There are no silver bullets that guarantee success for marketers. Betting on a single channel, technology, process or team is very much like betting everything on “Red” in a casino – there’s no more than a 50% chance of success – for each item. Make bets on each, without understanding
I’m Willie the Seeing Eye Dog. I help Software Development Manager Ed Summers get around SAS Corporate Headquarters without breaking his neck. The editors at SAS provided these questions for me to answer so you can learn more about what I do. What would SAS customers be surprised to learn about the
As we begin the second half of our series on the 10 best practices for information management, reporting and analytics let’s review what we have learned so far. We now understand the importance of securing executive sponsorship, identifying and involving stakeholders early and assessing their unique needs, identifying and integrating
Over the next few weeks, I will address the topic of where I see Customer Intelligence (CI) and Integrated Marketing Management (IMM) solutions moving over the next 3-5 years. I have been doing some work around strategy and really considering how our marketing strategy will align with our product vision
This past January, I wrote, “As we wrapped up 2011 and began preparing for 2012," we were notified by the Society for Technical Communication, Carolina Chapter, that three SAS Press books received awards in the 2011-2012 competition. . . . Entries receiving a Distinguished or Excellence award from the local
I've been a fan of statistical simulation and other kinds of computer experimentation for many years. For me, simulation is a good way to understand how the world of statistics works, and to formulate and test conjectures. Last week, while investigating the efficiency of the power method for finding dominant
SAS users, by definition, do not embrace the mysterious. That's one of the main reasons that they use SAS: to demystify some data or process. And so, when you (as a SAS user) have gone to the trouble of designing a process flow in SAS Enterprise Guide, you like to
SAS Publications participates in a number of conferences, from SAS events to solution and industry-focused conferences. We know our customers are looking to make the most of their conference experience, and we want to make your visit to the Exhibit Hall as helpful as possible. We want to know your
First: A Report from the 67th Pine Tree Festival and Southeast Timber Expo Back in March The BFD investigated the topic of Google-ing yourself (aka egosurfing). I reported on finding a namesake in show business, a self-described "Magic Mike Gilliland" and his sidekick Lollipop the Clown. I attempted to disparage
One of the first skills that a beginning SAS/IML programmer learns is how to read data from a SAS data set into SAS/IML vectors. (Alternatively, you can read data into a matrix). The beginner is sometimes confused about the syntax of the READ statement: do you specify the names of
Remarkably, this week's tip was initially inspired by the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. In his new book Statistical Analysis for Business Using JMP, Professor Willbann Terpening provides lots of useful information - including the origin and usage of the Student t-distribution. If you'd like to get to know Willbann and
I had the pleasure to sit in on a panel discussion at the the 9th Annual SAS Health Care and Life Sciences Executive Conference focused on the topic of understanding and managing customer behavior in the changing health care landscape. This panel was moderated by Dipti Patel-Misra Senior Manager in the Center for
I am at the 9th Annual SAS Health Care and Life Sciences Executive Conference, an extraordinary event that draws the best and the brightest leaders as both speakers and attendees from the pharmaceutical, health insurance, health care and related industries. One session featured speakers from Independence Blue Cross sharing their
In the previous episode, we built our own custom SAS function - a masterful trick indeed. Gordon Keener, a developer here at SAS, responded exuberantly "You think that's cool? - try THIS!" and proceeded to demonstrate prodigious powers with the SAS by using a custom function in a custom informat
Have you ever turned the wrong way onto a one-way street? I was driving in downtown Raleigh last weekend and did just that. How embarrassing. Based on my driving directions, I knew there was a one-way street ahead. Truthfully, I was talking and laughing with my sister and wasn’t paying
What tiny looking operator packs a mighty punch with large datasets? Your queries are big. Your reports span multiple columns. To top it all you have to summarize data in multiple ways. Are you tempted to throw in the towel? Do you feel like saying a firm “Can’t be done”
Would you like to get to know others who share a common interest in SAS books and documentation? We’ve made it easy for you. Besides reading this blog, here are 3 places to discuss our publications and get real-time announcements. Fans of SAS Books on LinkedIn SAS Publishing on Twitter SAS Publishing’s Facebook
In a previous post I showed how you can use Windows PowerShell (with the SAS Local Data Provider) to create a SAS data set viewer. This approach doesn't require that you have SAS installed, and allows you to read or export the records within a SAS data set file. In
When I was at SAS Global Forum last week, a SAS user asked my advice regarding a SAS/IML program that he wrote. One step of the program was taking too long to run and he wondered if I could suggest a way to speed it up. The long-running step was
Pet lovers do the most incredible things. My friend Grace told me she trained her pet rabbit to walk on a leash. I said, "That's amazing Grace -- I never heard of such a thing!!! I thought rabbits could only hop." Rest assured there are no dogs (cats or rabbits
Please don’t tell me that you do not have the time to write a book for SAS Press. I already know that. You have a lot of things to attend to: a demanding job, family responsibilities, housework, yard work, shopping, cooking, eating, reading, favorite TV shows, commuting, sports to play,
With the rapid changes in our education systems regarding new standards, assessments, accountability and evaluation, teachers are rightfully feeling the pressure of being underprepared. The majority of teachers were not trained or certified with these rigorous systems in place. Recognizing that higher education institutions need to play an active role
In statistical programming, I often test a program by running it on a problem for which I know the correct answer. I often use a single expression to compute the maximum value of the absolute difference between the vectors: maxDiff = max( abs( z-correct ) ); /* largest absolute difference
We are half way through my blog series counting to 10 best practices for information management, reporting and analytics. To recap, we have learned the importance of: Securing executive sponsorship. Identifying and involving stakeholders early and assessing their unique needs. Identifying and integrating data sources. Managing user expectations proactively. This
This week's SAS author's tip comes from Carol Matthews and Brian Shilling and their book Validating Clinical Trial Data Reporting with SAS. SAS users have raved about this guide. In her review, Susan Fehrer said "Carol and Brian's book provides a good overview, practical hands-on tips, and many examples of how to perform
Have you seen this week's news item on "tanning mom" Patricia Krentcil, the New Jersey mother accused of sunburning her young daughter in a tanning booth? Now I'm as big a fan of diversity as the next guy, and lovingly embrace people of every visible color (although I do find House Speaker John Boehner's orange a
A reader asked: I want to create a vector as follows. Suppose there are two given vectors x=[A B C] and f=[1 2 3]. Here f indicates the frequency vector. I hope to generate a vector c=[A B B C C C]. I am trying to use the REPEAT function
Can you explain the "random error" in your forecasts? This question was posed two weeks ago by Sam Iosevich, Managing Principal at Prognos, during his presentation at the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research. Sam stated that if your planners have knowledge that helps explain the "random error" in
Between attending presentations and networking, you should make your way to the SAS Bookstore at PharmaSUG. While there are many reasons to add us to your list, here are the top 5: Save money on our books and documentation. We’re offering a special conference discount to PharmaSUG attendees. Talk to a
