As I have previously mentioned, SAS 9.3 has some sweet new functionality for stored processes. The topic of the prior post was on storing .sas code for the stored process directly within the metadata and how to edit/access that raw code. Did you know that the 'Edit Source Code' button
A current media hype phrase used to describe the ever-growing volume and size of corporate information is "big data." SAS hosts an annual series of business leadership conferences that bring together industry thought leaders, innovators, world leaders, challengers and inspirational speakers to discuss the dynamics needed for a competitive future.
Windows PowerShell is one of my favorite tools to use for gathering information from my PC and network, and also for automating processes. If you are familiar with UNIX shells (such as Korn shell or its variants), you will probably be very comfortable with Windows PowerShell. Just like its UNIX
You can extend the capability of the SAS/IML language by writing modules. A module is a user-defined function. You can define a module by using the START and FINISH statements. Many people, including myself, define modules at the top of the SAS/IML program in which they are used. You can
I’ve been hanging out in Canada again, eh? Just last week, I snuck over the border to meet with some of our insurance customers in the Greater Toronto Area (affectionately known as “GTA”). This was my fifth trip this year and I’m pleased to say that not only have I
Earlier today, Rick posted interesting information about which time of year the most babies are born, at least in the USA. I don't have data nearly as extensive as what's available at the NCHS, but I do have a sample of birthday records to compare against Rick's findings. My sample
Summer has almost come to a close – and thank goodness! Up here in the Northeast, we’ve been subjected to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. I’ve been waiting for the locusts to descend! And outside of dodging hail and charging my laptop with my car’s cigarette lighter when we lost
This week's SAS author's tip is perfect for SAS programmers using PROC SQL. Author Howard Schreier is a member of the SAS-L Hall of Fame, an independent consultant and trainer, and has been using SAS since 1981. His book PROC SQL by Example: Using SQL within SAS is also an
I mentioned back in 2008 that Web Reports with OLAP source can drill-through to detail (or display the raw data records for the corresponding cross tabular cell) only after the source information map has drill-through to detail enabled. Well, there are several other areas that also could disable this capability
Do you know someone who has a birthday in mid-September? Odds are that you do: the middle of September is when most US babies are born, according to data obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Web site (see Table 1-16). There's an easy way to remember this
For years mathematicians have been pondering the Monty Hall Problem – you know, the old TV show where you have 3 doors and behind one door is a car (or some nice prize) and behind the other two doors are goats (or some undesirable prize). You pick door #1. But
I use Google Reader to keep up with SAS-related conversations on the blogosphere. I thought it would be nice to share the lists of blogs that I follow as "shared bundles". If you also use Google Reader, it will be very easy for you to add these bundles to
‘Context’ defined (as cited from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary): 1: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning; and, 2: the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs: environment, setting. While context is clearly important, today it is consistently
In BI Dashboard 4.3, you have the ability to edit or entirely remove the frame around an indicator. When in the dashboard edit screen, select the indicator and on the right hand side update the Object name with the frame title to display. When viewing this indicator from the Portal
Looping is essential to statistical programming. Whether you need to iterate over parameters in an algorithm or indices in an array, a loop is often one of the first programming constructs that a beginning programmer learns. Today is the first anniversary of this blog, which is named The DO Loop,
In Part 1, Udo provided SAS code to replicate the example in Hyndman's blog. Below, he shows the results of out-of-sample testing, and draws some conclusions on the computational efficiency of this approach. Out-of-sample Testing In addition to the example shared by Hyndman, out-of-sample data was used to illustrate the final performance
We ship many sample data sets with SAS products. By using well-understood sample data sets, we can teach concepts or show off product features without distracting the audience/students with data collection or prep. At least, that's the way it's supposed to work. But occasionally the sample data can cause a
In this guest blogger post, Udo Sglavo of the Advanced Analytics Division of SAS shows how to conduct time series cross-validation using SAS Forecast Server. Udo replicates the example from Rob J Hyndman's Research Tips blog. Replicating the Example In order to replicate the example in Hyndman's blog, the example
A lot of ink is being spilled over Steve Jobs leaving Apple. Okay here is a little more. Some of my younger friends and colleagues are surprised I have purchased an iPad. Apparently, to younger folk, most persons of my advanced years seem technologically challenged. But I learned a valuable
Co-written with Gordon Cox@gtcox76 Gordon’s 7-yr daughter asked him what he learned in class at SAS Campus a few weeks ago. The subject, even for many SAS geeks like us, can be hard to tackle. Gordon was learning all about SAS GRID architecture, implementations, and usage. Well try to explain
My elderly mother enjoys playing Scrabble®. The only problem is that my father and most of my siblings won't play with her because she beats them all the time! Consequently, my mother is always excited when I visit because I'll play a few Scrabble games with her. During a recent
It's been a well-known limitation for a long time. When you connect to a SAS session using SAS Enterprise Guide, shell commands (including X command, SYSTASK, and FILENAME PIPE) are off-limits because the default SAS invocation disables them. It does this by including -NOXCMD as a command-line option. This makes
I jotted down the following fact from a session yesterday at the Disney Analytics & Optimization Summit: Organizations that invest in analytics perform better in the market. That's quite an assertion. Tweetable for sure. But it was a late-afternoon presentation and I was hungry for supper. So I forgot about
Hurricane Irene impacted 20% of the US population and will cost billions in recovery dollars. Now that the water has begun to subside, the real long term work begins. And it is this work that can be another disaster, or, a real economic benefit to a state. How so? FEMA
The hurricane didn't get me, but Monday night's thunderstorm sure played a dirty trick. After leaving my car windows cracked open over night, I drove to work Tuesday morning feeling a little soggier by the minute. Upon arrival at SAS, I was aghast to find the seat of my pants was soaked
Do you need help communicating more effectively with an international audience? Whether you blog, edit newsletters or technical material, tweet, or send internal notes to global colleagues, this week's SAS author's tip is likely to be of great assistance. SAS Press author John Kohl is an amazing linguistic engineer, technical writer, and technical editor
Emails – it’s hard to imagine that there used to be a time people worked without them – at least in our industry. When I started at SAS in 1996 the amount of business email I received on a particular day was almost less than the amount of spam mails
Biked to the train station this morning…felt the wind, watched trees waving in the breeze…flew past Highway 403 with trucks whizzing by…felt noble about being environmentally conscious…took the side path to the station…slowed to a halt beside the bike parking lot…opened my backpack to take out the key to lock
How do you know when you’ve given a great presentation? When someone remembers it a year later and writes a blog post about it. That great presentation in this case was given by Erik DaRosa, Director of Global FP&A for Avon, who spoke at the IE Group’s Financial Forecasting Conference this time last year
August was a busy month for our SAS Text Analytics team, but I was very pleased to get the invite to attend this year’s CIO 100 Conference hosted by Maryfran Johnson, Editor-in-Chief of CIO Magazine. As Master of Ceremonies, she inspired lively discussions and shared insights on IT leadership, technology
