterday, I saw a couple of interesting bar charts as shown on the right. I thought
A lack of mental health professionals is pushing the US mental health system to a crisis point. And even if a psychiatrist commits someone to a facility, there may not be a bed for them. A startling 55 percent of all US counties have zero psychiatrists, psychologists or social workers
The 2014 INFORMS Annual Conference in San Francisco was quite a success. Record attendance, diverse program, great city, lovely weather: who can ask for more? SAS and, in particular, SAS/OR was well-represented with a number of talks in all areas of operations research. Here is a somewhat arbitrary selection, please click
Can you spare a few minutes to assist researchers at the Lancaster Centre for Forecasting? We have been commissioned by the European Journal of Operational Research to write a review article on Supply Chain Forecasting. In undertaking this task, we would like to ensure that the topics covered reflect the priorities
For many industries, big data analytics have opened numerous doors for more employees to be groundbreaking and to challenge the corporate status quo. Prior to big data technologies, risk taking behaviors were primarily reserved for provocative souls who stretched organizational boundaries to disrupt industries, such as airline revenue management. There were winners and losers