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I hope that the following statement is not too controversial...but here it goes: Microsoft Excel is not a database system. That is, I know that people do use it as a database, but it's not an application that supports the rigor and discipline of managing data in the same way
As editor of the SAS Business Report, I constantly analyze what’s “clicking” for readers and what’s not. So far in 2011, the following articles have been the biggest hitters: Advanced Analytics for the Modern Business Analyst SAS Placed in Leaders Quadrant for BI Top Five Big Ideas in Analytical Data
“Our performance last month was 46.” Oh, you don’t have to thank me, I was just doing my job. Not very well, I might add. 46? 46 what? Or 46 who’s? Without context, 46 is just a number, just data. In context, perhaps that’s 46 out of 48 (not too
Dear SAS users and excellent blog readers, this week's sort of randomly selected tip comes from esteemed SAS author Art Carpenter. Many of you are probably familiar with Art's work and may have had the pleasure of hearing him speak at a user group conference. He's a great communicator and
In the health care field, the impact of fraud, waste and abuse on payers -- whether insurance companies, government agencies or self-insured employers -- is enormous. Fraud losses weaken a payer’s financial position, with fraud loss estimates rivaling net income. Fraud losses feed the escalating care cost curve, undermining a
I discovered QR codes just a few months ago. As I did research to find out more about them, one of the first articles I came across spoke about the fact that QR codes had basically run their course and their time had come and gone. Darn, another trend I
Are we oversimplifying customer segmentation and treatment strategies? SAS Marketing Director Jonathan Hornby thinks so. He also believes customer lifetime value should include an understanding of sentiment, influence and the value of collaboration with your customers. In fact, if you're not factoring these items into your customer segmentations, you're probably
It's a simple task to use SAS to compute the number of weekdays between two dates. You can use the INTCK function with the WEEKDAY interval to come up with that number. diff = intck('WEEKDAY', start_date, end_date); If you want to compute the number of working days between two dates,
I recently conducted a financial planning exercising to focus on savings – after all, college tuition rates are climbing and by the time my son goes to school in 18 years or so, I may be looking at $60,000 a year for a public university. Now is the time to
A midsize regional health insurer with approximately 3,000 employees across 10 locations in the Western United States created a role for a business continuity manager (BCM) reporting to the chief operating officer. In this organization, the enterprise risk management (ERM) functions, established in 2004, are owned by the chief legal
Dear readers, I’m trying out something new that I hope you’ll like. Once a week, for the next couple of months, I’ll post a short excerpt or tip from one of our books. To make things fun, I’m going to randomly select the book by walking into the SAS Press
The Spring 2011 issue of Foresight is now available. Here is Editor Len Tashman's preview: For forecasters, “being wrong” is the expectation; the hope is that we’re not too wrong. But admitting to our failures is never easy. The Spring 2011 issue leads off with Marcus O’Connor’s book review of
SAS Enterprise Guide is best known as an interactive interface to SAS, but did you know that you can use it to run batch-style programs as well? SAS Enterprise Guide has always offered an automation object model, which allows you to use scripting languages (such as VBScript or Windows PowerShell)
At the SAS analyst event in Steamboat, CO, in March, SAS CEO Jim Goodnight shared some interesting stats with attendees: Even in 2010's tough economy, SAS experienced 5.2 percent worldwide growth in US dollars. On top of that, SAS is still building new facilities, still winning workplace awards, and this
The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) of 2009 was triggered by the financial crisis and designed to protect subprime borrowers by forcing lenders to provide more transparency and more reasonable, fairer rates and fees to borrowers. This has proven a costly burden for US lenders as they