The secret to long life is good genes, right? This publication titled "Joint influence of small-effect genetic variants on human longevity" showed up on my Google alerts, and from what I can read (all of it) and understand (very little of it), that assertion is true. The researchers used PROC
~Contributed by Stacey Alexander, Social Media Intern, SAS~ I went to a Lunch-n-Learn a couple weeks ago on getting the most out of Google Reader and it’s applications. It was so informative, I was inspired to turn in my iGoogle dashboard for a Reader. Below is a recap of the
Before I begin, I should take a moment to introduce myself. I’m part of the product marketing team for SAS Customer Intelligence. I’ve had the word “marketing” in my title for more than a couple of decades, but still feel like I learn something every day. But then, marketing is
Shane and others have already discovered this. The new version of SAS Enterprise Guide is now available. The latest version offers tremendous enhancements for all users, especially SAS programmers. It includes a new SAS program editing environment that supports syntax suggestions and autocomplete, embedded syntax reference help, and a SAS
It's hard to believe that the summer season is winding down and cooler weather, fall leaves and football (Go Panthers!) is around the corner! Around SAS, we are gearing up for the fall conference season. I recently asked the fans of our Facebook page if they have ever attended a
Recently, I had the privilege of visiting one of our small to midsize business (SMB) customers, Oberweis Dairy, a family owned, 90-year-old business located in the Chicago area. Essentially, Oberweis has morphed from a family dairy farm to a significant, regional food manufacturer and retailer. With 39 retail stores, 40,000
Did the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles regain its sanity? Or was this just another tease? As you recall from last year, my application for “THE BFD” personalized license plate was accepted – then rejected – even though that extra $30 fee could have eased at least some of
In blog posts, training courses and individual conversations over the past year, I've been challenging SAS employees to post one blog comment a day, every day. It's the kind of simple yet difficult challenge that can change habits and show long-term results. Why should you try it? A few reasons:
The long awaited winners of the second round of Race To The Top were announced yesterday. Race To The Top is about education reform to improve schools and is based on four assurances: 1) Raising standards and improving assessments. 2) Recruiting, retaining and supporting effective educators and ensure equitable distribution
Here is a chain of events I’m sure many of you can relate to: You work hard to acquire an object of value. At some future date you abandon the object. Later, you stumble upon it and ask yourself, How could I have forgotten about this great thing?! I do
Very interesting article on “The challenge of change” in the 3Q 2010 issue of sascom magazine. Renee Nocker, the director who leads the business analytics effort at CPG giant Kimberley-Clark Corp., shares her insights on value realization. Contrary to popular belief, technology is only one element of transformation. Surrounding the
As promised in my last post, SAS’ Greg Soussloff, Dan Crane, Lori Schafer, and James Vickers are back from the National Retail Federation’s tech conference, NRF Tech. Here’s what they learned and shared at the SAS Roundtable on Social Media and Merchandise Planning. The well-attended roundtable included IT executives from
The last two years have been one long, downhill-only roller coaster ride for state and local governments. Budget crises that are the result of decreasing revenues at every level have left state legislatures, governors and local government leadership struggling to maintain effective services for their citizens and, in some cases,
Self-anointed as The Aristocrat of forecasting related blogs, The BFD takes its public service role seriously (or at least as seriously as anyone who self-anoints on a regular basis can be taken). Among the services The BFD provides, both publicly (on webcasts or speaking engagements) and privately (by phone, email,
SAS allows for three different cube storage mechanisms: 1. MOLAP The traditional SAS OLAP Cube will all aggregations / nway stored on a physical file structure accessible by the SAS OLAP Cube Server. 2. ROLAP A relational OLAP cube - where no aggregations are stored and SAS points to the
I've already announced on my personal blog, the imaginatively-titled David B. Thomas, that I am leaving SAS to go to New Marketing Labs. Today is my last day here. I'm in my office right now, procrastinating, since the packing up has come down to the annoying stage: small things and
In 1829, Sir Robert Peel laid the foundation for the modern day professional police force. In shaping the conceptual framework for policing, Peel put forth: “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.” While Peel described a proactive ideal, many police agencies are struggling
Today's Australian news journal features an article about how Dr. Jim Goodnight swept into Australia for the SAS Forum event, delivered his remarks and pressed a few palms, and then was on his way back home -- according to the article -- on the very same day. That's not exactly
It's webinar time again! This hour session is designed for business analysts, directors of analytics and BI, and business users on the topic of Centers of Excellence. This live "101" webinar will take place live on Aug. 18, and it's the fifth installment in the 2010 Applying Business Analytics Webinar
Presenter: Bert Dumars (@Bwdumars), Vice President E-Business & Interactive Marketing for Newell Rubbermaid From the program: Bert has worked with many departments through the Newell Rubbgermaid family to help transition social media from an online marketing tool into a company wide platform. Join him as he discusses the challenges and
It's been a very busy week for me here in Sydney, Australia. For starters, I led a two-day course about SAS Enterprise Guide for experienced SAS users. We used SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, which is just about to ship from SAS. I told my students that they were the first
This week I received an urgent text message from a good friend and former colleague in the consulting business: Mike, I am down 24 pages in your book and [besmirching my trousers]. Is there no hope for consultants like me? My response was to not let the book ruin a
I just returned home from Vancouver, British Columbia, where I attended the 2010 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM). I heard that more than 5,300 statisticians attended this year, including about 40 or so from SAS. I stayed busy. I gave a presentation on techniques for visualizing time series, gave a two-hour
A new SAS Analytics Facebook page helps customers, prospects, partners and employees connect via a larger online community. As part of our efforts to reach out to customers and raise awareness about analytics, we created a SAS Analytics Facebook page, and it's ready for you to "like." What's to "like"?
The following entry is reposted from the sascom voices blog, and was contributed by David Hughes, SAS VP of Sales for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. I hope you enjoy reading his words, as there are important lessons for marketers in the examples he uses to illustrate the
How are you measuring your social media efforts? Whether you're just getting started or have spent years fine tuning your goals and measurments for social media, you'll learn something below from industry pros Katie Paine, CEO KDPaine & Partners, and Mark Chaves, Director of Media Intelligence, Customer Intelligence Product Marketing
I've completed my first day of teaching a two-day course about SAS Enterprise Guide. I'm in Sydney, Australia...but my biological clock is still tuned into Cary, North Carolina time. I woke up at 1 a.m. today and even though I tried to convince my body that it was still time
"Goals are dreams with deadlines." Diana Scharf Hunt If you had told me a year ago at this time that I was would be training for triathlons and studying for the Base SAS Certification test, I probably would have said you’re crazy. But, late last summer a good friend of
~ Contributed by Stacey Alexander ~ So you’ve heard that Facebook is a great platform for business, and you’d like to use it, but don’t really know what to do past the initial step of setting up your account. Lucky for you, I wrote this blog post. Now, in case
An alarming percentage of major software implementations fail to be delivered on time, on budget, or even at all. Implementations of new forecasting software, or of new forecasting processes, are not immune from this legacy of failure. Why does this happen, and is there anything we can do about it?
