I have been working on streaming analytics in conjunction with a project at Duke Energy, so a few months ago I was contacted by a colleague who wanted to look at the feasibility of applying what I’ve learned to our Internet of Things (IoT) initiative. In particular, we wanted to see if
This is my final entry in the Education Meets Big Data blog series. Let’s review what we've covered so far… In my first post, I explained that statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) track student data from preschool through college and workforce across the state. SLDSs can be used to see one
Big Data has become a technology buzzword. But how is Big Data changing insurance? Historically, insurance companies have used SMALL data to make BIG decisions. Today, insurers are using BIG data for SMALL decisions. What does this mean? Traditionally, insurance companies have aggregated data to group risks into broad categories
The digital disruption phenomenon is redrawing the market map. New players, products and services are gaining competitive advantage, while traditional business and revenue models are being questioned. Gartner believes that by 2020, thanks to the Internet of Things, information will be used to reinvent, digitalize or eliminate 80% of business
With presidential candidates targeting alternate energy development, the Clean Power Plan officially in place last month, and the rapid evolution of connected devices and the Internet of Things -- life in the energy sector is even more interesting than usual. To catch up on the latest developments, I sat down with one of
Integrating big data into existing data management processes and programs has become something of a siren call for organizations on the odyssey to become 21st century data-driven enterprises. To help save some lost time, this post offers a few tips for successful big data integration.
The 2015 United States Tennis Open tournament is now underway, and like most tennis fans, I’ve got my eyes on women’s tennis great Serena Williams, as she attempts to make history by winning the tournament and achieving a calendar Grand Slam. What are her chances of reaching the milestone? Most
An artist friend of mine recently created a beautiful abstract image and described the process on her blog. She says that "after painting my initial square, I cut it into strips and split them down the middle, then wove them together.... I had no idea when I started piecing these
“Back-to-school” is a common theme this time of year, but learning isn’t something that is relegated to a certain point on the calendar or even a particular point in life – it’s a lifelong journey. Whether you are in early education using mobile technology for learning, a student or adult
When I ask people what they know about Denmark they often mention Hans Christian Andersen. He was born in Denmark in 1805 and is one of the most adored children’s authors of all time. Many of his fairy tales are known worldwide as they have been translated into more than
Will the Internet of Things (IoT) create a web of connected devices that make our lives better or an infinite infestation of annoying devices invading our privacy for no good reason? I don't know. I do know that the answer is going to depend less on the technology and more
This post is the third and final in a series that illustrates three different solutions to "flattening" hierarchical data. Don't forget to catch up with Part 1 and Part 2. Solution 2, from my previous post, created one observation per header record, with detail data in a wide format, like
There is a time and a place for everything, but the time and place for data quality (DQ) in data integration (DI) efforts always seems like a thing everyone’s not quite sure about. I have previously blogged about the dangers of waiting until the middle of DI to consider, or become forced
From the public debate over Amazon’s workplace culture to the Security and Exchange Commission’s approval of the CEO-to-worker rule, it’s been an interesting few weeks for those of us who care about sustainable organizations. Clearly people have strong feelings about what companies owe society and how front-line workers should be
The title of this blog post might seem strange, but I occasionally need to compute the number of digits in a number, usually because I am trying to stuff an integer value into a string. Each time, I have to derive the formula from scratch, so I am writing this
How long have you been reading SAS blogs? And do you have thoughts on how we can improve them? In 2007, we launched the SAS blog program with just one blog and a handful of bloggers. Today, we have more than 30 blogs and hundreds of active bloggers. As we
I was recently asked why I would recommend my new class, Explaining Analytics to Decision Makers: Insights to Action. The answer goes back to some great advice, a lunch of eggplant parmesan and in another more twisted way, to what was ironically affectionately known as the “bomb plant.” Early in
You may not be in London on October 7 to take advantage of the Lancaster Centre for Forecasting's free workshop on promotional forecasting. However, there are still plenty of forecasting educational opportunities coming up this fall: SAS Business Knowledge Series Best Practices in Demand-Driven Forecasting (Chicago, September 24-25) My colleague
In a little more than two weeks, I will be in one of my favorite places, San Diego, California, recruiting potential SAS Press authors at the JMP Discovery Summit, which will be held at the beautiful Paradise Point Resort and Spa from 14 September to 17 September 2015. I’m especially
This post is the second in a series that illustrates three different solutions to "flattening" hierarchical data. Solution 1, from my previous post, created one observation per header record, summarizing the detail data with a COUNT variable, like this: Summary Approach: One observation per header record Obs Family Count
While much of what they say is over my non-technical head, one thing is clear: SAS research and development team members are clearly excited by the new capabilities they have added to the newest release of SAS Analytics. Their pride of accomplishment is plain to see -- even by me
While not on the same level of Rush, I do fancy myself a fan of The Who. I'm particularly fond of the band's 1973 epic, Quadrophenia. From the track "5:15": Inside outside, leave me alone Inside outside, nowhere is home Inside outside, where have I been? The inside-outside distinction is rather apropos
Ugh! Your favorite regression procedure just printed a warning to the SAS log. Something is wrong, and your attempt to fit a model to the data has not succeeded. A typical message is "WARNING: The validity of the model fit is questionable," perhaps followed by some additional diagnostic messages about
A family and its members represent a simple hierarchy. For example, the Jones family has four members: A text file might represent this hierarchy with family records followed by family members' records, like this: The PROC FORMAT step below defines the codes in Column 1: proc format; value $type
Are you eager to explore and understand your data? Do you want to improve processes and drive more revenue? Do you want to work with data using an intuitive, easy-to-use interface? This is now possible with visual analytics, technology which combines analytics with interactive visualizations. As published in a recent
Do you use an array of tools to perform predictive analytics on your data? Is your current tool not flexible enough to accommodate some of your requirements? SAS Enterprise Miner may be your solution. With growing number of data mining applications, having a tool which can do variety of analysis
In my last post, I noted that the flexibility provided by the concept of the schema-on-read paradigm that is typical of a data lake had to be tempered with the use of a metadata repository so that anyone wanting to use that data could figure out what was really in
One of my presentations at SAS Global Forum 2015 was titled "Ten Tips for Simulating Data with SAS". The paper was published in the conference proceedings several months ago, but I recently recorded a short video that gives an overview of the 10 tips: If your browser does not support
Our friends at the Lancaster Centre for Forecasting have announced their next free practitioner workshop. It will be held Wednesday October 7,1:00-5:15pm, at BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H. This session's top is: Promotional Modelling and Forecasting Understanding and forecasting the effects of a promotion for both retailers and manufacturers
No matter where I go in the world, I’m constantly amazed by the similarities in business challenges facing organizations around the globe. One of the most common is getting business users to actually adopt and use the insights gained from the great work performed by analytics teams and IT organizations.
